Celia Birtwell

These images are from Celia Birtwell for Topshop's 3rd collection. I did originally purchase the Navy Marie Antoinette dress, which fitted lovely, but I returned it, as the material was very sheer and flimsy and I feared any movement would render a torn dress very soon in the future. I since purchased the Flowers for Puccini dress, which is an ideal summer dress, as it is backless and jersey, so making it very wearable.

I have noticed that with some of her collection, the material can be sheer but durable and sturdy, such as the Mystic Daisy blouse I have, but items such as the Marie Antoinette Dress and the Monkey Puzzle blouse (which I do also have, but was a bargain on EBay) are sheer and the material not quite the quality you would like. I have also heard the black floral bias cut maxi dress in her 3rd collection which retailed at £150 was not the quality expected either.

According to Susannah Frankel's article in the Independent-'A Life in Print' with Celia Birtwell on 7 February 2008, her 4th collection is due out this spring. I look forward to this very much.

I don't always source my Celia Birtwell collection directly from Topshop, as I find EBay is the best place for this. All the items I have so far were less than half the original retail price and brand new with tags, so for me, this is an ideal way to top up my collection.

I do believe that Celia's pieces are vintage collectables for the future.