The National was very privileged to be sent an invitation to Dior’s 2025 Cruise collection at Drummond Castle – the fashion house’s first Scottish show in nearly 70 years. I accepted before I knew there would be an election taking up most of my time. Colleagues, friends and family urged me not to pull out in favour of TV debates or campaign coverage.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” they assured me. Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri was inspired to launch this very Scottish collection after reading Clare Hunter’s Embroidering Her Truth: Mary Queen of Scots and the Language of Power. The book focuses on how Mary used embroidery as a means to express her views during her lengthy imprisonment.
Back in 2022 I commissioned a piece from Iona Glen, a great freelancer writer, who wrote about the book and the history of craft as a political force in our Sunday National edition. I suspect this article, and The National’s 10 years of commitment to covering Scottish culture and heritage, is what landed us a coveted spot at the event. READ MORE: How Dior put Scotland at the heart of its Drummond Castle show On Monday evening we were driven to Gleneagles, where an array of some of the most glamorous people I’ve ever seen were hanging around outside taking photographs in the sunshine.
Journalists were sent to the bar for a drinks reception and kept away from the VIPs lingering in the lobby area, so of course I went for a wander away from my assigned space..