In Pictures: Thatcher's most iconic outfits

The Victoria and Albert Museum is at the centre of a row over whether it should exhibit Lady Thatcher's dresses and handbags.

But while we wait for that to resolve itself - the former prime minister's daughter Carol is reported to be in talks with museum bosses - we decided to take a look at some of her most memorable fashion moments.

Lab coat chic

Lady Thatcher (then Margaret Roberts) working as a research chemist in 1950. She is reputed to have helped invent Mr Whippy ice cream, although there is some debate about that.

Wedding day

This is a royal blue velvet dress, a colour she favoured throughout her time as prime minister, and a halo style hat trimmed with ostrich feathers on her wedding day in 1951.

Enter the handbag

Thatcher attends a Cabinet meeting in 1972 with a ministerial red box in one hand and one of her soon-to-be famous handbags in the other.

On the brink of power

Thatcher wears a pale blue waistcoat, and one of those pussybow shirts, for which she would become renowned in 1979 before she became prime minister.

Morning in America

Outside the Oval Office in the summer of 1987 with US President Ronald Reagan, Thatcher shows off a stylish two piece.

Cold warrior

Looking defiant in a cream headscarf and jacket during her visit to British forces in Fallingbostel, Germany in 1986.

The Iron Lady

During her trip to Moscow in 1987, Thatcher greeted crowds in an elegant, fur-trimmed winter coat. She was first dubbed the Iron Lady by Soviet Army newspaper Red Star.

Blue uniform

Ten years after entering Downing Street, Thatcher thanks the applauding crowd at the Blackpool 1989 Conservative conference dressed in brilliant blue.

Power dressing

At the start of her third term, the "helmet" of swept back hair is (very) firmly in place, along with the pearls, a hangover from her pre-Downing Street days.

Royal appointment

Donning her customary blue as she opens an infirmary with Chelsea pensioners and Prince Charles in 2009.