The handkerchief points layered in chiffon gauze build into a bloom of skirt. With the wrapped bodice and matching scarf, it must have moved every which way when it was worn c1947. Norman Norell #museumatFIT #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

Off out for my morning constitutional along the seafront. Wishing you all a day filled with sunshine, soft breezes and small pleasures. ☀️🌊

Happy International Pride Day 🏳️‍🌈 Linda Jackson's 1988 hand-painted cotton 'Rainbow' evening dress evokes the colours of the pride flag that was designed by artists including Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom and James McNamara in the 70s. Powerhouse collection. #fashionhistory #pride

Madame Grès’s designs are on the one hand instantly recognisable and on the other difficult to date. This pleated emerald silk jersey was created in the mid #1980s but could as easily have formed part of her collections half a century earlier #NGVMelbourne #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

Raffi’s off to a doggy birthday party this afternoon. I’m not entirely sure how we’ve reached the stage where the dog has a busier social life than I do, but here we are. 🐶🎈🎁

A day for cool drinks, shady corners, and sensible hats. Stay safe friends. 💙

The weather has become so warm that I am considering shorts. I only hope the world is ready. My knees, having lived a life of quiet retirement, may find public attention rather overwhelming.

Off to the theatre tonight to hear Keith Brymer Jones speak about pottery making and Welsh chapel conversions. It looks set to be a hot evening.

I do love the idea of an ensemble. Pieces that mix and match with each other in the same fabric but interchangeable garments. I have yet to reach such sartorial heights myself so instead admire from afar this 1950s Carolyn Schnurer set @metmuseum.org #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

The heavens are providing a rather dramatic soundtrack to the school run this morning. Take out there. 💙

Off into a new week we go. May the roads be kind, the traffic light, and may everyone arrive safely wherever they are bound. Safe travels, friends. 🚗☀️

Off out for breakfast with my boys this morning. The world has a curious way of reminding us what matters. After all that these past six months have brought, to have them with me, and to hug them tight, seems the most perfect Father’s Day gift of all. ❤️☕️🥐

Family round for dinner this evening. The table will be extended, the napkins folded, and Raffi will fix me with those big brown eyes, trying to persuade me that she has not been fed in weeks. 🐾🍷🍽️

A perfect day at Greenwich today. It was such a privilege to share my love of Tudor and Stuart art and architecture at the Queen’s House. Here’s to the next generation of early modernists!

School trip today. The secret to any great expedition is not courage or endurance, but comfortable shoes and a flask of tea in reserve. ☕️👞📚

Bodice. 1905 created with Irish crochet lace, originally developed in the mid-nineteenth century #WomensArt

Ordered some new sofa cushions last night. It’s important to invest in comfort, especially when spend your evenings thinking profound thoughts and then forgetting them the next day. 🩷

Please repost. This message doesn't use insults or crude language. It's simply the truth. We haven't just left the EU, we have allowed our society to sink to the depths of hatred & bigotry. We are being manipulated by the arrogant, mad privileged minority, preying on the uneducated, morally bankrupt

Ardern Holt’s book Fancy Dress Described ran to many editions in the c19th, a manual of costumes for fancy dress parties. This early #1890s survival is especially excellent, mirroring almost exactly, Holt’s suggestion for a French ‘Incroyable’ @jbrightcollection.bsky.social #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

The mirror this morning suggests I am wearing the expression of someone who knows something they ought not to know. Happily, I have no idea what it is. ✨

Keeping a discreet eye on the weather. Ordinarily I leave such matters to Providence, but when one is shepherding thirty students across London later this week, every cloud takes on a certain administrative significance. 🌂

Time to hit the road and see what the week has to offer. Wishing you sunshine, good company, and a happy week ahead, my friends. 💙

Tonight I’m eating crab linguine. Life does occasionally remember to be rather splendid.🦀

