Jasper Conran

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

Speaker 20:08

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen ninety five, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:30

My Castaway this week is a fashion designer. The son of famous parents who divorced when he was very young, it wasn't until he left his English public school education for Art College in New York that his career began to take shape.

Presenter0:44

In 1977, still only eighteen, he returned to London. He got a bank loan and he started his own business. Less than ten years later, he was voted Fashion Designer of the Year. Today, aged thirty five, he remains a fashionable success, admired not just for his classic clothes, but his designs for theatre and ballet as well. In a family like mine, he says, if you're not successful, you drown. He is Jasper Conran. Have you ever felt you were drowning in the midst of this Conran clan, Jasper?

Jasper Conran1:15

Oh, yes, quite frequently, really quite frequently.

Presenter1:20

But the name Conran is one which immediately suggests superwoman and and superman indeed, and style and success and all of these things. That m there must have been a terrific onus upon you to achieve.

Jasper Conran1:32

Yes.

Jasper Conran1:34

is the answer definitely, because otherwise I was always going to be my parents' son.

Presenter1:40

But you had to say How do you do? My name is Jasper Conrad.

Jasper Conran1:43

Yes, certainly I encountered prejudice.

Presenter1:47

Did you?

Jasper Conran1:48

Yes.

Presenter1:49

In what way?

Jasper Conran1:50

Well, because everybody thought it would be easy for me, you know. My brother had had a terrible time at art school.

Jasper Conran1:57

My father was on the board of governors of most of the art schools. So how do you get into an art school without anybody thinking that you've been got in by the back door, so to speak?

Presenter2:08

But do you think that if you hadn't had the name that Vogue would still have given you, as they did when you were nineteen years old, virtually unknown, they gave you a six page spread. Now, wasn't it the name Conrad that got you there?

Jasper Conran2:21

I don't actually believe it was, because Vogue is a commercial enterprise, and whoever the fashion editor was certainly didn't do it for the love of me or for the name

Jasper Conran2:34

I think probably I was designing the right clothes at the right time.

Jasper Conran2:38

Perhaps the only reason she actually got to see my clothes was because of my name.

Presenter2:45

Mm-hmm.

Jasper Conran2:45

Now that I'm willing to concede.

Presenter2:47

Yes.

Jasper Conran2:47

Yes.

Presenter2:48

Well we'll talk more about the Conran clan in a minute, but tell me first of all

Presenter2:51

You have a very specific view, as I understand it, about how you arrive at this desert island. Now tell me about that.

Jasper Conran2:58

Well, to just jump off the side of a boat isn't very glamorous now, is it? I think I've been on a wonderful yacht. It's it's probably some thirties yacht that's been sailing through the Caribbean. It probably belonged to some

Jasper Conran3:12

Amazing.

Jasper Conran3:14

Millionaireists find it b breathes its last, this boat and it blows up spectacularly, and I swim ashore.

Presenter3:23

So you sit down and attempt to turn it into a stylish minimalist paradise, is that right?

Jasper Conran3:28

Yes, I think so. Probably lots of navy blue, gingham and stripes and just hints of colour here and there, yes.

Presenter3:37

The odd cushion thrown around on the beach. And the music. Let's get down to the music. Tell me about your first record. What what are you going to play when you get to this place?

Jasper Conran3:42

Yeah.

Jasper Conran3:47

My first record would be Billie Holliday singing on the sunny side of the street. Billie Holliday reminds me of my mother very much. You know, I've been listening to her playing it.

Jasper Conran4:02

And then me playing it, and so I'd want to remember my mother, I think, yes.

Speaker 44:09

Land of Coat Get your hair

Speaker 44:12

Leave your worry on the doorstep Just direct your feet To the sunny side of the street Can't you hear a pit of pet?

Speaker 44:27

And that habit too is your stay.

Speaker 44:31

Life can be so sweet.

Speaker 44:35

On the sunny side of the

Presenter4:38

Billie Holiday singing Sunny Side of the Street. In fact, all your records I see are women vocalists.

Jasper Conran4:44

Yes, it's my all-girl lineup. The thing about women is that they

Jasper Conran4:49

Good deal nicer than men in

Jasper Conran4:52

In many respects.

