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It's great. 30 00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:44,560 Today I'm going on a style journey with the original 31 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:49,840 Princess of Punk, the truly extraordinary, iconic and zany 32 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,440 Dame Xandra Rhodes. It's wonderful. 33 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:54,480 To be here. Thank you. 34 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,760 Oh well, thank you for coming all this way. 35 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:03,800 I was trying to work out when we very first met and I reckon it 36 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,680 was back in the very late 80s when we were all, gosh, I, I, it 37 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,480 was sort of almost before I'd started my brand. 38 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:17,120 We were all showing our collections at the Ritz for the 39 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,480 London Collections and I think I had about four pieces. 40 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,640 And you were there with your exquisite collection. 41 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,560 Oh well, we had lots of adventures of the Ritz. 42 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,080 It was rather wonderful, really. It it was very British, wasn't 43 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,080 it? And early days, which is also 44 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,720 fabulous, thinking about London Fashion Week in that way. 45 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,920 Yes, and now it really has become this juggernaut, and 46 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:46,440 we're talking 40 years in and all the rest of it, but I do. 47 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,680 Think it's amazing thinking of 4040 years ago? 48 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:56,640 Yes, yes. So despite your being in your 49 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:00,160 mid 80s, you don't seem to be slowing down. 50 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,880 You seem to be speeding up. I mean, what are the projects 51 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,480 that you are most excited about at the moment? 52 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,880 I've had a wonderful time doing the prints for this Spanish 53 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,920 collection called Celia B which I'm wearing the yellow dress 54 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:16,480 with all the flowers on it today. 55 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,320 Gorgeous. And gorgeous. 56 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:24,640 So that is really mainly mail order and that was fabulous to 57 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:27,720 do. And how did that come about? 58 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,000 Did you just get approached her out of the blue? 59 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:36,640 I think we'd met Celia and it seems such a lovely project 60 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,360 because she always put beautiful prints on her dresses and it 61 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,760 seemed a wonderful vehicle to do the printed dresses. 62 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,160 And they're so happy because I think the wonderful thing about 63 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,480 Prince is they make you feel very happy. 64 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,680 Yeah, they're a feast for the eye, aren't they? 65 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,840 And well, they don't sell the marks easily, which is also a 66 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:57,240 very. That's a good point. 67 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,960 That's a really, really good point. 68 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,200 You have dressed everyone from the late Princess of Wales to 69 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:09,240 Freddie Mercury to Diana Ross to Mark Bolan, which I was just 70 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:14,360 thrilled to hear. Is there a story that you may 71 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:17,519 not have talked about before or not much before? 72 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:20,560 Because I love your story of Freddie Mercury trying on that 73 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:25,920 bridal top and swirling around in it, But I've found myself 74 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,040 wondering when I was doing my research. 75 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,000 Mark Boland. Now that's quite an interesting 76 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:36,440 one. Mark Boland, Really and truly, I 77 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,640 don't know if you ever knew the exotic Cholita Secunda. 78 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:42,760 Yes. Well, Cholita was really then 79 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:46,800 the go between, so she came to me and she said, oh, these would 80 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,320 be right for Marc Bolan and she zipped them off. 81 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:54,440 And so it was only later, when I've just seen videos on the 82 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,880 screen of him in a very lovely green jersey, that I did that 83 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,160 because I never did the fittings for those. 84 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:06,960 But, but quite often you don't necessarily meet the person that 85 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,400 you're dressing. Has there been one person that 86 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:15,000 you didn't know was buying Sandra Rhodes and you saw a 87 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,000 video or saw them on television wearing Sandra? 88 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,800 Well, it's only since, you know the, you know, now when all 89 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,760 these photographs appear under Getty Images, yes, that suddenly 90 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,200 you say, oh, oh, I didn't know that Jackie Kennedy had my one 91 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:34,000 sided dress. Do you know what I mean? 92 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:35,120 Oh my. I didn't. 93 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:40,280 Fit her and I think it was her sisters that had got it in New 94 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:43,760 York at Henri Bendel and there are wonderful pictures of her 95 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,240 wearing the one sided dress that I never fitted her though. 96 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:52,360 But do you still have the sample of the one sided dress? 97 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:57,200 I still own most of the original samples of all my dresses. 98 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:01,360 No, I read this. I mean 6000 odd pieces. 99 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,240 We've got around 6000 pieces, yes, that's extraordinary. 100 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,440 Gradually sorting them out and deciding what homes they should 101 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,440 go to, you know, should they have memorable homes. 