WHEN I WAS ABOUT EIGHT, I WAS DESPERATE to have a purple ceiling in my bedroom. I grew up in the Sixties and Seventies and the homes of my parents’ friends were very colourful: purple on purple; lilac on lilac; felt walls on suede, shag pile carpets, that kind of thing.
GOING BACK TO OUR HOME AND THINKING IT WAS VERY QUIET BY COMPARISON, with lots of antiques and a 1950s vibe. The only moments of exuberance were judicious bits of moss green William Morris on the sofa or the curtains. I remember feeling the design in the space I inhabited was extremely underpowered. However, as far as my mother was concerned there was something very, very wrong with purple and she refused point blank to let me have a purple ceiling. So eventually, we settled on a compromise and I was allowed a very pale blue one. I wonder whether I would have been a very different person if I had been allowed that purple ceiling.
MY FATHER’S MOTHER WAS A VERY TALENTED SEAMSTRESS and she used to make these incredible uniforms for me which I absolutely adored. There was something of the Prince Regent about me as a child and I definitely loved uniforms. I had a series of them which were all perfect. She did a complete Beau Brummell outfit for me as well which I absolutely loved, but I would take it a bit further and used to make my own combinations: so, I could wear the trousers of one uniform, the bearskin of another and then a little bit of Indian Brave in between. Any sartorial interest in the dressing up box started more or less from the year dot with me.
Denne historien er fra July 2021-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
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Denne historien er fra July 2021-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
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