Unmasking Fancy Dress
This article was first published with The Costume Society. There are typically three reactions when I tell people that I am writing a book about fancy dress costume: 1.
Musing
Dressing Up for Work (the World Over?)
When I last wrote – some time ago – I was attempting to understand the particular appeal of fancy dress costume among social elites. As my thoughts on this question
What Lies Beneath: the meaning & motivation of (aristocratic) fancy dress costume
Since the eighteenth century, when fancy dress entertainments became a more regular and popular form of entertainment, social commentators have wrestled with what people’s costumes reveal about their character. In
Forwards & Backwards: Parallels between the Middle Ages & Modernity
The Middle Ages are popularly supposed to be the antithesis of Modernity. The term ‘Dark Ages’, which is still invoked to describe the pre-Renaissance world, maintains this divide, albeit precariously.
A History of the Christmas Jumper
The following is a longer version of a piece that I was commissioned to write for George at ASDA. An abridged version appeared in the Sunday Express. Few Christmas traditions
A Rakish Progress: The Image and Influence of David Hockney’s Style
The text of this post is based on a talk I gave at the Royal Academy on Saturday for RA Lates’ ‘A Hockney Happening’. Before reading further, pause for a
Plain Kate: Vogue’s Centenary Shoot
Photographing the Duchess of Cambridge for the centenary cover of British Vogue was surely an obvious choice. Few people at present seem to inspire as much popular sympathy, pique as
A Life in Fashion: The Wardrobe of Cecil Beaton
It’s been a busy month following the publication of my book, A Life in Fashion: The Wardrobe of Cecil Beaton by Thames & Hudson in Europe and America. Last week,
Harnessing Heritage
The following is based on a talk that I gave recently with Rising Minds in London… As a historian – by training and quite possibly by nature – who researches
Seeing is Believing in Life – and Learning
It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible. So proclaimed Lord Henry Wotton in Oscar
