22.02.12

What met my eyes was rack upon rack of Taylor's clothes, stretching into the far distance. These racks were packed so tightly that hems, frills, collars and belts stuck out; her collection of clothes in bright orange, sequins, prints, sunflower-yellow, lace and feathers were hung in the order they had been unpacked from her house in Bel Air and her chalet in Gstaad. Handbags - more than 200 - emerged one by one from many crates.

I was looking at the public and private wardrobe of a woman who was the first truly global superstar. We followed her life, her marriages, her illnesses and her triumphs as if they were episodes in a glorious soap opera; here was a woman who once said she couldn't remember a day when she wasn't famous.

Elizabeth Taylor was born to American parents who lived in England. Her father, Francis, was an art dealer and her mother, Sara, had been an actress before giving up the stage to marry. Elizabeth spent her early youth here, improbably in Hampstead Garden Suburb during the week and at the weekend in a cottage rented from the MP Victor Cazalet on his estate outside Cranbrook, Kent.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk