My great-grandmother Idina Sackville was known as The Bolter because, in 1918, she left her young, handsome and extremely rich husband to run off (bolt) to Africa with a near penniless man. (I written her story in my book The Bolter which will be published by Knopf on June 2nd.) She divorced a total of five times when few people divorced at all and was one of the most scandalous figures of the 1920's and 1930's, very much excluded from polite society.
Nonetheless, she managed to be a style icon. She was a muse for Molyneux, one of the great designers of the day and the clothes she bought each season were reported in newspapers across the world. It was said that she "lit up a room when she entered it."
One of the most remarkable aspects of her style was that she managed to look immaculate even out in the African bush. As her friend the travel writer Rosita Forbes said about a trip in to the Congo jungle with her, Idina emerged from her tent "looking as if she had just stepped out of tissue-paper."
See some examples of this below.
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Idina had, as the newspapers wrote, "a much-envied gift for wearing clothes attractively...It has been remarked of her that the simplest gown becomes distinguished when she puts it on." In August 1911, aged eighteen, she sailed to the United States to spend a year with family friends, and she made a name for herself. This photograph was taken in October 1913 when, having returned to Britain, she became engaged to Euan Wallace, an extremely handsome 21-year-old Scotsman who had just inherited a fortune. The dress has a heavy train falling behind it, in accordance with the fashion of the day.
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The Bolter is published by Knopf on June 2nd.
