Threads That Connect Across Time
Standing in the fashion archives at the National Museum of Scotland, the assistant carefully unfolded the tissue paper wrapped around the roasted chocolate-coloured velvet dolman mantle. The label read: "Barrance & Ford, Ladies Tailors, Hastings". For me, it might as well have shouted: "Your...
Enter the realm of perhaps…
I once got into a heated tussle about straying over the fine line between fact and fiction in my historical writing. My critic thought...
‘It Can’t Be Done’; A Personal & Historical Perspective
Throughout history, the most transformative advances have often begun with someone being told something was impossible. As a historian unveiling a Victorian Fashion emporium,...
A Legacy of Grandeur
WHEN CAUTION MET COURAGE IN THE SALONS OF AN Edwardian Fashion House
Picture the raised eyebrows: In 1906, a dying court costumier leaves his flourishing fashion house not to his male business partner, as caution and paternalistic tradition would dictate, but to his female shop manager.
This book is about Charles Barrance's life, how that led him to that remarkable, convention-changing moment, and the contrast with Robert White Ford, the man who missed out. Does it also prove to be a sound business decision when Jessie Drake, the woman, takes charge?
Set against the glamour and glitz of high-class fashion, the outcome that gets unveiled will inspire anyone whose life leans toward caution or who dares to meet courage head-on.