Hold on to your hats

Millener to the stars Philip Treacy's exotic work has suffered a bit of a setback. "For the really long elegant feathers that I like to use, there's a particular breed of chicken we use, reared from the egg, Treacy told Andrew Pierce of The Times.

The chickens were being looked after by Isabella Blow, Britain's favourite fashionista. "But a fox ate the lot," says Treacy. "Can you imagine, there they were, looking like these beautiful Victorian women wandering through her gardens and the fox thought they were a delicious afternoon treat."