I’ve been asked why my historical garments don’t always look perfectly pressed in my photos. There are five reasons for this (what a lovely coincidence, it means this works perfectly as Five for Friday): First, my garments are made from fabrics that are as close to historically accurate as I can manage, which means they are made from natural fibres (silk, wool, cotton and linen), which don’t always press as crisply and smoothly and permanently as synthetic fabrics, nor stay as crisp and pressed. This makes them look rumpled, but its also part of their charm, and part of what we value them for. Think of Princess Diana’s wedding dress, and how rumpled it looked as she got out of the carriage. If the woman about to become the Princess of Wales can’t have a perfectly pressed, non-rumpled dress out of certain silk fabrics, it’s not possible. For an example of this, look at the photos that Mandi Lynn of A La Mode photography took for the Radio New Zealand photoshoot. I spent hours ironing …