102 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,880 We want to check the say the Victoria and Albert Museum has 103 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:20,120 got one of the special pieces and everything like that before 104 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,120 I decide what I'm going to do with the rest of. 105 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,440 Them and are they all beautifully archived and with 106 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,640 you know, Jackie O wore this in 1970 or. 107 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,760 Well, I might say she could wear a version of it. 108 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:36,840 Yes they're, Yes they're. Catalogued we've we've sort of 109 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:39,840 like they're packed into boxes. According to what? 110 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,200 What every 10 years? So I've got things from 111 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:49,120 219721984. Do you know what I mean? 112 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,360 Yeah. And do you ever go into those 113 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,960 boxes so you haven't fully sorted them yet? 114 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,960 They're fully sorted, but they're not. 115 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:01,080 But now they're being sorted. Like we're putting some into a, 116 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:06,520 a Kerry Taylor auction and then I'm working out which ones I 117 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,800 think should go to specific homes if they haven't been, you 118 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:12,840 know, specified. God, how? 119 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,400 Wonderful. Do you ever pull something 120 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,880 out-of-the-box or a rail and think, oh, I might give that 121 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,720 another go? I look at it and I think I must 122 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,000 treasure this because it might, I might not have the, I 123 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:29,800 couldn't. Some of them I could never 124 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:31,520 reprint again. Do you know what I mean? 125 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,720 Because the screens might have been destroyed and they were 126 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,880 hand printed in my studio in the day. 127 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,560 Now some of the screens have been donated to different 128 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:49,880 museums across the world, like the NGV in in Melbourne and the 129 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,680 Powerhouse in Sydney, so I'm making sure that different 130 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:57,720 places and different key museums have got things that relate to 131 00:07:57,720 --> 00:07:59,520 the designs. Oh, how wonderful. 132 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:04,680 Because now, now we're in a very digitally printed world. 133 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,960 Do you still print on screen or or do you use digital? 134 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:15,360 Nowadays things go to tend to be digital, but I mean, I've, I've 135 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,480 still got all my printworks and my silk screens, but we haven't 136 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,840 been printing since COVID. Yeah, when COVID happened, I was 137 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,200 still producing dresses and I made deliveries and then 138 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:29,960 deliveries to people like Liberty and everything like 139 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,480 that. And then when COVID happened, 140 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,159 there was small print as to why people could return them again. 141 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,600 So I ended up with an awful lot of dresses, but that didn't 142 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:44,080 matter because I was, I gradually disposed of them, as 143 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:48,280 it were. Yeah, so, but I'm not printing 144 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,160 at this stage. Maybe I might do print lessons 145 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,880 again, but it's been so busy I haven't had a chance to do that. 146 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,160 Yeah. And and there's no way that 147 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,600 someone could come to you and say, Sandra, would you please, 148 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,600 please, please do me this dress or that dress. 149 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:09,680 I might just have yardage because I do hold some treasured 150 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:14,000 yardage of these things, but and and I can make things 151 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,760 occasionally. You famously dressed the late 152 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,920 Princess Wales and the Princess Royal. 153 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,880 Have you dressed any of this generation of Royals? 154 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:30,480 No, I haven't dressed this generation of Royals. 155 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,120 Is there one in particular that you would? 156 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:34,560 Love. I think it would be lovely to 157 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:36,960 dress Kate. She always looks very elegant. 158 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:39,600 It would be fun to do something for her. 159 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:44,840 What would you do for her? I think probably a very nice 160 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,320 sort of, probably a sort of late afternoon dress because she does 161 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:52,600 look good in her day things rather than being dressed to the 162 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,200 teeth, but definitely with a lovely. 163 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,240 Print on it. Lovely. 164 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:03,840 Now your book My life in fashion and 50 objects iconic. 165 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:12,400 You have two specific dresses in here. 1 was a dress that you so 166 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,280 it's a sketch of a dress that you designed that the Princess 167 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,400 Princess Royal wore. Can you tell me a tiny bit about 168 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:21,720 that? That's a very interesting story 169 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,920 in the fact that English Vogue rang me up and said we're 170 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:29,080 dressing a very famous lady, send in some grand dresses, and 171 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,040 I thought it was Elizabeth Taylor. 172 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,760 Anyway, I sent this white, white sort of ball gown with all this 173 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:41,080 lovely Annette embroidery of seashells and and then a month 174 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:46,880 later I found out that it was it was Princess Anne in it and 175 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:50,720 pictures gorgeous. And everyone thought then that I 176 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,040 would do the wedding dress. But I didn't end up doing the 177 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:55,440 wedding dress. And were you ever approached to 178 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:57,560 produce sketches for the wedding dress? 179 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:03,200 I did sketches for Princess Diana, but that was when I 180 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,440 designed the amazing gold collection, which was gold with 181 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,800 the crinolines, but of course I didn't get the dress, but I I 182 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:15,080 enjoyed doing those designs. Now, you mentioned Elizabeth 183 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:17,680 Taylor there. What did you do for her? 184 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,000 I'd never, I'd never dressed her. 185 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,400 She I bumped into her at a wedding once and she said I'd 186 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,960 love you to make me something. But by that time she then after 187 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,400 that she she passed away. But she did have some lovely 188 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,680 dresses of mine that I saw pictures of and looked gorgeous, 189 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:41,040 which was a very lovely frilly one in rainbow colours. 