With thanks to Senti for that title! I honestly had no idea that these photos existed, but I found them yesterday and they’ve swiftly become my favourites. Diana, of course, is a huge inspiration to me – not only as Emma Peel but that does have a lot to do with it. I always loved how natural she seemed, and of course the effortless cool. As Emma, that was helped considerably by Bates’ influence as designer. She wore his designs to perfection, and continued to wear Jean Varon garments into the Seventies. Through this, I ‘discovered’ Bates and simply fell in love with his extraordinary designs. Having now met him, I’m even more in awe than ever before – especially after he gave me a nugget of advice on how to wear his frocks. The man is a legend.

I’ve never heard her speak of him, and only contemporary comments from him about the design process. I suppose these things rarely seem so iconic and special at the time, when deadlines are tight and it’s just another job. But you can just see magic being created in these photos.