Ugly

[poliphilo]

Margaret Thatcher was an ugly person who wore ugly clothes. Only an uncritical admirer could think of her as a style icon. The Victoria and Albert Museum- which defines itself as a museum of design and the decorative arts- was quite right to turn down a collection of her old duds. It's not part of its remit to warehouse the wardrobes of the famous.

So why did the Thatcher family approach the V & A and apparently no-one else? Mrs T's Aquascutums are of genuine historical interest- and I'm sure there are plenty of charity shops museums which would be only to happy to house them. Did the family never think of approaching the museum in Grantham for instance- or was it not grand enough?

Diehard Thatcherites keep on trying to pressure the rest of us into accepting their heroine as a national icon- like Churchill or Nelson or Elizabeth I- and keep suffering rebuffs. I wish they'd go away. They're not doing my blood pressure any good.

Comments

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

Wasn't she operating in a man's world? Wouldn't that have influenced how she dressed? And maybe caused her to wear unfortunate things?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think she had much dress sense- and her personal taste was (unsurprisingly) conservative. Her image as PM was very largely crafted for her by her designer- and, yes, it reflected her status as a woman in a man's world.