The threads of history: study sheds light on Pepys' keen fashion sense

He might be best known for his juicy diary, administrative prowess and wandering eye-but new research has highlighted a different side of Samuel Pepys: that of a budding fashionista.

- Nicola Davis

A historian from the University of Cambridge has analysed the diarist's collection of French fashion engravings, arguing that they not only show Pepys was keeping up with the scholarly and gentlemanly trend of collecting prints, but also reflect a long-term interest in the latest styles.

"It demonstrates that Pepys had - to put it in very colloquial terms a finger in a lot of pies," said Marlo Avidon, whose study has been published in the journal The Seventeenth Century. "[He] was very concerned with appearing a certain way and cultivating this gentlemanly reputation both in an intellectual capacity and as a member of fashionable society."