This year marks The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair's 30th Birthday, launched by Patricia Harvey, and which has made Battersea Park its home since 1997. We are relatively new converts but it is a fixture in our calendar along with every discerning interior designer and collector around the capital. The thrice-yearly event opened its doors for autumn purchases on Tuesday and runs until the end of the weekend. On our walkabout we noticed delicious pieces of art, an amazing pair of mid-century Czech bookshelves and a ravishingly-red Chinese console table. I wore a favourite vintage velvet jacket, last seen in 'Red on Red', a pair of Armani navy pinstripes (previous outing: The only real adventure is me...) with a simple white linen shirt, neon-pink Miss Sixty belt, satin wedges by Castañer, and an Italian leather bag from Brixton Village Market.
‘Fashion is an expression of the times. Elegance is something else again.’ Horst, 1984
The V&A's current exhibition on Horst: Photographer of Style encapsulates a life's work behind the lens, from that corset for Mainbocher to a Persepolis bull, and brings together unforgettable portraits and images of high style and glamour. Horst created more than 90 front covers for Vogue from the '30s to '60s. Notably that 1939 photograph for Vogue of the Detolle corset for Mainbocher informed Madonna's music video, Vogue, in the '90s. Horst P. Horst established himself as one of Vogue's photographers of choice in the '40s, so what better way to be inspired by the German-born virtuoso than wear my own impeccable dress from that era - an original Fashion Preferred, Styled by Jack Liebman. Who he? For my trip to the V&A, my classic black taffeta dress with velvet cuffs and collar stood the test of time on the steps in south Kensington, passing by the Christmas Tree 'Ceremony' by Gareth Pugh in the main entrance hall as well as a stroll through the classic sculpture gallery, keeping company with Diana the Huntress and Helen of Troy. My 'Feather in my Cap' hat was jaunty enough and my cane-handled velvet bag too. The Russell & Bromley grosgrain platforms from the '70s are a failsafe: glamorous and funky. And the tights, by Jonathan Aston, add a bit of jazz! The homage to Horst ends this weekend so pile on the glamour and take a stroll through these timeless images.
Tate Modern is always good for a stroll through its magnificent Turbine Hall: Richard Tuttle's 'I Don't Know'. The Weave of Textile Language is the largest installation by this renowned American sculptor, and the newly commissioned piece thoroughly suits the space. Its arrival coincides with a retrospective of the artist's work at the Whitechapel Gallery. I couldn't resist the chrome yellow walls on the second floor - a sharp contrast to all the black and white I'm wearing - top by Jesiré with sequinned collar and cuffs; Italian trousers by Massimo Rebecchi, with more sequins; and silk sling-backs by Dolce & Gabbana. The vintage fur is from the '70s and the velvet bag, with cane handle, is even older. Up on the second floor at Tate Modern, a retrospective, Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963-2010 highlights the work of one of the most radical and original artists of the past 50 years, who used an unlikely array of materials and media to work with - from soot and bubble wrap, to potatoes and python, as well as ground dust from a Chilean meteor! This true astronaut of the experimental was also given to wearing his own art - note the image at the entrance to the show - of Polke draped in a litany of archaic German insults called: 'The Large Cloth of Abuse'.
