I’ve been at Chatsworth, as usual, today. The Christmas decorations have gone up and they were, uhm, pretty but nothing to get bowled over by!
When you are a follower of fashion, the irony is you look the same as everyone else, you sound the same as every one else, you do the same as everyone else. Very monotonous and original.
What absolutely fascinates me is the mental jiggery-pokery and gymnastics of the staff who have been briefed that they must like the decorations, stand up for them and profess ‘yes, I like modern design, the contemporary.’
You can see they’re desperate to say ‘bit shit aren’t they!’ A little bit blah and sparse looking. I’ve picked the best photo of my trip to give an idea.
Stately homes and grand houses used to be the setters of fashion, not followers. Maybe we won’t have much sway in getting others to abandon fashion but…
We can, in our own lives, show how things might be done.
Go large. Go the extra mile. Be exuberant.