How will Carrie cope with the hideousness of Chequers?
Zut alors! The court of King Boris gets more like Versailles each day. With some talcum powder on that ramshackle…
Nicky Haslam: How will Boris decorate No. 10?
‘Volcanic temper… suspicious of everyone… irritability, mood swings… terror stalking the shadows… devastating collapse of Europe’s economy… rampant insecurity, unbridled…
The Wallis Simpson I knew – by Nicky Haslam
One would have thought this particular can of worms might, after nearly 80 years, be well past its sell-by date.…
Bryant’s tyrants: Chris Bryant bashes the British aristocracy
I rashly discarded this book’s dustjacket when I received it, and thus saw only the unlettered cover, a faded photograph…
Nicky Haslam: my two absolutely fabulous girlfriends
Many years ago, working on a project in Tel Aviv, I had a meeting-free weekend. I know, I thought, I’ll…
Clothes to die for
People tend to use the term ‘fashion victim’ somewhat damningly — and maybe jealously — to describe someone obsessed by…
Madly Modern Mary overcomes childhood hardships to become the Queen of Shops
In this autobiography, Mary Portas doesn’t dip into the fabled store of her talents by giving an account of her…
Nicky Haslam’s diary: Marie-Anna Berta Felicie Johanna Ghislaine Theodora Huberta Georgina Helene Genoveva and other big names
I was once bundled into a police car in Palm Springs to explain why I didn’t have snow-tyres on my…
Nicky Haslam on sharing a lover with Elsa Schiaparelli and the endearing punk of Vivienne Westwood
A comet streaked into France in the 1930s, its fallout sending the staid echelons of haute couture into a tailspin.…
The genius of Cecil Beaton’s interiors
The odds were a hundred to one against him. Brought up in bourgeois Bayswater by genteel parents, Cecil Beaton was…
Cecil Beaton, the bitch
Beaton was the great inventor. Apart from inventing not only himself but his look, his voice, his persona and a…
A summer's social whirl, from Bette Midler to Satan
This summer brought highs and lows, sadness and laughter, some irritating, some exhilarating. I was fortunate to be uplifted by…
Tea with Greta Garbo's decorator
Many people write, or at least used to write, fan letters to their film favourites. Usually all they received in…
