Claire Foy’s Sumptuous 'A Very British Scandal' Wardrobe

I doubt that I shall watch the series; reading the Duchess' biography The Grit in the Pearl was enough. But Margaret, Duchess of Argyll's clothes were elegant and lovely, at least until she went bankrupt. They appear to be beautifully reproduced for the BBC/Amazon Prime melodrama. She was a fascinating woman and could be extremely generous to those in need; at one point she became Catholic. I think that her early upbringing, which was a combination of indulgence and neglect, starved her soul and led to some disastrous choices. As a teenager she had become pregnant and was forced to have an abortion. Margaret later suffered serious physical trauma after a fall in addition to several miscarriages. She ended up with a very complex relationship with both veracity and restraint. From Vogue:

Every year one series cuts through the post-Christmas haze to make a lasting impression on viewers. This December that series is A Very British Scandal, starring The Crown’s Claire Foy as the scandalous Duchess of Argyll, a textile heiress whose ’60s divorce became a sensation after her third husband leaked nude images of her in flagrante with other paramours to the newspapers.

Just as notable as the three-part drama’s long-overdue questioning of the so-called “dirty” duchess’s treatment by the press? The sumptuous costumes, with designer Ian Fulcher creating no less than 85 looks for Foy to wear across the three episodes. Here, he takes Vogue through the sartorial highlights to watch out for in the BBC hit. (Read more.)

 

From The Tatler:

 It would appear that Paul Bettany’s and Claire Foy’s portrayal of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll in A Very British Scandal did a brilliant job at seducing the British public. The production became the most-watched show on BBC iPlayer during the Christmas period with a staggering 2.1 million streamers for the first episode. Created by the same team behind A Very English Scandal that depicted Hugh Grant as Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe in his relationship with model Norman Josiffe (Ben Whishaw), the other ‘based on true events’ drama, which focused on the aristocratic divorce between Margaret and Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, in 1963, was equally scandalous. (Read more.)

From The Critic:

“Never trust a Campbell” is a saying amongst Scots. It refers to the Glencoe Massacre of 1692, whereby Captain Robert Campbell ordered his men to murder their hosts, the MacDonalds. It was murder under trust, a murder of those who had shown them kindness.

Since her birth in 1912, Margaret Campbell was conditioned to the cruelties of the world: an emotionally abusive mother who mocked her stammer, an abortion in her teens, a stillborn baby, eight miscarriages and two failed marriages. Like most women, she buried her trauma and moved on.

Some viewers mistook Margaret as a gold-digger who was lured by Ian’s promise of treasure from a shipwreck, to which he had salvage rights. An heiress to the Celanese Corporation, she didn’t need the money and was attracted to the status of being a duchess. She and Ian used the alleged treasure (to this day, none has been found) to encourage her father George Whigham to write cheques for Inveraray Castle, the Argyll family seat.

The first cheque of £100,000 was to repair the roof and further cheques followed to the figure of £250,000. A self-made man whose in-laws looked down on him, George’s patronage of Clan Campbell was validation of his place in noble society.

Likewise, in aristocratic circles, Margaret was a foreign species amongst the English roses. She was a Glaswegian raised in New York. Perhaps as a nod to Margaret’s non-U origins, Phelps had Margaret say “dessert” and not “pudding”. The noblesse oblige of Twitter erupted: no aristocrat would say dessert. That’s the point: Margaret was an outcast.

Before Margaret committed to Ian, she was seeing Roberto Caracciolo, 11th Duke of San Vito. She sent both men a telegram: “Bored and missing you. Wish you would come to London.” Roberto declined; Ian came and proposed a week later. It was a whirlwind romance, but Ian needed her money. (Read more.)

 

 

Share