190 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:48,760 And then this other dress in your book Iconic is the one that 191 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:55,840 the late Princess of Wales had. Well, yes, the she had five of 192 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,520 my dresses and three of them were sold in that huge sale. 193 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,040 And the pink one off shoulder one, which I've drawn there is 194 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,760 the one that was put up in the sale in New York. 195 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,320 But she announced she was pregnant when she was in Japan 196 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,680 with that off shoulder pink dress. 197 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,000 Gosh, how magical. How magical. 198 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:20,440 You created your extraordinary fashion and textile museum in 199 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,720 Bermondsey. Now you showcase different 200 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,000 designers from around the world in different eras. 201 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,000 Is that not correct? Yes, we've just this second 202 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,880 closed our Bieber exhibit that had record figures and one 203 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:40,280 realises what a wonderful icon Barbara Houloniki and Bieber is 204 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:42,760 because it was crowded the whole time. 205 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,880 We've had one of my exhibitions probably every four or five 206 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,400 years. We might do a special Sandra 207 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,440 Rose exhibit, but we we sort of vary between the different 208 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,720 exhibits that we have. If there was one designer from 209 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:04,440 any era from around the world that you could do an exhibition 210 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:05,800 for, who would that be? Oh. 211 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:10,480 Gosh, that's difficult. I mean, one of the designers 212 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,600 that never is remembered with enough credit is someone like 213 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:21,160 Bill Gibb, you know what I mean? And so, you know, 1 looks, one 214 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,160 in Scotland, they're now trying to treasure all the different 215 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,080 things he did and the aspects and the clothes he did, mixing 216 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:30,920 the knitwear and the tweeds and everything like that. 217 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:33,840 So I think he's due for another exhibit. 218 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,840 I totally agree. That would be that would be 219 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,600 wonderful. Now today we're going on a 220 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,120 personal style journey. Oh dear, don't say. 221 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,680 That. So I want to start with, how did 222 00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:51,200 you decide what you were going to put on this morning? 223 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,320 I felt well it was sunny but a bit cold so I did have to wear a 224 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:02,040 sort of long sleeve sweater under my new yellow yellow 225 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,240 frock. But I mean, I always think you 226 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:10,680 should dress up for radio, TV or wherever because I think as a 227 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:13,040 designer, you're always representing yourself. 228 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,760 And I've always said when you meet designers and they're not 229 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,280 wearing the things they've designed, you think, what do 230 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:21,640 they believe in them enough if they're not wearing them? 231 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,240 You know, so I, I, I wear something, I wear all the things 232 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,760 that I've designed for. Wonderful. 233 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:36,280 Now, you grew up in Kent and I believe that your mother was a 234 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,120 seamstress at the House of Worth, is that correct? 235 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:44,560 My mother was a patent maker in the House of Worth and she 236 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:49,440 worked there for probably 2 years, so it would have been in 237 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:54,960 the mid mid 30s before the war started to to break out. 238 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:56,600 Amazing. And then she came back to 239 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,520 Chatham in Kent, where I came from. 240 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,880 And did she teach you how to patent cut? 241 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:06,240 Or how to sew Indeed. No, I never thought that I'd be 242 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,600 going into sewing. She was this exotic creature 243 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:14,480 that taught in the art college that I eventually went to, but I 244 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,280 was always painting and drawing. But we were allowed to see her 245 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,880 doing wedding fittings and and things like that, which was very 246 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:24,160 exciting for us. We were told we had to sit 247 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,640 quietly and not fight with each other with my sister Beverly. 248 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:30,960 Do you? What was her style like? 249 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:32,520 What was her personal style like? 250 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:37,200 Well, that was the whole point. She was actually very, very 251 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,640 exotic. And she had, she had her hair in 252 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:43,640 a wonderful French pleat, and then she'd pinned the front up 253 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,800 to a big curl, so that probably made her look taller than she 254 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:49,600 was. And then she'd spray it silver. 255 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:53,040 And then there's one experience that I mentioned in the book, 256 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:57,040 because it it comes back to me so vividly as when we were going 257 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:00,120 to London for the day and it was like 5:00 in the morning and 258 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:03,160 we're getting ready to get the bus to the train station. 259 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:07,600 And she sprayed her hair with the silver Hairspray. 260 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,960 And then she'd always then spray it with setting lotion. 261 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:15,040 And instead of using the setting lotion, she used fly spray. 262 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:16,800 Ow. But we didn't know that. 263 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,040 And all the way down to the station she kept saying my head 264 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:24,760 dusting, my head dusting. And then we realised that she'd 265 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:28,280 sprayed with the fly spray. And so we went into a chemist 266 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,720 and she went, you may think I'm stupid, but but the chemist said 267 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:33,040 you're not going to be able to do anything. 