Panic on the Streets of London March 2011
Dear Rowley, You, like I, would defend any Britisher’s rights to peaceful protest. As a matter of fact, even an old Thatcherite like I would agree with some of the concerns voiced by the quarter of a...
View ArticleNow Voyager. New Year’s Eve 2011.
Dear Rowley, Happy New Year darling. Do you have any resolutions? E. M. Forster had it so right: ‘only connect’. My resolution is to communicate in person or on the telephone and not in cyber space. It...
View ArticleVictoria Revealed. March 2012.
Dear Rowley, An unexpected escapade to the newly refurbished Kensington Palace after an abortive attempt to meet fashion producer Camilla Johnson Hill in Westbourne Grove. For me, a trip to Notting...
View ArticleThe Fencing Master. May 2012.
Dear Rowley, An invitation to the Wallace Collection to preview the new exhibition The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe curated by Toby Capwell. Hertford House on...
View ArticleStage Fright. December 2012.
Dear Rowley, I do feel sorry for the young. They’re so busy Wii-ing, texting and making ‘friends’ on Facebook that there aren’t hours in the day to watch black and white movie double bills as I did...
View ArticleAffectations Can Be Dangerous. September 2013.
Dear Rowley, When 50-year old dancer Isadora Duncan was throttled as her chiffon scarf got caught in the wheels of a sports car in Nice in 1927, Gertrude Stein commented sagely ‘affectations can be...
View ArticleShow Business. May 2015.
Dear Rowley, What a world Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana has been born into. Should you wish to see hubris and cynicism dressed in its most gaudy, absurd raiment one should look no further than New...
View ArticleIncisive. September 2015.
Dear Rowley, London must have been en fete considering I’ve been barely able to speak for four days after having four wisdom extracted at UCL. As the nurses told me I was in the middle of a...
View ArticleGucci Coup. January 2016.
Dear Rowley, A sharp reminder of why I don’t report on the men’s runway shows was delivered by the excellent fashion writer Tim Blanks in a piece for The Business of Fashion about Alessandro Michele’s...
View ArticleActing-Up. March 2016.
Dear Rowley, Hollywood really can’t win when held up to scrutiny by the fashion police. The 88th Academy Awards this weekend was one of the best-dressed in years and yet cause for criticism was found....
View ArticleTake a Bow. June 2016.
Dear Rowley, Don’t know about you but I am still rather demob happy after the Brexit vote. Apparently the VoteRemain group have submitted a petition signed by a few million people still as furious as...
View ArticleBecause We’re Worth It. July 2017.
Dear Rowley, If there’s one thing the British public loathe above all else, it is hypocrisy in high places. So when the BBC was forced to list its top earners this morning, the howl about Auntie’s...
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