What Was Your First Fashion Inspiration?
I spent 20 years working as a fashion designer in New York. My mother never got Vogue, instead we got the Littlewoods catalogue. I can still remember the excitement when a new one would arrive. We’d spend hours poring over it. That attention to studying what real women wanted formed the background to my career in fashion.
Describe Your Style
A sea of endless navy. When I was in the Outer Hebrides writing John of John, I gave a career talk on Barra as a favor to the local high school. I sat between the island policeman and the ferrymaster. After I explained my journey into fashion, a kid put his hand up and said, “But how can you be a fashion designer and dress like that?” The other kids laughed. The thing about being humbled on an island is you keep circling back on your own humiliation.