268 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,960 You're either going to have to go home and wash it all off or 269 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,840 you'll have to live with that. So we lived with it while we 270 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,080 went up to London. Suffer for beauty. 271 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:49,080 Do you remember the first moment that clothes you put something 272 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:53,200 on and it had an impact on you? You, you felt differently. 273 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,160 Gosh, Sharon, I felt differently. 274 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,080 I mean, well, I used to, she used used to have wonderful 275 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,079 dress shows. And of course, as children at, 276 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:08,960 at the age of like me, 10 and my sister, probably 7:00, we'd have 277 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,359 clothes made for us so we could model down, down the, the 278 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,960 little, you know, because there was a children's section. 279 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:21,240 So I, I had a lovely dress with flowers at the sleeves and, and 280 00:17:21,319 --> 00:17:24,599 I think it was probably a loose pinafore type dress. 281 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:28,000 And I love dressing up. But then I'd go and see my 282 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,080 grandmother on Sunday mornings and I'd have to run through the 283 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,160 park because the children would all make fun of me because of 284 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,000 what I look like. But I'd still wear it, and I 285 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,480 still liked it. And it still made you feel and. 286 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:44,040 It still made me feel good. Did you wear a school uniform? 287 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:49,400 I had a school uniform, never I, and I was very unrebellious, 288 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,600 boring. Did you customise it? 289 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:54,280 No. I didn't mind at all. 290 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,000 I just wore the old tie and I thought of that as something you 291 00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,880 wear and it didn't matter what happened to it. 292 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:04,240 Whereas if I was dressed up, I'd have to bother about my clothes, 293 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,200 wears when I was at school. Didn't matter if you spilt 294 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,040 things on it or anything like that. 295 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:15,200 What was your light bulb moment in terms of fashion? 296 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,560 I mean, you were known as the Princess of Punk originally when 297 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,320 you burst onto the fashion scene. 298 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,600 Well a bit later that was because when I burst onto the 299 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:28,040 the fashion scene, I was first with Sylvia Ayton and we had the 300 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:33,120 Fulham Roe clothes shop and I was doing pop up prints that no 301 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:37,720 one had like lipsticks and missed a little men on them and 302 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:39,880 things like that. So ahead of its time. 303 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,360 Which didn't particularly sell well. 304 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:45,840 So it was sort of, I suppose, a, a cult shop and it was in the 305 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,000 wrong place in the Fulham Rd. So that closed. 306 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,560 And then I even remember doing an interview with when I was 307 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,440 doing a teaching job and they said, well, what are you going 308 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,080 to do now that your life's failed? 309 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,520 And and you, you say, well, I'm going to, I suppose underneath I 310 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,800 thought I'm just going to pick up the pieces and start again. 311 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:11,880 Wow, So you had your Sylvia Ayrton time and then you went on 312 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,800 to where? Well, Sylvia got offered a job 313 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,920 at Wally Shops where she became head designer till they till 314 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:23,880 they she retired. And but I was left thinking I've 315 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:28,800 got to teach two days a week and and I'd met these mad Ukrainian 316 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,040 models and they said, Sandra, you're going to make a fortune. 317 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,120 Come to America, where find someone that will back you. 318 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,480 So I thought, well, America doesn't know that I'm really a 319 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,720 textile designer. And so I got friends to show me 320 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,800 how to make things. And I made exotic caftans and 321 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:50,240 the yellow coat that you always think of and everything. 322 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,040 And I, I cut them out, got a machinist, she made them. 323 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,560 And then I did all the finishing with the beads and everything 324 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:03,040 and took them to America. And was that when you felt like 325 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:09,280 you really sort of created the Sandra Rhodes style, a sort of 326 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:14,040 the I, the iconic I? Suppose it was the beginning of 327 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:18,520 my iconic style, but I had the the headscarf and my red curls 328 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:20,840 drawn on my face. But my hair was still brown 329 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:25,760 then, and I wore high Beaver boots, and I had a letter of 330 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:29,920 introduction from English Vogue to Deanna Vreeland in New York, 331 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,520 and so I went with the clothes over my arm. 332 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,280 And where did you wear to go and meet Diana? 333 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,800 My white Beaver boots, my flowing chiffon headscarf. 334 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:45,760 A flowing chiffon dress with white silk sort of blue song 335 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,600 pants in that. Tucked into your boots. 336 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:48,640 Tucked. Into the boots. 337 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,960 Oh, how chic. And and so then I went and my 338 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,720 eyes would have been fully made-up with full false 339 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,880 eyelashes. And I went in with my clothes 340 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:01,960 and she completely raved about them. 341 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:07,080 And she was amazing herself with this wonderful dyed black hair 342 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,040 and and shaded red at the edge with Rouge. 343 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,160 And she said, oh, they're wonderful. 