A short picture essay on Victoria Beckham and Roland Mouret is currently available on the Guardian website accompanied by Germaine Greer's text. It's worth taking a look at, even if Germaine was a bit slow to realise that Victoria Beckham is more than a woman that the papparazzi photograph. Fashion is a cultural discourse for those who can read images and Beckham writes an essay with her outfits. One thing is clear, if you're going to have a fashion icon and you want to understand dresses then images of Victoria Beckham are a very good place to start.

An interview with Julie Walters on her experience playing Mary Whitehouse leaves us with an impression of the reasons for the change in female body shape since the 1960s.

Did you have to bulk up for the role because she seemed quite a matronly woman?

I wish I did! Mind you, we wear the proper 'foundation garments' - these surgical truss things all in one with suspenders and girdles. Actually I have a waist when I'm her.

Since this is 2008 I'll just link you to some information on the girdle.

Yves Saint Laurent died last night, here are some links to obituaries which say it better than I could:

Women's Wear Daily with some quotes on his influence from Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang among others and a quote from Yves Saint Laurent from 2002, “I always served women and I did it without compromise until the end, with respect and love.”

The BBC points out that "he changed forever what women wear, introducing trouser suits, safari jackets and sweaters".

The Guardian reflects on his role in the industry. "He was the last of the Paris couturiers in the tradition beginning with Charles Worth in the 19th century and the first designer to invest his talent in what became the 21st century global market for mass luxury."