Embroidery from top to toe – pitch black design worked in panels on a natural calico shirt and knee length skirt, narrowly piped with scarlet; £24, Thea Porter. Natural canvas boots embroidered to match; 15gns to order, Chelsea Cobbler.

Excitement and anticipation is – quite rightly – building for the opening of the Fashion and Textile Museum’s new Thea Porter exhibition (6th February – 3rd May 2015). Guest curated by the lovely Laura McLaws Helms, who has also written the accompanying book, it is surely set to be the exhibition of the year. My Thea gypsy dress is somewhere in there, but having got a sneaky peek last week I can safely say that it will be blown out of the water by the extraordinarily beautiful pieces which have been gathered from a wide variety of sources (as well as ephemera from the archive and a recreation of her glorious dining room).

So to whet your appetite, here’s my dream Thea outfit (well, one of many…) — complete with matching embroidered Chelsea Cobbler boots.

Photographed by Just Jaeckin.

Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Harpers Bazaar, April 1970.