For the best dressed bookworms

Piglet and Pooh discussed the merits of the jumpsuit.

When I was at university the subject of my Masters dissertation was on the significance of clothes in the Victorian novel.  Before you doze off..I LOVED doing that because it combined researching my two favourite things in the entire world, books and clothes.  All of you out there reading this may occasionally have come across the view from certain folk that fashion is frivolous, unimportant and shallow.  Yes it can be..but it can also be an art form, a defense (Lily Bart in the House of Mirth), a passport to a better life (Scarlett trying to fool Rhett by wearing a dress made out of curtains) or even your key to a double existence (Orlando). I find inspiration from everything around me so imagine my joy then when I discover this post on Flavorwire, Literature’s 10 Best-Dressed Authors. It got me a'thinking..who are some of the best dressed characters in literature that have inspired you? I'd love to know...

I could have put up any picture of Scarlett but I always adored her ruffled dress

Ben Barnes did not do adequate justice to Oscar Wilde's scintillating anti-hero Dorian Gray but that dapper dandy would always be in my list of inspirations.

Gillian Anderson in the lavish costumes for the most recent adaptations for The House Of Mirth (2000)

Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, Theoni V Aldredge won the Best Costume Design Oscar at the 1974 ceremony and it's easy to see why.

The Montdores (Cedric included) in Nancy's Love in a Cold Climate.

Holly Gollightly because it was love at first read, compounded by the film.  The original novel is actually set in 1940's Manhattan.

 

Virginia Woolf's remarkable Orlando...

..and a remarkable portrayal by Tilda Swinton.

Lastly, Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, always seemed to conjure up the perfect Summer holiday and      inspired a love of all things nautical, grey school jumpers, flannel shorts and Peter Pan collared dresses.                          I've never grown out of it!