Mary, Mary, quite contrary?
A look at the prevalence of Mary Queen of Scots as a subject for fancy dress costume during the nineteenth century
Musing
Masked!
The prevalence of facial masks and headwear in the Autumn/Winter 2018 catwalk collections is a response to an ill-defined but ever-present feeling of unease.
A Traditional (Trump) Christmas?
FLOTUS’ White House Christmas make-over has been much criticised. Photographs have certainly made it seem more frightful than festive. (Critics may have a point: I mean, who uplights a Christmas
Sin and Status: The Problem of Gold
In Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), a philosophical musing about the creation and maintenance of an ideal community, fetters of gold were worn by criminals, for this shiny, inert metal
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.
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
