Swan in strawberries on black Whale by artists who had never

by artists who had never seen the real thing

Miss Firbank would have been a contemporary of Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary Crawley

By the 1920s they had stores in Nice

held in the John Bright Collection

This hand-stitched paper dress is based on a green wool mohair sheath made by Charles James in 1952-1953 as a sample for New York ready-to-wear manufacturer Samuel Winston

Swan in strawberries on black Whale by artists who had neverThis swan is based on an illustration of Der Schwan from Johann Daniel Meyers 1748 book Angenehmer Und Ntzlicher Zeit Vertreib Mit Betrachtung Curioser Vorstellungen Allerhand Kriechender, Fliegender Und Schwimmender, Auf Dem Land Und Im Wasser Sich Befindender Und Nhrender Thiere. In English, thats A pleasant and useful pastime, with the contemplation of curious ideas about all sorts of crawling, flying, and swimming animals, living and feeding on