Presenter4:53

'Cause you were brought up mainly by women. Your parents divorced when you were two. Yeah. And you were brought up by mother, grandmother, and great grandmother as well, eh?

Jasper Conran4:55

Of course.

Jasper Conran4:59

Great grandmother, yes, indeed, she was a fabulous woman.

Presenter5:04

So you were kind of weaned on gossip and girl talk, yes.

Jasper Conran5:08

Yes, I was. You see, I used to get taken around by my grandmother to my great grandmother's house every day for tea and

Jasper Conran5:17

I would sit and listen. They thought I couldn't talk. I was I could talk very well, but I was too fascinated by their gossiping.

Presenter5:25

But you didn't talk, did you? You didn't talk about it.

Jasper Conran5:25

But you didn't

Jasper Conran5:27

No, I didn't talk until I was four years old.

Presenter5:30

I wonder why.

Jasper Conran5:31

It could be that, um

Jasper Conran5:34

I had had a quite traumatic time.

Presenter5:36

Because of your parents separating when you were so little.

Jasper Conran5:38

Yes. I mean, my mother was working and I I was left in the hands of nannies and um certainly one of my nannies used to lock me up and go out the minute my mother had left.

Presenter5:54

But you didn't open your mouth and tell yourself that.

Jasper Conran5:55

Well, I mean, no, and you see, and if you're not spoken to, you don't actually talk.

Presenter6:01

Hmm.

Jasper Conran6:03

Same.

Presenter6:03

But nevertheless you love women, even nasty ladies.

Jasper Conran6:05

Now I haven't stopped I haven't stopped talking since I did open my mouth, however.

Presenter6:08

Since I did it.

Presenter6:10

You like women, as I say. You like dressing women. You make them look very female.

Jasper Conran6:11

Yeah.

Jasper Conran6:14

What I try to do is follow the lines of a woman's shape. I I don't make androgynous looking clothes, I make female clothes. That is the shape of a woman, that's the shape we make the clothes in.

Presenter6:27

But they're also very classic. They're often navy blue or black.

Jasper Conran6:30

Yeah.

Presenter6:31

Oh yeah.

Jasper Conran6:31

Oh yes. My favourite colours have always been navy blue and black and white.

Jasper Conran6:37

I find myself always saying Oh well, we'll do this in pink and then No, it'll look much better in black.

Jasper Conran6:43

But but how many

Presenter6:44

But how many ways are there to design the little navy blue suit?

Jasper Conran6:47

Oh, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. You change the shaping of the jacket, you change the proportions, you change the I mean, I believe that clothes should work for you, they should do a job.

Jasper Conran7:01

To make you feel good, to make you feel confident.

Presenter7:04

One could say, but that's just you being a rather astute business man. You are buying clothes that women will wear, not things that will be photographed and talked about in newspapers. Is that you the business man at work there, or is it actually something back to the mainstream?

Jasper Conran7:18

Well, there's always an economical factor to being in the fashion business. It's it's a minefield of horror. And for for sure, I have to make clothes that sell because I'd have you out of business very quickly.

Presenter7:32

Tell me about record number two.

Jasper Conran7:34

Oh, record number two. It would make me think of my father. He loves Dusty Springfield and so do I. And uh I think that the song is very appropriate one.

Speaker 47:45

Really rare was the breach of son, And when his daddy would visit he'd come along.

Speaker 47:50

When they gathered round and started talking Paston Billy would take me walking Out through the backyard we go walking Then he look into my eyes Lord knows the line surprise The only one who could ever reach me Was the son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me Was the son of a preacher man

Presenter8:18

Dusty Springfield with Son of a Preacher Man. So, Jasper Connon, your parents parted when you were two, we said. Just about when your father, Terence, was setting up Habitat, it must have been.

Jasper Conran8:24

Yeah, just

Jasper Conran8:28

I think uh he set up Habitat in nineteen sixty four, so that was just a little bit later.

Presenter8:33

A little bit later.

Jasper Conran8:33

He had um

Jasper Conran8:35

Conrad Design Group then I

Presenter8:37

Your mother surely hadn't made a name for herself at that stage, had she?

Jasper Conran8:41

Well, she had because she had been designing Conran Fabrics. That's what she ran. And that was a very successful company at the time.

Presenter8:49

But she went on to become woman's editor of The Observer.

