Aquascutum, 1987. Royal blue textured wool jacket and skirt with co-ordinating Jacquard weave silk blouse.

Skirt suit in royal blue wool woven with a rippled, ribbed texture. The jacket has shoulder pads and is cut relatively straight, with slight shaping at the waist, two patch pockets in the front. Front and cuff buttons of blue and gold plastic. Matching pencil skirt. Both garments lined with acetate. The matching silk blouse has a jacquard woven design of leaves in a tone-on-tone design and ties at the throat in a pussy bow.

Given by the family of the late Baroness Thatcher

This suit was worn by Mrs. Thatcher for the 1987 Conservative Party conference at Brighton, and on other occasions including to place her vote in that year's General Elections. It was named "Sapphire Blue" by Thatcher's personal assistant, Cynthia Crawford. Giving the garments names such as this enabled Crawford to manage and maintain the Prime Minister's wardrobe.

This suit appears in a number of particularly representative images of the Prime Minister that continue to be published in various media and contexts. While Thatcher did frequently wear other colours, such as green, red and hot pink, she is inextricably associated with blue, the colour of the Conservative Party; and with pussy bows at the throat. This suit is therefore a very strong and representative example of the Thatcher Look, both as worn, and as depicted in caricatures and cartoons widely published at the time and afterwards.

The suit was an off-the-peg model. When the London waxworks Madame Tussauds presented an updated portrait figure of Margaret Thatcher in 1988, the figure was dressed in an identical Aquascutum suit and blouse. Thatcher was photographed alongside her waxwork, both wearing the same outfit. The Madame Tussauds waxwork was still dressed in the same outfit as of 2012.

While cataloguing the suit two small sweets were found in a corner of one of the pockets. These appear to be Nipits, a menthol liquorice sweet manufactured by Simpkins (established 1921). These came in tins that read "Clarifies the voice and clears the throat" and were used by singers and public speakers to assist them with their performances.

- Daniel Milford-Cottam
08/12/2016

T.1591:1 to 3-2017