Style expert Susan Muncey looks at the trend for extreme body art, which has entered mainstream fashion design and culture... A far cry from bespectacled, retro-inspired geek chic – or the homogenized 'normcore' look, is the trend for increasingly extreme tattooing and body piercing. Although tattoos have been around since Neolithic times, and 5000-year ... Read More...
Susan Muncey reviews the major Alexander McQueen retrospective at the V&A and marvels at the late designer's constant creativity... Commercial yet contrarian, Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) inhabited a parallel world to most of those around him. Being so rapidly catapulted from council house kid to multi-millionaire couturier ... Read More...
Susan learns the story the striking red suit worn by the late, lamented, notorious artist Sebastian Horsley... The star attraction at this year's Visuology Lecture, which took place at Viktor Wynd’s Museum of Curiosities (apart from innumerable specimens of taxidermy, twisted ephemera, macabre and medical memorabilia), was Savile Row tailor, Richard Anderson. One of the ... Read More...
Resident style guru and trend-spotter Susan Muncey looks at the garish world of candy kitsch... Candy kitsch is a trend that won’t go away. From the 1960s to the ‘80s, American toys like Barbie, My Little Pony and Care Bears transformed the colour palette of the young wardrobe. During the 1990s, when many international brands ... Read More...
Susan investigates cutting edge pet-related lifestyle trends. Brace yourself, this is going to get weird... Adults have become frozen in time, wishing to remain childlike for as long as possible. Women are putting off having children until later in life, if at all. Playful pets have become substitute children for many. ... Read More...
In a welcome return to The Dabbler, our style guru Susan Muncey meets artist Roger Miles, whose works form part of the 'Bright Old Things' project at Selfridges... Contrary to the media portrayal of older people, not all are sitting at home feeling lonely. This is just as well, because according to ... Read More...
This week our intrepid style guru gets scrubbed, pummelled, prodded and poked on a trip to the countryside... Where were you on the day Margaret Thatcher died? It may turn out to be one of those occasions you will never forget – like JFK’s assassination, the death of Princess Diana, 9/11 ... Read More...
Belated Happy Easter! Television highlights of my Easter weekend included Easter at King’s and Barabbas, starring Anthony Quinn (holder of a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). By far the best entertainment was provided by a friend’s 86 year old mother, who played the piano and sang like an angel after ... Read More...
To la Poisonnerie de l’Avenue, where courtesy of a generous friend, we dined on a feast of melt-in-the-mouth asparagus - followed by a succession of beautifully presented seafood dishes, reminiscent of Elizabeth David five decades ago. My oeufs a la neige (which predictive type keeps trying to turn ‘beige’) au ... Read More...
A couple of weeks ago an issue of Sunday Times Style Magazine appeared to be dedicated to the feminist cause. There was an article by Camilla Long on the relevance of feminism today, accompanied by comments from Caitlin Moran and a number of media-savvy younger women involved with female causes. ... Read More...