Jasper Conran8:51

She did, and.

Presenter8:52

And you were this little boy at home, very silent, as we've heard very detached by all accounts, and you went on being detached.

Jasper Conran8:55

Uh

Jasper Conran8:58

Building.

Speaker 48:58

Uh

Jasper Conran8:58

One being

Jasper Conran8:59

Yes, I did. I built a sort of emotional barrier around myself that was impregnable.

Presenter9:07

But you were sent away to school. How did you get on there? Did you retain the barrier?

Jasper Conran9:12

Yes, I think I did. I think I did all the time that I was at school. I was fat.

Jasper Conran9:19

And um children are very cruel to fat children, you know. Um so.

Speaker 29:24

How so

Jasper Conran9:25

Oh, Bertine Stone Fat. As you can see I'm not very tall.

Jasper Conran9:30

I one day I looked in the mirror and I thought this has got to stop.

Jasper Conran9:34

And I just.

Jasper Conran9:36

Stopped eating.

Presenter9:38

How old were you then?

Jasper Conran9:38

Yeah.

Jasper Conran9:39

I was thirteen and I was just sick of the whole thing, you know. But I, you know, I started running, I started doing all sorts of things that I'd never done before because I never had the confidence to do them. And suddenly I was in the rugged team, suddenly I was in the football team, suddenly, you know, I'd always been the one standing on the side line in goal.

Presenter10:02

So you lost a lot of weight very quickly.

Jasper Conran10:04

I lost a lot of weight weight very quickly and and I think I was on the verge of having anorexia because I became utterly obsessed.

Jasper Conran10:12

By my weight.

Jasper Conran10:14

But I think probably that my great love of food

Jasper Conran10:18

Saved me from that.

Presenter10:19

So you obviously have been

Jasper Conran10:20

Thankfully.

Presenter10:21

A a bit of a mess, if I can say so.

Jasper Conran10:23

A mess. Terrible mess. God, I wouldn't have wanted to know me at all.

Presenter10:27

I mean, how did the other boys treat you? I mean, if you were so silent and detached and fat and

Jasper Conran10:33

Oh, just terrifying.

Presenter10:35

I mean, did they bully you?

Jasper Conran10:37

Yes, they bullied me because of my weight, but they soon learnt that wasn't a very clever thing to do. So I was very, very strong.

Presenter10:43

And put it in the middle of the middle

Presenter10:45

Did did they then think you were quite extraordinary, because you also had this very unusual mother who would come whizzing in to visit you?

Jasper Conran10:51

Oh God, yes. Everybody's mother always shames them. Well, my mother turned up one day at school, and she had a gold sports car at the time.

Jasper Conran11:03

And she came late, skidding in, and emerged from the car, to my horror.

Jasper Conran11:11

In a crocheted dress, she wasn't wearing a bra.

Presenter11:16

Mm-hmm.

Jasper Conran11:17

And that was nineteen sixty-eight.

Presenter11:17

And that

Jasper Conran11:20

Of course, now I'm terribly proud of her for doing that, but.

Presenter11:23

And what about your father? Because during this time he'd remarried, hadn't he?

Jasper Conran11:26

Yes, he married Mike.

Presenter11:27

Married.

Jasper Conran11:28

stepmother, Caroline Conrad, very quickly.

Presenter11:32

And he had more children. So one way or another your nose must have been pretty out of joint.

Jasper Conran11:32

He had more.

Jasper Conran11:33

Yeah.

Jasper Conran11:37

Tonanan

Jasper Conran11:38

Never, ever. I I've known my stepmother all my life.

Jasper Conran11:43

And loved her all my life. I adore her. And I was thrilled.

Jasper Conran11:48

Why, my brothers and sister. No, no, never out of

Presenter11:52

But you've said before now that you always felt, nevertheless, when you went to their house, that you were a visitor.

Jasper Conran11:58

Well, yes, but that wasn't their fault. It was a fact. Um certainly I think my stepmother did everything in her power to encourage me and she taught me to cook and she looked after me in the holidays. But you slightly do feel that you should be on your best behaviour. I have never been resentful about the situation, because I think would I like my mother and my father in the same house? And the answer is a resounding no, thank you very much.

Presenter12:30

Next piece of music. What's that?

