Bianca channels the Duchess

Spotted this week at the Victoria & Albert Museum summer party was Bianca Jagger, one time wife of legendary aging rocker Sir Mick Jagger.
Guests commented on Bianca's rather remarkable new look that is reminiscent of the famous (or infamous) Margaret, The Duchess of Argyle as our pictures show. Whispers met the Duchess several times and once dined at her rather splendid home in Mayfair with the late Lady Edith Foxwell.

The daughter of a multi-millionaire businessman Margaret married the Ian Douglas Campbell the Duke of Argyle in 1951 but the marriage only lasted a few years after the Duke accused her of being unfaithful. The subsequent divorce case scandalized 1960's Britain when Polaroid photos of the Duchess were produced in court with her in flagrante delicto wearing nothing but her regular pearls. Rumours spread around town as the identity of her paramour - from cabinet minsters to the movie star Douglas Fairbanks Jr. She died in 1992 keeping her secret.
These days, Bianca Jagger serves as a Council of Europe goodwill ambassador.

Hats Off To Royal Ascot

The sensational win by Black Caviar in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at the Royal Ascot races has brought local attention to the annual British racing season. Ascot was made famous by the film My Fair Lady and the outfits and hats featured in the movie set off a trend that has just gotten more and more over the top over the decades.

One who set a standard that most have struggled to top was Mrs Gertrude Shilling. She was the mother of one of the UK's most inventive and famous milliners, David Shilling whose hats are now featured in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

 He was the guest of Myer at the Melbourne Cup one year  (courtesy of the Shuttle) where he judged fashions.

Here are some of the most over the top toppers that appeared this year and some pics of Dame Edna Everage when she arrived one year in the 1980s wearing an homage to the Sydney Opera House complete with circling sharks and up-staged Mrs Shilling.

Gertrude & Ronald Shilling at Ascot

Her husband Ronald Shilling was furious as the press flocked around Dame Edna taking photographs : "at least my wife is a real woman" hissed Ronald to the throng.

"We can't all be perfect" responded Dame Edna
right : David Shilling & his mother Gertrude