How Mary, George V’s daughter, became a very modern princess
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Mary‘s obituaries called her ‘unobtrusive and purposeful’. But was her life an unremarkable thing, or a shining example of royal duty?
Mary, Princess Royal, working as a nurse during the First World War
Credit: Hulton
The wicked make good copy. Virtue, by contrast, inspires less compelling narratives. In 1965, while the paparazzi were chasing Princess Margaret, her aunt Mary, Princess Royal, died of a heart attack at the age of 67. The obituaries of George V’s only daughter paid tribute to a life “active, unobtrusive and purposeful”.
It sounds unpromising stuff, but Elisabeth Basford’s account of this mostly forgotten princess celebrates a woman who, with understated charm, combined ideals with practicality, gentleness with a stiff upper lip, and an unshakeable sense of duty with self-effacement. Alec Douglas-Home claimed that Mary “personified everything which to all of us simply seems to be goo
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t’s January, the weather is abysmal, rebellion is in the air after 11 years of Tory rule, and a silent killer is spreading across the land. There’s even a bitter divide over Britain’s future relationship with Europe.
This is 1963, not 2021, but Juliet Nicolson’s timely study of that pivotal winter in British history has so many parallels with today that it occasionally sends a shiver down your spine - and not just because she describes temperatures so cold that people were dying in their stranded cars.
Nicolson was eight years old when the snow began falling on Boxing Day 1962. Her own memories of the turbulent months before and after that day are the thread that hold this beautifully stitched patchwork of stories together.
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As the new artistic director of Fendi‘s ready-to-wear and couture collections for women, Kim Jones has big shoes to fill, stepping into the role formerly filled by Karl Lagerfeld. Spring/Summer 2021, Jones’ debut, is a thoroughly modern affair stripped of context, it’s another lavish affair and even when placed in the legacy of Fendi’s legendary couture presentations, it stands tall.
Virgina Woolf’s
Orlando forms the base of the collection, but it’s not the story alone that inspires Jones’ effort. The Dior men’s artistic director and his team drew from the entirety of the Bloomsbury Group Woolf’s peers and even the heartfelt effort that went into hand-printing and binding
After presenting his latest collection for Dior late last week, yesterday, Kim Jones made his long-awaited Fendi debut. Invited by Silvia Venturini Fendi to take the reins at the historic Italian house, his appointment marks the first time the designer has (officially) dipped his toe into womenswear – and what an impression he made.
With worldwide lockdown restrictions still rendering the idea of a fashion show null and void (truly, when will it end?) like many others, Jones opted to deliver his debut couture collection through a live broadcasted runway show. With Demi Moore opening proceedings in an all-black look, models made their way through a labyrinthine Fendi maze of glass panels, and assembled themselves inside neat cubicles full of Jones’ own antiques.
Demi Moore Opened Kim Jones s Star-Studded, Debut Collection For Fendi Haute Couture
Kim Jones is starting at Fendi with a bang. The recently appointed womenswear creative director, who succeeds the late Karl Lagerfeld, presented his debut collection for Fendi Couture spring/summer 2021 that boasted an all-star model lineup including Demi Moore, Bella Hadid, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cara Delevingne, Adwoa Aboah, Lila Moss, and mom Kate Moss. The tight edit of 19 looks included some pieces we ll be thinking about well after Haute Couture Fashion Week, but Demi Moore took to the catwalk in a chic black set, and her appearance is getting plenty of buzz.