Life and times

the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Justine Picardie

I’VE ALWAYS LOVED the British summer – even when rain stops play – and its traditional pleasures are a soothing solace a mid polit ica l tur moil a nd widespread disquiet. The roses in my garden have never looked lovelier, and whenever I am driven to distraction by Twitter the best remedy is to open the back door and listen to the joyful song of the blackbirds. Another antidote to recent anxieties has been a visit to Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire – a fairy-tale French château, built by the Parisianborn Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild – to see the remarkable new ex hibition,

Creatures & Creations. Inspired by the collection of the naturalist Walter Rothschild (Ferdinand’s nephew), the show brings together a display of collages by the Greek ar tist Platon H and couture dresses by Mary Katrantzou. Both have responded to the beautiful patterns in t he feat hers, wings a nd ca rapaces of birds, butterflies and beetles. Alongside are photographs of Walter Rothschild’s beloved beasts, including the giant tortoise that he rode around the garden. THE SHARED LANDSCAPE of art and fashion is fertile territory to explore. As the editor of Harper’s Bazaar – a maga- zine that celebrates its 150 th anniversary this year–I’ ve been inspired by the examples in our archives of successful collaborations between artists and designers. I was particularly thrilled to discover a number of drawings by Jean Cocteau t hat I’d never seen before, including several portraits of his friend Coco Chanel. I’ve included these in a new edition of my biography of Chanel, and in doing so found myself ever more intrigued by this most enigmatic and elusive of couturiers. Having already spent years researching her life and career, I’ve come to realise that she will always fascinate me, for so much remains hidden beneath the polished surfaces of her enduring style. I WONDER WHAT Coco Chanel would have made of the gathering of influential business women I joined on a rain-soaked day in June. We’d been invited by the French Chamber of Commerce to a lunch at t he Chanel boutique in Bond Street. I hope she would have been cheered as we a ll raised our glasses to Chanel’s pioneering success as an independent-minded ent repreneur, who set up her company in 1910, at a time when women were still denied the right to vote. Sylvie Bermann, the French ambassador to the UK, spoke movingly of the closeness of our two countries. Three of the victims of the London Bridge attack were French, and whatever lies ahead in the maze of Brexit negotiations, it is impossible to deny the streng th and dept h of t he relat ionship bet ween London and Paris. AFTER LUNCH, as I walked back to

Bazaar’s offices in Soho, I found myself muttering Charles Dickens’ famous opening lines from A Tale of Two Cities (‘ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …’). When I got to my desk I reminded myself of what came next in Dickens’ great novel, set in London and Paris during the French Revolution, and found his words as strangely comforting as the windtossed roses in my garden .‘ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was these ason of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…’

But here’s to summer.

Whenever I am driven to distraction by Twitter I open the back door and listen to the birds