A fabulous day out. Sissinghurst followed by Batemans. Might even have enjoyed a sneaky cream tea! 🤗

Hello sunshine! Two #1810s dresses although would you believe, the bright silk creation on the right is an underdress, designed to be worn beneath a pale muslin gown. I think I would prefer it on its own @jbrightcollection.bsky.social #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

Sunday. Coffee unhurried. The world, for once, has had the good manners not to begin without me. 🌸

Martha Washington, the inaugural First Lady of the United States, was born #OnThisDay in 1731. She wore this custom-made pair of purple satin shoes, embellished with metallic sequins, lace, and braid, on her wedding day in 1759. Mount Vernon collection. #FirstLady #fashionhistory

Off to my sanctuary today - the British Library. Books have a wonderful habit of waiting patiently for you, however long you keep them waiting. 📚

How I exit school knowing it’s Friday and I shan’t be teaching Year 7s for at least 2 days!

It’s Thursday. Near enough to the weekend to glimpse it in the distance, yet far enough away that there’s little point looking over one’s shoulder.💙

We’re halfway through the week - hang in there! ❤️

I’m looking at the weather this morning trying to read its face - wet, cold, a chance of sunshine? I’m quite perplexed as to what to don.

Just a few final moments in the armchair with a cup of coffee, the morning light, and Raffi softly snoring nearby before I confront whatever the world of work has for me this week.

David Bowie married Iman at St James' Episcopal Church in Florence, Italy, #OnThisDay in 1992. The supermodel bride wore a white, halterneck Hervé Léger bandage gown with a detachable train for the religious ceremony. #fashionhistory

This dress is just crying out for a dance floor upon which to twirl. The pleats, fluted edges and tiers of fabric are bluebell like, a disco belle blooming on a summer’s evening. John Bates for Jean Varon, 1973 #FashionMuseumBath #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

After spending 10 hours squashed inside a car yesterday, I shall spend much of today unravelling myself.

Raffi will go off for a little holiday with friends tonight while, at some unearthly hour tomorrow morning, I set off to retrieve my son and the mountainous accumulation of books, laundry and mysterious cables that constitute university life.

Today would have marked thirty-two years of marriage. I shall spend the day quietly, in reflection and in the company of family - grateful for love, memory, and the blessing of having shared so many beautiful years together. 🌷

Woke this morning after a splendid night’s sleep entirely convinced I was still on holiday. It took a full five minutes, one cup of tea, and the sight of a tie draped over a chair before the dreadful truth emerged: it is, in fact, a school day.😳

Half term already feels like a brief misunderstanding with the sun. Today it’s back to grey skies, sensible shoes, and wondering why I ever trusted British summertime.😌

Back to work today. After a week in shorts and sandals, it’s not so much the work itself as the grim business of becoming suited and booted once again.

My little white garden is looking rather splendid just now - roses in full flourish, petunias and begonias tumbling over themselves, and Raffi standing guard over it all like a woolly sentinel. Even Sissinghurst might be obliged to concede defeat.

Sunday shall be devoted to the noble pursuit of catching up with all the things I’ve artfully avoided all week - housework, shopping and the inevitable laundry.

Off to the big smoke today for an exhibition and lunch with an old friend. Art, conversation, and the gentle delirium induced by hot, noisy Underground trains.

New front door being fitted today. Been assured it’s a quick and easy installation - an open-and-shut case.

Meeting an old school friend for lunch today. Strange and rather lovely how some people can step back into your life after decades and, within minutes, you’re both school kids again - only with slightly worse ankles and opinions about olive oil.

Walkies! 🐶👣🐾

After a difficult day, stayed over at my mum’s last night. I think the Raffster enjoyed the change of scenery, too.

Hot coloured chiffon blazes in layers, caught at neck and wrist with jewelled bands. Marc Bohan for Dior created this 1967 Bayadère dress famously worn by Grace Kelly who looks wistful here #MuseeDior #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