Full Marks for Trying ─ An Unlikely Journey from the Raj to the Rag Trade

Brigid Keenan was never destined to lead a normal life. From a technicolor childhood in India disrupted by independence and partition and a return to dreary post-war England, to a finishing school in Paris where she shared stationery with the daughters of presidents and royalty--ordinary just wasn't for her. When she overheard her mother describe her as 'desperately plain' it seemed like her fate was sealed. But, instead of being upset, Brigid decided she had no choice but to go all-out for glamour, eccentricity, character, a career--something so as not to end up at the bottom of the pile. And, in classic Brigid style, she went for them all.

Moving to London in the late fifties, Brigid started out as a fashion assistant at theDaily Express under the formidable Jill Butterfield. She soon became, at just 21, Fashion Editor of theSunday Times, working closely with David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton, and traveling to Paris for the collections. Labelled a 'Young Meteor' by Jonathan Aitken, Brigid had only been trying to stay out of trouble . . .

From drunkenly looting Gerald Scarfe's house and attempting to create knock-off Yves Saint Laurent sequined dresses on a stop-over in Hong Kong, to turning up to report on the Vietnam War dressed in a miniskirt--Brigid Keenan's life has been a succession of one hilarious mishap after another. Candid and wickedly funny, Full Marks for Trying will make you cry with laughter.