The military invades the catwalk. Published in The New Statesman
In the days when I used to be something in the fashion world, the team would sit up all night going through transparencies to pick out…
At least they could polish their shoes. Published in The New Statesman
Only once have I seen an MP up close, and I was so busy trying to make sense out of his all-English-words-and-yet-a-foreign-language that, forgive me, I…
Isn’t a camera enough? Interview with Jason Brooks and Chuck Close. Published in The Independent
The pictures take a month, four months, a year to make. And they are copies. Systematic, modular, painstaking copies of photographs. For just such work the…
Interiors: catches worth landing. Anissa Helou. Published in The Independent on Sunday.
THE HAIR is the first thing you notice. It’s big. “Explosive”, according to the art historian George Melly. But you are barely through Anissa El Helou’s…
In love with my curves. Published in The Independent.
It started with the ornaments. There were two of them on the mantelpiece in my childhood home, both showing boy/girl configurations. One pair was tall and…
Bananas about pyjamas. Published in The Independent.
AGED 18, the very first thing I bought from my very first pay packet was a pair of Derek Rose red flannel pyjamas. At pounds 25,…
Big fish in a very big sea. Marlin fishing in Madeira. The Independent.
THE SUN shines bright and keen, the sky is blue with no clouds to mess it up. The sea, 3,000ft deep beneath our 40ft fishing yacht,…
Don’t say it’s only a spider. The Independent.
Phobic is a great word to lip read. But it isn’t so great to be phobic, especially when your phobia is regarded as girlie or stupid.…
The new synthetics. The Independent.
Got any nylon in your wardrobe? Any cellulosics? The chances are that you have, and you’re about to get more. Synthetics are finding their way back…
When skirts were full and women were furious. The Independent.
AT 10.30am on 12 February 1947 the House of Christian Dior launched its very first collection, at its salon at 30 Avenue Montaigne, Paris. The collection…
Annalisa Barbieri 