Its not a frock, but...

Six years ago I went to a ball and met a man in a Jean Paul Gaultier kilt, and I don't think I've ever recovered...

Perhaps it was the male counterpart to this chocolate symphony 2002 mink and chiffon version...

Across the pond, it would appear kilts are making a comeback as working attire, (the pictures from this site would just not come over here to play, hmph) and I'm relieved (if not entirely calmed) to find out that they all come with "standard modesty snap closure system to keep the neighborhood wives from fainting".

Chaps of the world, now is the time to show us your knees!

The greatest provocations of lust are from our apparel.

Robert Burton (1577 - 1640)

Gone with the What?

So I was trying to find a delicious Gone with the Wind costumes web page I once saw, if only to drool (again) over the wonderous confections I dream of wearing/being/possibly just stroking for a while. So I google away, and what comes up is the...ahem...loo-roll cover to the left...

Lovely yes, made by a company called Mori Lee, but many questions spring to mind: Do I really want to get married in teal? How will I get through doors? Has a bird pooped near my hemline?*

So, I eventually found the website I wanted to share, and its still lovely, Walter Plunkett, you were a man of true genius and fabulous style.

Now go find out which of Scarlett O'Hara's dresses you are. I am the burgundy ballgown, which (if you recall the film at all) probably says more than it needs to...

(*Answers: No, With Difficulty, I'm hoping its embroidery...)


I have always said that the best clothes are invisible…they make you notice the person.
Katherine Hamnett, 1989

Going Potty

Do you remember those Royal Doulton and Franklin Mint porcelain figurines that haunted the back pages of the Sunday Supplements? Lovingly crafted costumed beauties with titles like 'Lady Anna Louise' or 'Spirit of Purity'. The fledgling costume sprite inside me so wanted to love them....but I didn't. I think it was their cold dead eyes...

Anyway, if we're talking pottery, remember this Ming vase-inspired wonder? Made by the creator of all things red carpet Roberto Cavalli for his Autumn/Winter 2005 collection, it was famously worn by the Ming vase-shaped clothes horse herself, Victoria Beckham for Elton Johns White Tie & Tiara ball.

Isn't it just the most divine pottery-inspired frock you've ever seen?

Apart, of course, from these or maybe even these...

With charm, you’ve got to get up close to see it; style slaps you in the face.

John Cooper Clarke, 1985

Reasons for Sequins

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My mother always said I was born in a dressing up box, and I spent my formative years costuming myself and my little brother as gypsy women, historical figures and (rather more obscurely) 1980s tennis players for the entertainment of family and friends (at some point, there will be pictures, sorry little bro! But thanks for being such a great mannequin...)

I've spent the last 10 years working with (and frequently IN) costume, and I've seen so many wonderful things that I just have to share with fellow frock obsessives. I want this to be an online bedazzled tour and sequinned wild ride through the world of costume and fashion; there will be frocks a-plenty, quite a bit of knitting, probably some shoes, and really just a whole lot of fabric, fashion and utter fabulousness, this I promise you gentle readers.

I owe a great debt to the marvellous Erin McKean and her blog, plus the lovely ladies at gofugyourself.com, who have inspired me with their tales of delightful dresses and dreadful frock-ups, and convinced me there is a place for costume on the web, not just in my over-stuffed wardrobe. Ladies, I really hope I can do you proud! My thanks also to my employers of a few years back, for whom I spent my time dreaming up ways to improve our website, most of which were ignored or rejected, thus leaving me free to use them here - my time spent as a costume wage-slave will not be wasted!

So please, keep your hands inside the be-ribboned car, hold on tight to your corset laces, and make sure you tip your waitress, because she needs that pair of Irregular Choice green metallic snakeskin shoes with the wedge heel and the silver rosette...


Now thats me up above, take a moment to admire the charming way (at age 4 no less) that I have paired my mum's best garden party hat, her black velour evening top, her dove grey suede peep toe stilettoes (oh how I loved those shoes! I wish I knew where they were now...), with a single Christmas bauble worn on one ear - money just can't buy that kind of styling...

Bring on the frocks!

FD xx


I like to be really dressed up or really undressed. I don’t bother with anything in between
Marilyn Monroe