My boyfriend, knowing my obsession for English Style, gifted me with an amazing book: Luella's Giude to English Style, which is all but a mere guide. It's some kind of inspirational breviary. More of an anthropological study than a style guide...The book is very funny and informative. Bartley dissects how in England style is inevitably tribal and inextricably linked to class. The upper classes believe that to look posh, nothing should look new (Sloane style) while the lower classes believe that to look posh everything should be new and shiny (Wags). Luella (who, for those who didn't know is a wonderful fashion designer) provides a combines chapters full of information about British style tribes and typically English clothes with more humorous shorter chapters.
Inspired by this book, here is my top ten English Birds (as she calls her English muses):
Isabella Blow
Vita Sackville-West
Virginia Woolf
Justine Frischmann
Florence Welch
Annabella Lwin
Vivienne Westwood
Kate Bush
Kate Moss
Helena Bonham Carter
