When Liz Tilberis, my predecessor as editor-in-chief of Vogue, sadly died of ovarian cancer, the magazine she then edited, American Harper’s Bazaar, published a tribute issue with wonderful contributions and testimonies from across the fashion industry.
I had lunch with the designer Tom Ford shortly afterwards and he said with his trademark wryness: ‘You have to die to get service like that.’ You sure do.
To be the fascination of Princess Diana, you must die young. Her story is retold in endless books, movies, and television dramas. Kristen Stewart is the star of Spencer, the new film.
Like Emma Corrin in The Crown, Stewart’s acting (both had the same coach) captures a great deal that was accurate about the real Princess.
For Princess Diana to remain a fascination, one must die young. The story of her life is told endlessly through books, plays, TV dramas, and films. Kristen Stewart is the star of Spencer.
Stewart is particularly convincing in the imagined three-day nightmare Christmas stay at Sandringham. His charismatic and ultimately fatal mixture of strength, youth bolshiness, willfulness, and charisma rings very true. The film doesn’t contain much else.
This is no matter, though, because it’s not intended to be a faithful depiction of events but an exploration into fragile mental health and male oppression.
Director Pablo Larrain gives us – as in his previous movie, Jackie – the hallucinogenic whirl of a woman losing her mind. ‘I’m a magnet for madness – other people’s madness,’ Diana confides, condemned as she sees it to exist within the claustrophobic family of a husband who doesn’t love her.
The ending is known and we are captivated by the tale of the woman who escapes a bad marriage.
Like Emma Corrin in The Crown, Stewart’s acting (both had the same coach) captures a great deal that was accurate about the real Princess (pictured)
Marilyn Monroe was another vulnerable beauty. She had a dysfunctional upbringing and had relationships with prominent men. This led to her tragic death. She would still be a movie star, but she wouldn’t have survived.
Also, Sylvia Plath was the wife of Ted Hughes, a poet. He was constantly vilified for killing his smart, complex, and lovingly married woman.
It’s curious that these stories are never told from the male point of view or, on the odd occasion that they are, they gain no traction.
What does it feel like to constantly be portrayed as an insensitive brute? What was it like to have a romantic relationship with an unhappy, complicated woman? It was a strange feeling to find yourself the one who is unable or unwilling to compromise with the beauty.
I’d love to read or watch that story occasionally.
Why politicians are firm’s favourites
It is clear that rules are completely useless when it comes to the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal.
Why on earth would you pay him, or any politician, north of £90,000 annually unless you thought they would be able to take actions that would help your business? He wasn’t employed as some harmless artist-in-residence. He was hired to be an advisor to assist companies in achieving their objectives.
There is no clean line in the sand where advisory roles don’t use connections and influence, and that includes politics. Even small steps like banning House of Commons notespaper and closing down a physical address seem completely irrelevant.
Payed consultants and advisors can be found in any industry, regardless of their expertise. This is the fundamental fact, and no matter what you do to modify the police procedures or the rules of the game, conflicts of interest will always arise.
Everybody knows that, but expecting that Parliament will ever ban such financial relationships would be like asking all those lovely bronze turkeys currently running around the fields on Daylesford Organic founder Carole Bamford’s Instagram to vote for Christmas.
They never reveal the Crucial Covid number
Among the huge number of daily stats about Covid, there’s one essential piece of information missing. After receiving two boosters of vaccines, how likely is it that we will contract Covid?
It’s clear that hospitalisation and death rates are down compared to their peak. However, what is the chance of getting the horrible thing? What if you go to parties or ride on the Tube with mad people who refuse to use masks and hug anyone in friendly embraces?
Covid-lite will put you outof commission for a while and then keep you quarantined for longer. So that’s the number I want to hear, and quickly, as the festive season starts to kick off.
The perfect disguise for white-collar females
Is there something special about white-collar women? It’s not just the clerical employee, but actually the white-collar clothes that are popping up all over.
An early glimpse of this year’s Boots Christmas campaign shows the delightful Jenna Coleman sweetly doling out gifts in a white collar poking out from her festive woolly.
Holly Willoughby was seen wearing a white Alessandra rich dress with a lace collar for her book launch. Claudia Winkleman and the Duchess-of Cambridge are both big fans of white-collar power.
The white collar is the antithesis of the plunging neckline. They look safe and reassuring – part nanny, part Puritan.
Trustworthiness is shown in women wearing white collars. She’s nice, efficient and fair. Which is what makes them an excellent disguise for when you want to pull off something tricky – or simply want to be really difficult…
I’m willing someone to remember me…
Many women will have understood why Dame Diana Rigg left a manicurist at her local salon £5,000 in her will, and then wondered who we might be tempted to leave some cash to.
But also, let’s be honest, who might gratefully leave a little something to us.
Unfortunately, no one is likely to believe that my services made enough difference to their lives to want me to be included in their will.
But hopefully there’s time to work on it.