“A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika,” said Diana Vreeland. “We all need a splash of bad taste –– it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I’m against.” With pieces from Vivienne Westwood, Stephen Jones, Elsa Sciaparelli and Pam Hogg on display, The Barbican gallery will showcase an exhibition this Autumn dedicated to vulgarity in fashion from the renaissance to the present day. A romp through hundreds of years of gaudy, audacious, daring, flamboyant fashion sounds like my idea of brilliant fun. “Playing with juxtapositions, different themes and vistas, they’ve (the exhibition is co-conceived by Judith Clark and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips) set the stage for visitors to wonder, ponder, question, reflect or just revel in why some costumes are considered vulgar, and how that changes through time, context and experience,” said Jane Alison, The Barbican’s head of visual arts. If I don’t make it to the exhibition, I’m sure my Mum will. Wearing a Pucci silk blouse and a zebra print runners, no doubt.