Avian plumage doesn’t simply enable flight–this miracle of Nature provides birds with protection, shape and colour and remains a highly desirable fashion accoutrement for us, too, finds Charles Harris

The hatbox has long played second-fiddle to fashionable millinery itself, but, in its journey from Regency status symbol to most-elegant luggage in the golden age of travel, there’s a world of wonder to unpack, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee

IT was a clear early spring day, the breeze light and the sands empty. Sea and land seemed to go on forever, their divisions blurred by light and distance. Brigitte Wetherby breathed in the salty air

Silver, red or even black, marriage gowns of the past were seldom white, until Queen Victoria opted for the hue of purity in 1840, discovers Matthew Dennison

To hide my new garden’s nakedness, I planted trees. Damson and mirabelle plum, ‘Discovery’ and reinette apples, two pears, a quince and a ‘Nottingham’ medlar. There was a purple-leaved filbert, a ‘Che

Window dressings shouldn’t be an afterthought – they’re like that one beautiful accessory which makes an outfit perfect