Is it ever acceptable to prioritise style over comfort or safety? Er, yes.

Is it ever acceptable to prioritise style over comfort or safety? Er, yes. Obviously it's a question of degree, and that will forever be a matter of debate. A pregnant Duchess of Cambridge takes a slight stumble in three-inch heels and the world, apart that is, from the section of it that likes to froth online, shrugs and moves on. C-list celeb falls flat on her face in six-inch heels or gives herself an asthma attack with constricting Hervé Léger dress and everyone wants to put her in a strait jacket, although they're not comfortable either.

Kate Middleton's fashion hits and misses in pictures

Then again, if you follow comfort through to its logical conclusion, you end up permanently in pyjamas. Some folk do, and if they're well-cut, luxurious and not really pyjamas, it can look rather elegant. But it's not a solution for all.

The Dress Reformers of the late 19th century met with an element of success in their mission to drum sense into clothing when they tried to take women's underwear in hand. In 1851, Elizabeth Smith Miller, a New England advocate of temperance, began wearing harem pants under knee-length skirts. This trend gained at least three other followers, one of whom, Amelia Bloomer, put them on the cover of Lily, the temperance magazine she edited, as well as endowing them with her name. But even Amelia dropped them, in a manner of speaking, a few years later when crinoline arrived on the scene. She said the crinoline was enough of a reform to render bloomers unnecessary. A likely story. Crinis were crazy. But they probably looked pretty hot in 1859. That's fashion for you. Even the temperance brigade weren't immune.

THE SKETCH IS IN THE POST, MR BOWIE

David Bowie's Earthling cover

I've never seen such a long queue for a preview of any exhibition as the line outside the V&A's new blockbuster David Bowie Is on Wednesday night. Disappointingly, there was only one fan - a woman - with Ziggy Stardust's saffron hair, although there was a smattering of Thin White Duke fedoras.

It is the V&A's fastest selling-exhibition ever - advance ticket sales have topped 47,000. Once it opens to the public tomorrow, perhaps there'll be more flamboyant dressers mooching through the exhibits.

Kansai Yamamoto on designing for David Bowie in April 1973

Those who survive the crush will find, among 300 pictures, costumes and film clips, a letter to the singer from the late Alexander McQueen, apologising that he hadn't got round to sending any sketches yet. The Union Jack coat that eventually materialised, was, like most of McQueen's designs, fabulous and Bowie wore it on the cover of Earthling.

Anyone who experienced the lacunae before McQueen's catwalk shows - and that's everyone who went to one - will surely feel even more lurve for Bowie knowing he had to wait for McQueen too.

Via: Is it ever acceptable to prioritise style over comfort or safety? Er, yes.