Jasper Conran12:31

Next one is Janice Joplin singing Summertime, and it brings the whole feeling of early adolescence back to me, learning to smoke and drink crumpy down in the bushes at school. And though I didn't like school, I liked the smoking and drinking part down in the bushes in the fields with my mates.

Jasper Conran12:58

Time to

Speaker 412:59

I'm tired.

Speaker 413:02

Shah, the Living Disease Air.

Speaker 413:12

Fisher Jumpin'

Speaker 413:18

Hey they're coming on! Come on

Presenter13:24

Janice Jofflin singing Summertime.

Presenter13:27

Do you think, Jasper, that you always had an instinct for fashion? I mean, did you did you draw as a child or?

Jasper Conran13:33

Oh yes. I think I did always have an instinct, because I always remember looking at people.

Jasper Conran13:42

And my aunt and or something I'm thinking.

Jasper Conran13:46

That length of dress will never do, just won't do, and making her take them up, all her dresses and her skirts.

Presenter13:55

How old would you have been when you did that?

Jasper Conran13:57

No eight.

Presenter13:58

Meaning.

Jasper Conran13:58

Quite horribly precocious in that way, yeah.

Presenter14:06

It's amazing.

Jasper Conran14:07

Actually, I always used to look at people and think, I.

Jasper Conran14:13

could make you look so much better. And I'd dream of what I'd do to them. So you rush away and then draw and yes, I'd draw and create and draw and draw. I mean, I spent a lot of my childhood just drawing. I still do.

Presenter14:21

So you brush away and then draw and draw.

Presenter14:30

So your big opportunity came when you were, I think, only fifteen. Your mother took you to New York and basically you asked to be left there.

Jasper Conran14:38

I'd finished my A-levels that summer.

Jasper Conran14:41

And

Jasper Conran14:43

My

Jasper Conran14:44

A mother had a friend who came to see her and she was she worked on Cosmopolitan.

Jasper Conran14:51

She saw my drawings.

Jasper Conran14:53

and she said, Oh, you should go and see our art editor.

Jasper Conran14:57

Your name and art director.

Jasper Conran15:01

and um show him your drawings.

Jasper Conran15:04

So I thought, well, why not? That'll be something to do.

Jasper Conran15:07

And then I went to see him, and he said

Jasper Conran15:09

Oh, well, you should be going to Parson School of Art.

Presenter15:13

Which is big. I mean, it's the news.

Jasper Conran15:13

Uh

Jasper Conran15:14

Which is like the Royal College.

Presenter15:17

But yes.

Jasper Conran15:18

Sirthe.

Jasper Conran15:19

Why not? I was just passing the time of day, really, you know.

Jasper Conran15:23

filling filling in time. And so I went to see them and they said

Jasper Conran15:28

Yes, yes, we'll give you a scholarship. Lovely, come quick.

Jasper Conran15:32

Um

Presenter15:33

So you were fifteen years old, and basically wanting to be left.

Jasper Conran15:34

I'm basically wanting to be left there.

Presenter15:37

Yeah. Your mother was coming back to London.

Jasper Conran15:37

Your mother was coming back to London. It wasn't I wanted to go to art school. I didn't want to go back.

Jasper Conran15:44

Two

Jasper Conran15:45

Brownstone, which I had outgrown.

Presenter15:48

your school. Yeah.

Jasper Conran15:49

You didn't want to do A-levels? No. Well, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

Presenter15:53

But it's remotely.

Jasper Conran15:53

And I was right. I'm still here doing it.

Presenter15:56

But it's remarkable that your parents agreed, really, isn't it? Yes, I'm not sure there are many mothers who would leave a fifteen year old on his own in New York.

Jasper Conran15:59

I'm not sure there are many.

Jasper Conran16:03

No I was talking to my mother last night about it.

Jasper Conran16:08

And I said, Well, how did you

Jasper Conran16:11

feel. I mean, that's an amazing thing to do now I think about it.

Jasper Conran16:15

And she said I knew that you had done something special by getting

Jasper Conran16:21

a scholarship to that school, and I couldn't send you back.

Jasper Conran16:25

Um I knew that you that was your only way of going forward.

Presenter16:28

Record number four.

Jasper Conran16:30

Gloria Gaynor singing I Will Survive.

