Yahoo News Londoner's Diary: Mitford sisters live on at Milan Fashion Week
LONDON Fashion Week is over and the world’s best clothes-horses are heading to Milan. But amid the turmoil of Brexit, and ahead of Theresa May’s speech in Florence tomorrow, it’s good to see a small slice of Englishness in the shadows of Il Duomo di Milano.
Yesterday Gucci showcased its new collection to great acclaim from the international audience. But the Brits on the front row let out a gasp at the appearance of a model in shorts and a navy, wool jumper with the slogan: “Never marry a Mitford”. Those with a working knowledge of the group of aristocratic sisters realised that Gucci had borrowed the concept from toff history.
Who better to explain than Sophia Money-Coutts, features director at Tatler? “The late 11th Duke of Devonshire liked slogans a lot and had some of them stitched into blue jerseys which he’d wear to potter about Chatsworth,” she wrote on Instagram. “‘Never marry a Mitford’ was one of his slogans.”
The Duke actually did marry a Mitford, the youngest sister Deborah, or Debo, so the jumper is either jolly funny or jolly cruel. The pair have already contributed to the fashion world, as the grandparents of British model Stella Tennant.
The original jumpers are on show at an exhibition called House Style: Five Centuries of Fashion at Chatsworth, which happens to be sponsored by Gucci, suggesting that creative director Alessandro Michele paid a visit.
The jumper is sure to transcend its Home Counties origins to land on the Christmas list of any woman with style, from Sobranie-smoking Parisians to cosmopolitan New Yorkers. “I’d probably wear mine with jeans instead of boxer shorts,” Money-Coutts adds. “But that’s fashion for you.”
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Goodbye Stephen Quinn, Vogue’s publishing director, who is following the trend of leaving the mag. He departs after more than 26 years — he was there longer than Alexandra Shulman — with colleagues including chairman Nicholas Coleridge paying tribute. “Stephen has sold more glossy advertising than anyone else alive in Britain today. He holds strong views, is famous for his outbursts, is well read, a brilliant motivator. And he always wears red socks.”
The joy of tech rings out for Whishaw
Ben Whishaw is used to technology — he plays MI6’s Q in the Bond films — but last night tech made an unwelcome appearance during a stage performance.
Whishaw is starring as a Silicon Valley billionaire in Christopher Shinn’s Against, at the Almeida in Islington. Last night he was interrupted by a mobile phone ringing in the auditorium. He ignored it — he was in the middle of a speech about how modern life is numbing us to spirituality when the ringing started again.
Without missing a beat he added a new vice to the list. “Our distractions!” he shouted, gesturing at the crowd. He waited for the ringing to stop before continuing. A real tycoon would have ordered a drone strike on the guilty party.
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Daddy Josh is back in the spotlight
THE Raindance Film Festival opened in London last night with the premiere of Josh Hartnett’s new movie Oh Lucy! at the Vue in Leicester Square. The American star was kept company on opening night by comedian Ben Miller, actress Millie Brady and Born to Kill star Jack Rowan.
It was the first public appearance by the actor since his wife, British actress Tamsin Egerton, gave birth to their second child in August. And no dad bod in sight.
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A hop down to the Grosvenor House Hotel last night for the launch of The Royal Rabbits: Escape from the Tower, the new children’s book from Santa and Simon Sebag Montefiore. The story sees a gang of bunnies take on a conglomerate of media rats, and includes glimpses of a US President and a royal family. “It’s not the real president and it’s not the real king and queen,” Santa told us. “It’s hard because I know the Prince of Wales, so it’s not based on them — although the Queen has corgis.”
Chabuddy G takes flight
SIR Ian McKellen, Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor are just some of the top stars in British Airways’ latest flight safety video but it’s Asim Chaudhry who stands out.
The People Just Do Nothing star wrote the script and reprised his Chabuddy G role from the BBC Three show for the hilarious inflight skit but admits that he still hasn’t got a clue what to do if there’s a plane emergency.
“I did this video and I still don’t really know what would happen if a plane crashed, I never pay attention,” he said during a live recording of the Thanks For Trying podcast. “All I know is that dangly s*** comes down in front of my face!”
Asim also shared the reality of growing up in a west London suburb just 10 minutes from Heathrow Airport. “You go primary school, you go secondary school, you don’t go uni, you work in the family business for a bit and then you go to work at Heathrow,” he laughed. “It is absolutely mad.”
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EYE-ROLL of the day: Liam Gallagher blames people not buying music for him having to make his own cups of tea. Stop crying your heart out, mate.
Did Fred really bowl JLo over?
EX England cricketer star Andrew Flintoff was at The Ned last night to launch a new collection with menswear brand Jacamo — here he is in a promo shot. Actor Jon Hamm, he said, once praised his suit at a party.
“I wore it on the Jonathan Ross show and Jennifer Lopez could’t keep her eyes off me,” he said.
