Each dress symbolizes the age that it's appropriate for.

The Queen's wedding dress in 1947, there was some embroidery on the train which was definitely there to illustrate new dawn/post-war optimism, that sort of thing.

I think, to me, the sheer joy of fancy dress is that it allows you to take a break from our very carefully considered and constructed identities.

The trouble with glossy magazines is that they tend to be stuffed with articles about handbag designers - the sort of women who, with their perfectly styled lives, immaculate houses, and adoring partners, make you want to become a hermit.

Personal shoppers in big department stores are seriously under-used.

A lot of women find that their workwear acts as armour.