All I want for Christmas is . . .

. . . to reach the ribbing on the second sleeve of my slate Wondrella cardigan. And I'm going to be disappointed.

I know that it's a busy time of year, and that I've got more to do this year than previously, but I'm still in disbelief at just how long this is taking. I'm sure that the first sleeve, which I finished some weeks ago, wasn't this tortuous.

Current mood

I have knitted through films. I have knitted through costume dramas. I have knitted through podcasts. And I've still got a long way to go.

The second sleeve laid over the first

Obviously the rounds get shorter as the sleeve narrows, but even in terms of total number of stitches I'm less than halfway through. Sigh.

So all that remains is to wish everyone who celebrates a very Merry Christmas. And if you are trying to finish a project for the 25th, may you have more success than I will!

How it all began - part 2

When I went to the Cecil Beaton exhibition the other week, I discovered that a number of the photographs, and the sitters in his society portraits, were familiar to me - and it's all due to this book.

With my 6" ruler at the side for scale

This history of 60 years of British Vogue was first published in 1975, and my mum received a copy as a Christmas present (probably after some very strong hints to my dad!) two years later. It's hard now, in a world where endless images are easily available online, to explain just how amazing this heavily illustrated book seemed almost 50 years ago. I spent many hours looking through it, and while The Story of Clothes and Costume sparked my interest in historical clothing, my love of vintage fashions can be traced back to these pages.

It's a wealth of period imagery

The book is split into seven chapters. Most cover more or less a decade, but the first one looks at the end of the First World War and its aftermath.

The opening of the first chapter

Each chapter begins with a written account of the period covered, and then goes into year-by-year coverage.

1919, in pictures

There is also a section in each chapter called "The Changing Face", which features famous women of the period, presumably chosen as representative of the ideal look of the time.

Gertrude Lawrence and Lady Ashley in the 1924-29 chapter

For me reading the book in the 1970s, the chapter on the thirties was the first to feature what looked like 'clothes' rather than historical costumes.

1970s me could imagine wearing some of these

My parents married in 1955, and much of our furniture came from that time, so the image at the start of the chapter on the fifties was entirely relatable.

Very familiar chairs!

The images for this decade include both formal, quintessentially 'fifties' dresses, and more relaxed looks which seemed entirely wearable in the 1970s and still are today. (Ideally made in better materials, though!)

London couture, spring 1953

Casual looks in the new wonder fabric - nylon!

The sixties and early seventies didn't hold a great deal of interest for me at the time, and I must admit they still don't.

1960

1969

Some of the last images in the book are from 1974-5, and show the thirties revival in fashion at the time.

Contrasting seventies styles, loose and fitted

But out of the 300-plus pages of the book, it was the images of the 1940s which I liked the most.

1942-43

1944

This was where I first saw Cecil Beaton's photograph Fashion is Indestructible, and I fell in love with the clean lines and pared-back elegance of it all. I was thrilled to see the original in the exhibition.

As it appears at the start of the chapter on the 1940

It's fair to say that this book has got a lot to answer for!

Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World

I have had a day trip to London - quite an event as I haven't been more than 40 miles from home since February! The reason for this jaunt was to see Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World at the National Portrait Gallery, and it did not disappoint.

Setting the scene

The exhibition covers Beaton's life from his early photography to his work designing costumes for the stage and film versions of My Fair Lady. Initially, he photographed family and friends.

Barbara Beaton, c1925

As well as photographs, there are a number of his illustrations.

The Charm of Paris (Gaby Deslys) c1929

His first fashion work for Vogue came in 1927.

Outside Claridge's Hotel

Even as his reputation grew, he continued using the basic camera that he was given at the age of 12 for a surprisingly long time. What made his name initially seems to have been less technical skill and more his compositions and use of unusual props and backgrounds.

Beaton's Kodak 3A folding camera

Princess Emeline de Broglie in raincoat and hat, 1928

Society portraits from, L to R, 1932, 1929 and 1928

The 1930s saw a move to more surrealist images, albeit with a playful slant.

Mona Williams, 1936

Hats are High, 1936

Coats by Charles James, 1936

Although he could still, knowingly, refer back to the illustration styles of the Edwardian era.

Hand-tinted print, 1937

He also spent time in America, where he photographed a number of Hollywood stars.

Alice White, 1929

Despite his extensive work for both the American and British issues of Vogue, he designed relatively few covers. In part this was because he found colour photography tricky and also because, as the exhibition notes tactfully put it, he was "resistant to the art director's brief". The exhibition includes a full set of his covers, both photographed and drawn.

American Vogue covers, 1935 and 1936

Mildred Morton on the cover of British Vogue, 1948

1939 saw Beaton switch to war photography, although one of his best known images from the time mixes war and fashion.

Fashion is Indestructible, 1941

The same combination occurs in this immediately post-war shot of Balmain clothing in Paris.

Wool coat and trousers, 1945

Beaton himself admitted that "I started out with very little talent, but a lot of strong ambition", and this does seem to have prompted fallings out with a number of people over the course of his life. Greta Garbo was allegedly furious when the images from what she believed to be a private shoot were sent to Vogue.

Greta Garbo, 1946

Post-war, Beaton applied himself to mastering colour photography.

The Second Age of Beauty is Glamour, 1946

Late Day Richness, 1948

But it's hardly surprising that someone whose compositions were so theatrical should also get involved in costume design. He designed the costumes for the London production of My Fair Lady, starring Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle.

Julie Andrews, dress for the Embassy Ball scene

And then worked on the film version, with Audrey Hepburn.

Publicity still

Beaton with Audrey Hepburn, 1963

This post only shows a fraction of the material in the exhibition, which runs until 11 January 2026. It is a long way from being the grittiest exhibition I've ever been to, and at least one reviewer has criticised it for this. However, I'm not entirely sure what else they expected from an exhibition which begins with the Bright Young Things of the 1920s and ends with a film which is all about artifice. I for one was happy to be immersed in that world for a day.