Jasper Conran16:33

New York at that time w was having the birth of the disco. This song was definitely the song of that moment.

Speaker 416:45

There is no friend

Speaker 416:46

I was petrified.

Speaker 416:48

Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side.

Speaker 416:52

But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong And I grew strong And I learned how to get along

Speaker 417:03

Run out of faith.

Speaker 417:05

I just walked in to find you here with that bad look upon your face. I should've changed that stupid lot. I should've made you leave your keys. If I'd have known for Jeff

Presenter17:15

Doria Gaynor and I Will Survive. This is your dancing record, isn't it?

Jasper Conran17:18

Oh, that's my dancing. I've been dancing while you've been playing it. But when you were.

Presenter17:22

But when you were sixteen and seventeen and in New York, going to all the clubs

Jasper Conran17:26

Yes, absolutely. Five a night.

Presenter17:28

Hmm.

Jasper Conran17:28

Get back at eight in the morning and go to school.

Presenter17:31

Did you get chucked out of Parsons in the end?

Jasper Conran17:33

Oh yes, I was thrown out for being disruptive influence. I talked in class. Having started talking I carried on and on and on and on and on.

Presenter17:42

But you had a good time. You really did the scene. I mean, you went to uh the the club scene, I mean, straight clubs and gay clubs and Brazilian clubs and

Jasper Conran17:43

Yeah.

Jasper Conran17:47

Gay clubs and gay clubs.

Jasper Conran17:50

And transvestite clubs, and you name it. I mean, it's seeing this was amazing, coming from a very sort of

Jasper Conran17:59

Narrow upbringing at school, not at home, but at school. I had no conception that life.

Jasper Conran18:07

could be like quite like this. I was really looking through the eyes of a child, you see. I just I was, to all intents and purposes, still only sixteen.

Speaker 218:13

You see I

Jasper Conran18:20

Golly, if you went into one of these Puerto Rican clubs there there was a pile of knives and guns and

Jasper Conran18:26

What have you at the door? They do know that they wouldn't take drugs off them, they'd take their knives and guns off them. It was quite amazing.

Presenter18:34

But you and you went out with women at this time, didn't you?

Jasper Conran18:37

Mm-hmm. Yes, I did.

Presenter18:37

And you ended up marrying one of them.

Jasper Conran18:40

Yes, I did.

Presenter18:42

That was when you came back here. You married at nineteen.

Jasper Conran18:45

Yes, I was married at nineteen.

Presenter18:47

How long did the marriage last?

Presenter18:49

Cool.

Jasper Conran18:50

Couple of years?

Jasper Conran18:52

I had really married my best friend.

Jasper Conran18:55

at the time and um we were both y young.

Jasper Conran19:00

You know, people make an awful big deal about me getting married and then getting divorced. I mean, you know, people do it all the time, let's face it.

Presenter19:07

Well, absolutely. Uh why they do in your case is because since then you've you've come out and you are you are happy to say that you are homosexual.

Jasper Conran19:10

Because since

Jasper Conran19:12

Yeah.

Jasper Conran19:13

And it's a little bit of a

Jasper Conran19:17

Oh, yes, of course.

Presenter19:18

Was that a was that a big deal for you to say? How old were you when you came out?

Jasper Conran19:24

I was never I was never um never in

Presenter19:27

Never really

Jasper Conran19:29

In all sorts of ways, I don't think I think

Jasper Conran19:33

What is a misconception is that if you're homosexual, you cannot have a sexual relationship with a woman. That's absolutely nonsense. I think it's a question of telling yourself the whole truth about yourself, and then you'll feel much more comfortable about it.

Speaker 419:41

Not

Presenter19:51

What I'm interested in, though, is is how a young man decides.

Presenter19:58

To come out in the sense of of telling his parents that. Is that a is was that a big deal? What did that take great courage, to say to your father, There's something you should know?

Presenter20:08

I am homosexual.

Jasper Conran20:08

Oh no, I I didn't actually ever do that. It just.

Jasper Conran20:14

happened and I think it's you know I think everybody around me probably knew it all the time.

Presenter20:20

Next piece of music.

Jasper Conran20:22

RIVER DEEP MOUNTIN HIGH BY TINA TURNA.

Jasper Conran20:26

And this will make me think of my office family. I love my secretary, Aileen.

