On the Fringe: A Life in Decorating

Imogen Taylor brings a sharp eye and ready wit not only to decorating style but also to the social history of the latter part of the twentieth century.

If John Fowler was - in the words of the late Duchess of Devonshire - the Prince of Decorators, and Nancy Lancaster undoubted doyenne of English country house style, Imogen Taylor was their crown princess. She joined Colefax and Fowler in 1949 and was for many years John Fowler's trusted assistant. John - and Nancy - had total faith in Imogen's 'perfect taste', and when John retired in 1971 he passed on to her all his clients - who ranged from HM The Queen, through duchesses and film stars, to ladies of the night. From this time until she retired in 1999 she was, along with Tom Parr, the firm's principal decorator. Over the years she extended the clientele she had inherited from John and developed her own subtle, comfortable and charming version of English country house style.

Here you will learn about how fabric walling was done, how the famous 'twelve different whites' were applied, how to oil gild, how the passementerie was made for Buckingham Palace and Windsor, about Bessarabian carpets and trompe l'oeil painting and Nancy Lancaster's broderie anglaise lamp shades, 'like a child's skirt or a ball dress'.

You will also find the Duchess of Windsor dismissing the Duke ('David, you're not needed - go and buy some brushes or something'), Dolly Rothschild's iron bed ('like a school or hospital bedstead'), Harry Hyams' reluctance to sign cheques ('It's like spilling my own blood '), John Fowler in a tantrum yelling at the Duchess of Cornwall (she was a girl assistant at the time, not a client), Imogen being summoned to Howletts because 'a young Siberian tiger, who had been in bed with Aspinall and his wife, had ripped down the silk hangings on the inside of their canopy bed.'