Did you know that Jane Seymour, Bond girl, accomplished painter, and green gardener, is the original vintage queen? When Jane was a struggling actress, and had very little money, she would scour London’s flea markets and junk shops for interesting and exquisite second-hand clothes. ‘We didn’t call them vintage back then’ she laughs.
Later, when she became famous, she was presented to Princess Margaret, who noticed that she was wearing an original, eighteenth century frock coat. ‘My dear girl’ said the Princess, who was known for her waggish wit, ‘that’s a beautiful coat you are wearing; but don’t you think it belongs in the V&A – rather than on you?’ Jane has kept her precious antique treasures, and she intends to pass them on to her lucky children.
© Alison Jane Reid, March 2011