344 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,440 They're marvellous. I'm going to put them on Natalie 345 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,800 Wood and we're going to photograph them. 346 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,240 And then she picked up the phone and phoned Henry Bendel and said 347 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:25,480 they had to carry them. And so they were the windows. 348 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:31,600 It shot windows in New York City in the sort of like late 60s, 349 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:36,120 and so suddenly I had wonderful people, all Baby Jane Holtzer 350 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:40,680 and things, all coming to my funny little workroom in in in 351 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,360 London. But how wonderful because 352 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:47,040 sometimes I I think with fashion, if you take yourself or 353 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:51,640 your collection to a new market, there are no preconceptions. 354 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,000 I think that's what it must have been by chance. 355 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,400 I love that. How did you come up with the 356 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,800 whole beading on the edges? That lovely. 357 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:06,120 I always think of it as almost sort of like a almost a tassel 358 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:09,480 of a bead suspended from your hands. 359 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,600 Probably because I was so involved in the handwork and I 360 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,120 wasn't doing the machining. But it gradually grew doing all 361 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:20,560 those different bits like feathers on the end that was 362 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:24,400 influenced by going to the museum for the American Indian 363 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:28,000 in New York and suddenly doing designs with feathers and 364 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,960 everything. So it's quite wonderful and, and 365 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:35,960 quite sometimes I'm open mouthed at the fact that it, it sort of 366 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,520 caught on in such an amazing way. 367 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,640 Well, because it was good, perhaps. 368 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,400 Or different for that time because basically I was a print 369 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,560 designer finding a vehicle for my prints. 370 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:54,840 But I, I think of you as sort of really the original sort of 371 00:22:54,840 --> 00:23:00,040 queen of boho, albeit very glam boho, but there's something 372 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,920 slightly boho about. Your approach very early on. 373 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,840 Design and and your prints, actually your original prints 374 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:14,840 were sort of, you know, delicate and there was a sort of. 375 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:17,200 And I used to print them all too. 376 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,320 We'd be printing them all in our little print room. 377 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,680 Probably without rubber gloves. The hands? 378 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:25,720 Oh no. Rubber gloves. 379 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:30,800 Oh no, no, I mean my something short of desirable if you look 380 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:35,160 closely on me. I often talk about clothes being 381 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,320 our armour that we message through them. 382 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,160 Is that something that you're conscious of? 383 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,840 Doing I think probably, I mean all of us have various suits of 384 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,240 armour that we can can hide behind. 385 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:53,560 I hide behind both the make up and I always feel very much as a 386 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,160 designer. You're representing yourself, so 387 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:02,160 I'm wearing everything I design. And the makeup and the hair. 388 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,560 When did that start to evolve? How old were you when you 389 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,160 started to really create this? Sort of very. 390 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,360 Iconic. I would say probably from the 391 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:17,720 very late 60s and after that experimenting some of the 392 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:22,040 experiments for something to be desired and some you know, some 393 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:27,200 were cross references with going into Andy Warhol's factory. 394 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:31,000 And then, you know, one of the girls had two dots and I ended 395 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,800 up with two fluorescent green dots in in for instead of 396 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,000 eyebrows and and different looks that one's had. 397 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,000 And sometimes I think all those were strange, but I enjoyed 398 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,040 doing it those. Must have been extraordinary 399 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,560 times. When I look back, they're 400 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,760 extraordinary, you know, But I didn't think about it at the 401 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,760 time. I was going along with the flow 402 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,280 of something amazing. You've just recently released 403 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:01,800 this lovely book, Iconic, and it's Sandra Rhodes, My Life and 404 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:08,080 Fashion in 50 Objects. If I were to ask you, which was 405 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,920 the most iconic piece that you've ever worn? 406 00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:16,240 What I do find strange is one goes back to the beginning of of 407 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:21,160 your career because I still adore my yellow felt coat which 408 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,600 had all the the beads and everything on it. 409 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:28,680 I've had other ones but that was sort of like not hippie but 410 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:33,160 early statement pieces. An extraordinary piece, yes. 411 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,520 Where is that coat now? Oh well, there's one in there. 412 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,480 Was one shown at the in the Met last year. 413 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,640 Amazing. Definitely one up in Scotland. 414 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,560 In Edinburgh. I've got one. 415 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,960 I have almost one of all my favorite old pieces that I still 416 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:51,920 keep. Unfortunately, the ones that I 417 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:56,000 keep aren't always good to look at too closely because I would 418 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,440 have worn them. They've been lived and loved. 419 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,240 They've been lived and loved. I love that. 420 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:07,720 If you weren't wearing top to toe Zandra, who do you think you 421 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,480 would wear? I'd. 422 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,360 Probably go for antique pieces. Do you know what I mean? 423 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:22,160 Because I mean, I, I do have a wonderful isaymiaki, but you 424 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,360 know, those, those wonderful fitted bodices, I wouldn't be 425 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:27,320 able to squeeze my body into them now. 426 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:32,000 But it's a signed one that he gave me as a gift one time that 427 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,480 I did wear with pleated skirts and it looked rather, rather 428 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:37,440 wonderful. Extraordinary. 