OLD CLOTHES

Old clothes can be wonderful, for the intimate glimpses they afford of life in the past, and for the sheer beauty of the objects themselves, the workmanship, the bold use of pattern and material. I love the 18th century shoes above, with their overscaled floral designs, especially the one with fat, metallic embroidery, in the V & A, and the entire dressing set (1670?) somehow preserved at Knole in Kent, above right, with its chic, matching silk damask tablecloth, slippers and gown.

Above, two 18th century footmen's liveries, the red one from Paris, now in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, the other in Ivan Bruschi's museum in Arezzo, Tuscany. They have such fantastic style, with their bands of patterned, textured velvet ribbon, like a cross between upholstery and tailoring. Below, a woman's silk dress and two men's waistcoats, all English 18th century, in the V & A give a vivid sense of the luxury and beauty of clothes made for the social parade of the age.

Below, a dress and hat of Evita Peron's that I saw in her house/museum in Buenos Aires. The dress - is it Dior? - with its loose appliquéd black 'falling leaves' is pure genius, so simple, so beautifully crafted, so clever. It's now the star of the museum, softly humming Don't Cry for Me, Argentina inside its glass case; how wonderful it must once have looked in motion.

Finally, below, two very poignant waistcoats worn by Count Lajos Batthyány, leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, in the National Museum in Budapest in 1984: the lovely velvet one is in the Hungarian revolutionary colours of red, white and green, apt for this hero who resisted the might of the Austrian Emperor and died shouting "Rejoice, my homeland, come on you huntsmen!"