Daring to be different

BEING an outsider is never easy but with marginality comes the rarefied privilege of bucking trends or indeed, creating them.

Such is the case with Wallis Simpson, the twice divorced American socialite whose marriage to Prince Edward, the Duke of Windsor, involved his abdication from the throne in 1936.

Ostracised by the British monarchy, Simpson’s public persona (and pro-Nazi political views) polarised a nation, but in matters sartorial her legacy was undisputed. A free spirited lover of haute couture and fine jewellery, the Pennsylvanian native’s outré fashion statements were more weaponry than frippery; a manicured two fingers up to the strictures of royal etiquette.