429 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,920 Where do you get your style inspiration from? 430 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:48,080 Often it's it's. Me experimenting with the prints 431 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:52,200 that I'm going to do and trying trying to think what way would I 432 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:56,360 like the prints to now look and then the print leads me into 433 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,400 something new. And where do you get your print 434 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,680 inspiration from? I. 435 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:07,680 Carry a sketchbook and if I go on a trip anywhere, whether it's 436 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:12,360 the countryside in in London or I might be on a trip in, I don't 437 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:13,920 know. Let's say if I've lucky enough 438 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:18,480 to be in Italy, I would probably Draw Something, whether it's in 439 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,400 a church, whether it's a tree, and that would be something that 440 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:26,840 I'll link onto, you know, whether to do some designs with. 441 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:32,480 And do you do you refer back to very old sketchbooks at all? 442 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,040 Yes. Now when I run out of ideas or 443 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,840 when we're thinking we need to do a new theme, I probably will 444 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,000 flick through a pile I've got. Probably. 445 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:47,520 Oh, probably about 70 books. Have you got one on you now? 446 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,920 And no, I haven't got one with you. 447 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:55,280 No, I was so excited to come. No, but I mean I refer back and 448 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:59,200 we might find a a tree or a drawing of a Lily or a drawing 449 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,240 of a flower. That will lead you to an idea 450 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:06,760 that you could follow up on. Do you have a a a Co creative 451 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,800 for someone that you bounce ideas off? 452 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:13,520 For an ideal holiday trip, I would go away with someone like 453 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:18,160 Andrew Logan whose jewelry I wear, and we'd go on a creative 454 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:19,680 trip. Like we went on a trip to 455 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,240 Morocco and we'd be up at 5:00 in the morning drawing the 456 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:28,120 sunrise over a desert or looking at looking at carvings or going 457 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,040 to museums. So the ideas would come from all 458 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:35,400 the places like that. The fashion world has changed so 459 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:41,280 seismically over the decades that you've been creating. 460 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:46,320 What do you think is the best bit of that? 461 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:52,080 Here in UK we have to think very carefully because I think that 462 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:58,720 due to probably when both you and I started, the world was our 463 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,960 oyster. And I think because the whole of 464 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,920 Europe had opened up. I think it, it was a wonderful 465 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:12,400 opening up and being able to exchange ideas and take things 466 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,360 abroad. And we were having buyers from 467 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:19,080 Europe and America coming in and buying our clothes. 468 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:25,440 And that has all changed now because the gates have come down 469 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:30,320 and we're now forced to be again a tiny island with not many 470 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:34,080 possibilities. I find it a very difficult 471 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,320 situation. It doesn't affect you or I in 472 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,000 the same way, but it affects our youth. 473 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,880 Yeah, Yes, it does. It does. 474 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:49,480 And you have these mega brands and I'd love to understand your 475 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:54,800 view on these mega brands that are now charging thousands and 476 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,160 thousands of pounds for a handbag for. 477 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,240 Example it's quite appalling really, I think. 478 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,280 And I, I've got a feeling what might happen because we're now 479 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,640 back to being a small ion Leyland. 480 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,440 We might find a really whole wave of different kind of 481 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:19,640 originality and the fact that we should be doing more of with the 482 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,600 situation, not wasting so much in the world. 483 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:27,040 It should be that you do some make do amend and we find that 484 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:31,720 we put new with old and we come up with hot, totally new styles 485 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:36,120 that we're not using up the facilities of the world anymore. 486 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:40,960 I, yes, I, I would hope so. And it feels like we are heading 487 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,920 in that direction. And as Brits, we're very 488 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:47,240 creative and very entrepreneur. The British are very creative 489 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,120 and very entrepreneurial and I think we're going to have to 490 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,800 rely on that to see what happens to us. 491 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,880 I I agree. Do you have a style icon or are 492 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:02,600 you the icon? Well, that's very grand. 493 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,360 If I start to think that I think my head would go too big. 494 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:11,160 I mean, I have to rely on my initiative to come up and hope 495 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:15,160 that I go and I I can come up with different things. 496 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:20,880 I mean, I think most of my close friends are fairly iconic in 497 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:24,760 themselves or represent things. You know, I went to a wonderful 498 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:30,440 opening of a of a new museum in if Modern Art in London last 499 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,640 night, and I was thinking that Dougie Fields of artists that 500 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,040 I've collected for years should be in there. 