Alison Adburgham (28 January 1912 – 23 May 1997) was an English journalist, author and social historian, best known for her work as fashion editor of The Guardian newspaper, a position she held for 20 years.
[2] Along with Prudence Glynn of The Times and Alison Settle of The Observer, she pioneered British fashion journalism in a broadsheet national newspaper; as a bylined columnist, influencing public perception of trends in clothing, the industry itself.
Adburgham was born Marjorie Vere Alison Haig on 28 January 1912 in Yeovil, Somerset, as the daughter of a doctor and an "unnervingly educated mother".
Writing about the latest collection of hats by Reed Crawford in 1964, she said they "beggar description, especially his cocktail confections: high-standing exclamation pieces stuck through with monstrous hat-pins.
A letter in response from Fiona MacCarthy said "Design Council approved" was an unfair description of her style, adding, "She turned up at a party of mine in the 1960s looking rather like a dissolute exiled Polish countess in claret-red velvet with cascading ruffles at the neck.