horatia
taittinger

snippets of my work
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I’m Horatia Taittinger, a London-based writer and researcher currently studying Fashion Histories and Theories at Central Saint Martins.

My work explores fashion history, subcultural style, pop culture, and visual media, often through themes of nostalgia and cultural memory.

Through both academic and personal writing, I’m interested in the emotional and cultural significance of clothing.

1. Cadet, attention
Historian and writer, currently studying fashion histories and theories at Central Saint Martins.

2. Sentinelle, observation
I follow garments on patrol through time.

3. Renseignement, analysis
I write academically and editorially, shifting between close visual analysis and cultural commands.

4. Commandant, authority
Clothing produces power.

5. Stratège, method
My practice is part research, part observation.

6. Chiffreuse, code
Fashion is a language that is learned and misread.

7. Maréchal, strategy
Fashion is deployed.

may 2026

the madonna whore binary in possession (1981)

Film and Fashion Essay

Anna framed from above, Żuławski,1981

Andrej Żuławski’s Possession occupies a singular place within psychological horror cinema. Upon its release in 1982, the film confused and divided critics through its intense portrayal of marital violence, psychological instability, political paranoia and most evidently its bodily horror.

Produced shortly after the breakdown of Żuławski’s marriage to the actress Małgorzata Braunek and set in a divided Cold War Berlin, the film follows the collapse of Anna's (Isabelle Adjani) and Mark’s (Sam Neill) marriage.

What begins as a story centred around infidelity gradually mutates into something much more obscure; their domestic space becomes consumed by hysteria and horror.

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december 2025

empire lines

Exhibition Proposal,

Dior by Hedi Slimane, Spring 2006

Empire Lines: The Life and Afterlife of the Military Jacket traces the evolution of the hussar jacket from cavalry uniform to enduring fashion reference.
It focuses on the double-breasted, frogged pelisse and dolman, tracing their journey from 15th-century regiments to their contemporary “military chic” iteration on the stage and the runway.

Through its questioning, this exhibition shows how a symbol of authority and discipline is repeatedly appropriated or subverted by civilians, subcultures and designers.

The exhibition also examines changing attitudes to authority and uniformity and how militaria have long fascinated the fashion world. By concentrating on one distinctive silhouette, the show makes broader cultural shifts visible: from imperial propaganda to second-hand reuse, from counter-culture styling to nostalgic revival.

The overarching theme can be summarised as: military dress in fashion, seen through the lens of the hussar jacket, and its role in negotiations of power, identities and nostalgia.

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january 2025

the second hand trade and its origins (sort of)

Modernity Essay,

The Old Clothes Exchange, Phil’s Buildings, Houndsditch, Illustrated London News, Woodcut engraving, 1882.

In the 19th century United Kingdom, clothing consumption was shaped by social class and industrial advancements.
The contrast between the upper and working classes was reflected in their wardrobes: while the wealthy could afford bespoke tailoring or the latest emerging ready-to-wear fashions, the working class relied heavily on the second-hand clothing trade or handed-down clothing to dress themselves. Second-hand garments passed through multiple hands, moving from the affluent to the impoverished, undergoing transformation, reuse and reinvention at every stage.

This recycling economy not only dressed the poor but also revealed a form of sustainable, localised consumption in an era long before the concept of fast fashion.

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october 2024

sprezzatura and the male form

Early Modernity Essay,

Sir Philip Sidney, 1576, Unknown artist, oil on panel. National Portrait Gallery.

Baldassare Castiglione writes in The Book of the Courtier (Castiglione,1528) that the ideal courtier is one who possesses “sprezzatura”, a kind of effortless grace or “studied carelessness” as defined by the Oxford dictionary.
However, nothing about male fashion at the time was genuinely effortless, from voluminous puffed sleeves and padded doublets to carefully tailored codpieces. Renaissance male fashion was a masterclass in extravaganza.

Men in this period began their dressing regimen with a foundation garment: the chemise. For elite men, these shirts were made from linen fabrics such as cambric or lawn (Edwards, 2020, p.16). On top sat the doublet, which in the first half of the century was the quintessence of masculine elegance, particularly when made of lavish velvets or slashed at the fabric's surface to accentuate texture. The chemise was then pulled through the slashes to create small puffs. The bottom half was short, with full trunk hoses attached to the doublet. Lastly came the gown; these were usually fur-lined and sometimes featured intricate gold or jewelled bead designs. In the late 16th century, men opted for jerkins over their doublets: short, close-fitting jackets with sleeves attached with ties.

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