501 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,560 So I think that we're creative. So we have to hope that there's 502 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:43,720 going to be a vehicle for spreading our work around the 503 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:48,640 world now. How would you want someone to 504 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:52,840 describe your style DNA in three words? 505 00:31:53,600 --> 00:32:01,600 Colourful, original, maximalist. Love that, love that. 506 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:09,200 What would you say is the sexiest look on a woman? 507 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:16,880 I think this it's sex comes from an allure of the personality 508 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,720 rather than what you show, I think. 509 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,320 So it could be someone's eyes are quite marvellous. 510 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,720 I mean, I sometimes wonder how short skirts are now which I 511 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:33,120 wouldn't dare to wear anything without trousers, but that's 512 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,640 that puts me into my age group anyway. 513 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,560 But but yes, I I agree with you about the allure. 514 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:46,120 Would you say that your style has changed through the decades? 515 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,960 Well, if it if, if my style didn't change with the decades, 516 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,720 I think that that would be very worrying too, because you'd be 517 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,400 then probably, you know, putting yourself into a spot. 518 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:03,480 I suppose the fact that I've still got pink hair is maybe you 519 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:05,160 could say that's run-of-the-mill. 520 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,320 You know what I mean? And that hasn't changed. 521 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,240 But the cut changes I mean, because you've all. 522 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:15,120 Cuts it. Oh, I've got a lovely Swedish 523 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:20,680 hairdresser who worked on my, He did my Linus who worked on my 524 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:27,360 the wigs for my Blenheim show and did the wigs and, and so I 525 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,480 mean, he's been now cutting my hair and making me feel OK, so 526 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,520 that makes a difference. So what does stay at home chill 527 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:39,640 out Zandra wear? Trousers and a zandra roads 528 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:44,720 pleated printed top but very casual or sometimes even a 529 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,200 dungarees suit if I'm doing the plants on the balcony. 530 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:53,840 And trousers are from where? The funnily enough, the pleated 531 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:58,080 trousers are by a wonderful girl, Kitty Joseph, that used to 532 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:03,480 work in my studio before COVID. And so the trousers are so easy. 533 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,880 They're washable and they go through it. 534 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:07,880 They you know, so it's very easy. 535 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,920 And is that a sort of fairly constant look for you, the 536 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,280 pleated trousers under one of your tops or? 537 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,800 Dresses under one of my tops or dresses, yes. 538 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:18,760 Would you say you've had a worst fashion moment? 539 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:21,719 It's try. It's often when I think the 540 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,920 worst fashion moments were when fashions were either a bit 541 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,000 shorter or whatever and you look at yourself and you think that 542 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:33,639 was a really fatal look. I've never heard it talked about 543 00:34:33,639 --> 00:34:39,840 a fatal look, but can you, could you describe that, that look? 544 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:44,040 I mean, I've, I've, I've never had lovely long, long legs and 545 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,000 you know, when things were once short, I mean now having 546 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,880 discovered I can wear things as tunics and then wear flowing 547 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,880 trousers, it's, it makes it much easier. 548 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,520 Let's talk about planning. Do you plan your wardrobe at 549 00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:00,400 all? I don't really plan my little 550 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:01,960 wardrobe at all. I don't think. 551 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,000 I, I, I, I work out what the weather's like, then it might 552 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:07,920 be. What's my newest project? 553 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:13,240 And then obviously I'm a firm believer as a designer that if 554 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:16,920 you design something, you're designing something that you 555 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:21,560 would represent and therefore you don't say, sorry, I don't 556 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:23,960 wear that. I might not wear a particular 557 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:28,040 colour way, but you still wear it because you're telling other 558 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,040 people this is what you believe in and if you believe in it, 559 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:32,760 they should. Be in it. 560 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,440 Yes, exactly. Let's talk about travel for a 561 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:40,680 moment. Are you particularly aware of 562 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,280 what your airport or your travel look is going to be? 563 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,560 Well vaguely, if I'm travelling on a long trip I'll I'll have 564 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,360 packed the night before and then I'll decide what I'm wearing, 565 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,560 which again is usually the pleated trousers and a printed 566 00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:02,240 sound rose top with a suitable vest if it's likely to get cold, 567 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:07,920 and maybe an easy jacket that doesn't crease up too much but 568 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,160 usually is a bright colour. Are you a good Packer or a bad 569 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:13,480 Packer? I think I'm a good Packer. 570 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:17,920 I pack very neatly, very neatly. What luggage do you use? 571 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:22,280 Oh, a bright colour, so it comes from any old shop. 572 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,440 But if it's a nice bright colour and efficient wheels. 573 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,360 Efficient wheels and always a strap. 574 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,560 Never travel without a strap because once when I was 575 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:35,080 travelling in China my luggage came down the chute and it just 576 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:39,120 fallen open and then I had to travel with tied with string. 577 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,960 What, if anything, do you feel you've got an excessive amount 578 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:47,040 of in your wardrobe? It used to be shoes, because 579 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,520 you'd think I'd need this high heeled shoe for this and I need 580 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,840 this, you know, special shoe for that had a lovely pair of 581 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,840 irresistible moored frissons, you know, and Oh my. 582 00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:00,600 God I used to love. And they were wearable. 