The exceptional fashion exhibition, The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture, is well worth seeing, particularly for those who ever doubted fashion is art. Following are some notes I took listening to a talk by Katie Somerville, senior curator at NGV (National Gallery of Victoria).

It’s been a while between posts, but people – I’ve been in Europe! And yes, I went to this exhibition. Ok, so I’m not actually a royalist but I do have respect for Queen Elizabeth as, unlike our current crop of self (serving!) made ‘celebrities’, she did not seek this role but it has completely dominated her life. So now we have that sorted, I want to share with you my experience of visiting Buck Pal recently to see the new exhibition, Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen’s Wardrobe.

I have it on good authority that many women swoon* as they look at a pair of stilettos. But I’ve never understood this as all I see is pain, rounded shoulders, hunched over backs, clunky, clompy, clumsy walking styles to keep from toppling and a reminder of having broken my leg in three places and not walking for five months. But the Powerhouse Museum's exhibition Recollect: Shoes did make me swoon.