The pressure to wear mainly British designers lifted off my shoulders; I dabbled with new names such as Jacques Azagury. This was back in 1995 on a trip to Venice - the ultimate freedom statement. I was caught up in the fantasy that (history was repeating itself) this had happened before, stuck in a corset being tightened by a boa constrictor whilst bending time. The curved Balustrades worked their way back into my hemline turning my pockets inside out. Same year, Argentina, holding a matching clutch and again a couple of years later an event for the American Red Cross in Washington DC. 10 years on, I delivered my final remarks as First Lady in the Whitehouse in a long, sleeved, floor length dress with a cutout neckline. These occasions were typical; your fall of dress was your fall from grace said the maid to her sister. I wanted it to be infinite, extending way beyond the occasion. Instead of considering truth I considered the effects. Making a statement, I welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping on the first official day of his state visit. Former Prime Minister David Cameron was seeking stronger trade ties with the world’s second-largest economy. I always spoke in allegory; no logic necessarily linked the figures other than their visibility online and some vague personified memory of them, identification was important. They stir and collide which I preferred. Conservative party Spring forum, 2017, wearing republican colors in Cardiff, shortly after announcing I would invoke article 50 later that month. I divided it into two, then four, eight and so on, counting as I did so, an infinite grouping of individuals, which were referred to as harmony. The folds now stood out like a ravine; I masked my mourning with evasion, swooning in order to escape the clogging that turns me into a sensible actor. It was supposed to be a hoax, like the popular nineteenth century form of entertainment that tested the intelligence of the audience; less a form of deception than a way to interrogate and invite the public to find the flaws in this apparent natural truth.
Photo credits: Aurélien MoleCourtesy of La Plage, Paris