583 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,440 They weren't too high. But now unfortunately I can only 584 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,040 wear flat shoes, so usually it would be a choice of different 585 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:12,360 kinds of sneakers that I wear. I'm fascinated to know in terms 586 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:17,840 of percentages, how does your wardrobe breakdown in terms of 587 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:19,000 colour? Pink. 588 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,080 Yellow. Do you ever wear black? 589 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:25,120 No. I was once given the task of 590 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:31,880 wearing black for a week, I think it was a Daily Mail and I 591 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:35,080 found that so difficult. It made me feel very depressed 592 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,640 and people are under the illusion that if you wear black 593 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,800 it doesn't show the dirt, but it shows dirt just the same as if 594 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:46,760 it was white or another colour. Now, what is your approach to 595 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,640 sustainable fashion? The world has got to think 596 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:55,960 clearly that you cannot change your wardrobe with every season. 597 00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:02,480 I think we have to think constructively that we can mix 598 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,600 and add. So it doesn't mean that you're 599 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,640 always going. I mean, I wouldn't like people 600 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,480 say, oh, here she comes again, She's wearing the same thing. 601 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:14,560 But you can put enough variety into it that you can wear 602 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:18,680 something old or something new, something borrowed, whatever you 603 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:20,760 know. And you can you can get your 604 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:25,760 look to change with the seasons, but not necessarily always buy 605 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:27,760 new. I don't think there are enough 606 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:31,800 facilities in the world now to just change a wardrobe all the 607 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:33,320 time. I mean, there's not enough 608 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,400 resources, that's it. You'd use up the resources I 609 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:41,720 think. What do you do with your clothes 610 00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:45,560 when you've had enough of them? I tend to do what I did with the 611 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:49,360 rest of my collection, put them in a box and then suddenly, 612 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:52,720 which is quite nice, you get a box out that you haven't worn 613 00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:55,720 for 20 years. And you see a raincoat like I 614 00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:58,840 got out of pub and I thought, oh, I could still wear that 615 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:04,360 purple raincoat with my new black beret from Stephen Jones 616 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,800 with the Eiffel Tower on it. And it looked perfect. 617 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:11,160 And it was an old raincoat, so that, you know, you just see, 618 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:13,560 look, I think look with the initiative. 619 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,120 What would you say is the oldest piece in your wardrobe? 620 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,760 I've still got some pieces from the Fulham Rd. clothes shop, 621 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:25,120 which would mean they're from about 1965. 622 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:30,240 And do you still wear them? Oh no, I would their size and 623 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,840 also size is smaller, so oh, I wouldn't. 624 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,480 Oh no, if I'm wearing it, it's got to be loose. 625 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:41,600 I don't like to say that I'm a 14, but I they have to be loose 626 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,280 enough for me to. Wear comfort is king. 627 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:48,560 Comfort is king. Yes, disguise comfort. 628 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,760 No, no comfort makes you feel good. 629 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,760 Let's spin on to some quick fire questions. 630 00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:00,560 What fashion advice would you give your 20 year old self? 631 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,920 Fashion changes all the time. I think you just have to look 632 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:08,400 it's look at it and say what do I feel good in really? 633 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:15,080 Which fashion trend or era would you most like to see make a 634 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,760 comeback? Well, I'm quite enjoying Boho, 635 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:23,120 which gives me all the stuff that I I did the flowy, flowy 636 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,760 shift on tops and things that I still think will be that keep 637 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:28,840 coming up in eBay and everything. 638 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:33,680 What fashion or beauty trend would you consign to Room 101 639 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:37,800 tattoos? Your last impulse buy? 640 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:40,440 Can't think if I had an impulse buy. 641 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:42,280 I'm so boring. Don't worry. 642 00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:45,200 We'll move on. Grooming or well-being 643 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,000 treatment. You couldn't give up. 644 00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:51,440 Having my hair cut beautifully. High end or High Street? 645 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,200 It's always nice looking at high end. 646 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:56,880 Doesn't mean you're buy it but you look at high end. 647 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:01,960 Trend or style? Style, colour or monochrome? 648 00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,520 Colour? Plain or. 649 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:08,320 Pattern pattern. Hoarder or editor? 650 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:14,680 Hoarder. Charity shop or resale Charity 651 00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:17,560 shop. Shapewear or lingerie? 652 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:20,920 I used to love lingerie. I think I'm too old for that 653 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:24,960 bikini or one piece or one piece. 654 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,800 And finally, at the end of the day, what do you or don't you 655 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:31,680 wear in bed? Pyjamas. 656 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,400 And your makeup. Oh, and my makeup? 657 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:36,760 Wonderful. Yes. 658 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:41,880 Sandra, thank you so much. What a lovely conversation with 659 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,160 an icon. An absolute icon. 660 00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:47,800 It's been wonderful being here with you. 661 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:49,240 Thank you. Thank you.