A comet streaked into France in the 1930s, its fallout sending the staid echelons of haute couture into a tailspin. A mere 30 years later a rogue missile blasted into London, blowing dainty English clothes sense to smithereens. Both these thunderbolts shot the stuffing out of cloying conventionality, one with an arrow-narrow silhouette, the other by blitzing the luxe out of luxury, the ex out of exclusivity.
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Elsa Schiaparelli, £20 and Vivienne Westwood, £22.50 are available from the Spectator Bookshop Tel: 08430 600033. Nicky Haslam’s memoir A Designer’s Life will be published later this month.
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