What Katie Did
SEAMS AND SCANDAL
From a rediscovered Tatler editorial to the sumptuous costumes of Outrageous, this week’s newsletter connects Mitford glamour past and present; with a familiar latte seam quietly tying it all together.
Darling ,
Some stories refuse to stay neatly in the past; they resurface, overlap, and suddenly feel timely all over again. The Mitfords are exactly that kind of story, weaving together fashion, politics, and culture in ways that still feel strangely modern.
A rediscovered Tatler moment
While sorting through saved images on my phone recently, I stumbled across a Tatler issue from last year that I’d clearly filed away for a reason. The cover stars Bessie Carter, photographed ahead of her turn as Nancy Mitford in Outrageous: and the images are every bit as striking now as they were then.
Inside, Tatler explores Bessie’s connection to Nancy, her immersion in the role, and why the Mitfords continue to fascinate. It’s a reminder that good photography, and good storytelling, doesn’t date.
A familiar seam in Tatler
Elsewhere in that same issue is a separate fashion editorial, and it stopped me mid-scroll for a very different reason: our latte seamed stockings appear in the shoot.
Whether the editorial was quietly influenced by the Mitford revival or simply drawing from the same 1930s-inflected elegance, the pairing feels completely natural. Our Champagne stockings with latte seams were designed to echo vintage daywear; refined, flattering, and historically grounded; which is exactly why they’ve long been favourites with costume designers and stylists.
Seeing them styled in Tatler, even a few months on, felt like a small but satisfying confirmation of why these stockings continue to resonate.
Outrageous: beauty with bite
That rediscovered magazine moment sent me straight back to Outrageous, the six-part drama charting the lives of the Mitford sisters in the 1920s and 1930s. I finally binge-watched it just before Christmas: late to the party, as it originally aired on BritBox and has only recently arrived on BBC iPlayer.
Costumes play a huge role, and the designer is Claire Collins, who we’ve worked with previously on Father Brown and Sister Boniface Mysteries. While we don’t know if anything of ours appeared on screen, the wardrobes are a masterclass in expressive, story-led dressing.
The series is visually sumptuous and beautifully cast (Bessie Carter is outstanding), but it also carries real weight. A gentle heads-up: the Mitfords’ deeply divisive politics are central to the story, and some dark themes sit beneath the glamour; handled with nuance, but worth knowing before you watch.
Also available on Britbox, Amazon Prime and Apple TV
The book behind the drama
The series is based on The Mitford Girls by Mary S Lovell: a richly researched, highly readable biography that gives each sister depth and context without judgement. If Outrageous leaves you wanting to dig deeper (and it almost certainly will), the book is a perfect next step.
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