Giving too much creative credit

Amy Finnerty reviews Cherie Burns' biography of 'fashion muse and femme fatale' Millicent Rogers, "who charted an unsteady course through the boutiques, ballrooms and salons of America and Europe."

Calling a fabulously dressed heiress "fearless" gives her a little too much creative credit. Yet taste, Ms. Burns argues, "doesn't automatically come with wealth." It was instead an "asset that Millicent readily cultivated to her advantage." Fawned over by couturiers, Millicent asked them to alter designs, and they "did not resent or resist her suggestions. Partly, one assumes, because they immediately sensed she was right." And partly, Ms. Burns admits, because Millicent was good for business. The fashion establishment has always been invested in the iconic status of its rich clients.

Although I traditionally rebel against this ghastly business of 'socialites' and 'old money', I have a strange fascination with the Great Gatsby-esque roaring twenties. I find this of particular interest.