They made your hands clammy, your knees quiver, and sent your hormones spinning when you were a dyke-in-training. It's time to pay homage at the altar of dyke icons. This week the older woman and the baby butch who bought glamour to the 1920s rag-trade.

Name:
Beatrice and Evangeline Eliott.

Also known as:
Misses Bea and Evie; Stella Gonet and the alliteratively lovely Louise Lombard.

Not to be confused with:
Beatrice and Eugenie Windsor; House of Fraser

Why are they dykons:
Well, apart from the lesbian-feminist appeal of two feisty archetypes - the Older Woman and the Baby Butch - making it in a man`s world, this pair are iconic because The House of Eliott seethes with a sexual tension that should have had Herr Doktor Freud hot-footing it from Hampstead.

Miss Bea is clearly in love with her own sister. Witness the longing glances across the atelier floor; note how she is always draped across Miss Evie`s bed with two glasses of wine after a hard day at the pinking scissors; mark how she flies into a rage if any man so much as speaks to her sibling.

On the surface you may be watching a light-hearted tale of the 1920s rag-trade, but scratch a little and you reveal a throbbing deviant drama of unrequited incestuous lesbian lust.

Last seen:
Louise Lombard has made a name for herself on American TV playing Sofia Curtis in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with rather cute blonde locks! She’s also studied English at Cambridge -brains `n` beauty - now there’s a killer combo!

Stella was last seen in episodes of Dalziel and Pascoe, Taggart, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Foyles War, Midsomer Murders and Nicholas Nickleby.

Plus, The House of Eliott is always popping up in the twilight world of cable television.

Best feature:
Miss Evie`s shingle and builder`s gait, Miss Bea`s world-weariness and Marcel Wave.

Most likely to be seen
Having borderline lover`s tiffs among the tailor`s chalk.

Least likely:
To put us all - and Bea - out of our misery by getting it over with and having a snog.

Are they sisters:
Quite literally, yes, but we shouldn`t let that put us off. Anyway, with the grace and elegance of a hod-carrier, LL certainly looks like one, while Stella played one once on a Radio 4 play.

Do mention:
The House of Eliott`s Autumn/Winter collection. We`re predicting sailor-collars, bias cuts and drop waists all round!

Don`t mention:
To Evangeline - any man. Miss Bea`ll `ave yer! To Miss Bea: Alice Burgoyne. She`ll never forgive herself for taking on that sneaky vendeuse with her faked references.


Reacquaint yourself with this great series by buying The Complete House of Eliott online now!