How to survive the party season

Spectator Life writers share their tips….. Spectator Life December 5th 2022 How to survive the party season Spectator Life writers share their tips….. December is here and it’s going to be murder out there from now until the new year.  Spectactor Life writers explain how to get through it – from swerving bores and turning down invitations to lining your stomach …

THE SPECTATOR : Diary September 1st 2018 – Joan Collins ‘Why are people so baffled by the title ‘Dame’?

DIARY Joan Collins: Why are people so baffled by the title ‘Dame’? Attending my goddaughter Cara Delevingne’s 26th birthday party at the trendy Chateau Marmont hotel in LA, I was interested to see how today’s young dress to party. Forget the fairy frocks, cocktail dresses and lounge suits I remember from my Hollywood parties in the golden age; it was …

Whatever happened to real Christmases?

As I strolled through the aisles in a large department store, I almost choked when I read a large display that blared, “Don’t forget to treat your pussy at Christmas…” With relief I read the rest of the ad – “…and your bow-wow too!” Beneath the dubious banner there lay a massive display of beautifully wrapped chew toys, scratching posts …

I’m in deep shock at Jackie’s death, but life goes on

I had only experienced great loss when my mother died. It was desperately harrowing, but not as harrowing as the news that my sister Jackie had passed away. My mother had suffered a long lingering illness but Jackie only told me about her cancer two weeks before she died. It was a shattering, heart-breaking blow that I still haven’t yet …

‘About time too!’: Joan Collins curtseys to Prince Charles

The day of my investiture at Buckingham Palace dawned bringing freezing rain and fierce winds lashing at the windows as I ruefully regarded the outfit I had painstakingly planned for months – a lightweight, cream wool suit. Being British, a little damp didn’t bother me, so I didn’t care if I’d be shivering when Prince Charles pinned the illustrious medal …

The joy of fake Christmas trees

Every year Christmas comes earlier and earlier in America. Cards, baubles and imitation trees were being sold in the big department stores in August, and the street decorations have been up in Beverly Hills since well before Halloween. Americans become extremely excited about Halloween, which falls on October 31 and woe betide the intrepid driver who ventures out with their …

Why I gave up on Ascot – and where I go instead

Can there be anything more perfect than early July in London, when the sun is shining, the sky a cloudless azure and the temperature hovers in the mid-seventies? Sorry, I still do Fahrenheit. It’s party time everywhere, with all the annual events happening, but I don’t do Ascot anymore, too waggish, or Henley, too wet, or Wimbledon, too warm. The …

Springtime in the City of Angels

Ahh! Spring has sprung at last! Or has it? Leaving a warm and sunlit London last month we expected balmy weather in Los Angeles but the skies were grey and murky and, like Lena Horne sang in “The Lady is a Tramp” – I hate California, it’s cold and it’s damp. It’s necessary to dress in 3 layers in the …