Jasper Conran20:32

and all the other people in my office. So I would think of them when this was being played.

Speaker 420:39

And they get scroll back!

Presenter21:07

RIVERDEEP, Mountain High, sung by Tina Turner. So you came back to England, Jasper. You worked briefly with Bill Gibb and for Wallace Shops, but very quickly, nineteen seventy nine, you set up your own business with a bank loan, and the rest is history, really. I wonder why, after such an unconventional beginning,

Jasper Conran21:25

Um

Presenter21:25

When you started designing your clothes were so conventional, so classic.

Jasper Conran21:25

Yeah.

Jasper Conran21:29

Yes, I know. Odd that, isn't it?

Presenter21:32

I hope you might design croch crocheted frost.

Jasper Conran21:34

You would have thought I designed crocheted frocks and glitter high heels and all sorts. I think that there is a sort of very puritanical streak that runs through me that I well, I think that probably there are two people in me. One is somebody who likes fun, but I also like navy blue and white and um, you know, there's this other chap down there and um

Jasper Conran21:59

He doesn't like that kind of thing at all. I think he's probably the slightly stronger chap of the two.

Presenter22:05

He's certainly the more astute businessman, as we were saying, because what you designed is sold.

Jasper Conran22:09

Definitely.

Presenter22:09

It worked.

Jasper Conran22:11

That is definitely in my blood. I had to design clothes that sold because I wasn't going to get a second chance at that.

Jasper Conran22:19

I needed to have a business that worked.

Presenter22:22

And it did work and you became you were Designer of the Year in 1986, weren't you?

Jasper Conran22:26

Yeah.

Presenter22:27

But then suddenly in the late eighties you hit financial disaster. What what happened?

Jasper Conran22:32

Well, not disaster because it I didn't go bankrupt, so that wasn't disastrous. No, something awful did happen to me, which is that I hadn't realized that the rent on the building that we were in could go up six times from sort of

Presenter22:37

No something awful

Jasper Conran22:53

Thirty-six thousand quarter of a million in Welmfells to Woop.

Presenter22:58

But overnight.

Jasper Conran22:58

Yeah.

Jasper Conran22:59

Overnight.

Jasper Conran23:00

And I was very, very nearly wiped out by it. All the money we'd made just evaporated in the space of three years. I actually went to the liquidator because we couldn't.

Jasper Conran23:13

We I couldn't go, there was and I had nothing left. And he said, I cannot allow you to do this. I said, Well, you haven't got much choice in the matter, have you? And he said, Well, actually I know the landlord.

Jasper Conran23:27

And he rang them up.

Jasper Conran23:29

And they were persuaded that

Jasper Conran23:32

They'd pushed me as far as I could go.

Presenter23:34

But you don't do shows any more, do you?

Jasper Conran23:36

No. Absolute w waste of money. I mean

Jasper Conran23:40

What business do you know?

Jasper Conran23:43

Where you have to reinvent yourself every six months.

Jasper Conran23:48

I mean, it's mad. I'm in the business of making clothes. It's my craft. That's what I do. And in being in business.

Presenter23:57

I'm interested you call it a craft,'cause a lot of designers would call it an art.

Jasper Conran23:57

I'm interested you call it.

Jasper Conran24:01

Oh, it certainly is no art. We're dressmakers, that's all we are.

Presenter24:07

You say you're a businessman, but at the same time you've gone into the theatre, haven't you? And I think when you first went into the theatre and started designing there, the costumes and so on, that you you didn't do it as a a kind of financial undertaking, did you?

Jasper Conran24:20

Oh no, no, no, no, no, I didn't. You know we were talking about that Puritan in one side and the other chap on the other?

Jasper Conran24:27

That's what satisfies the other chap, is being able to work in the theatre. There all I have to do is please visually, you see. There I'm telling a story with clothes, and I can do whatever I like.

Jasper Conran24:40

And I can play with colour to my heart's content.

Jasper Conran24:43

It's like painting painting. It's great.

Presenter24:46

Record number six.

Jasper Conran24:48

Edith Pieff singing La Vien Rose

Jasper Conran24:51

And I suppose that reminds me of France and the French, whom I love.

Speaker 424:59

Des you quiet pour des mien, rir qui se pairs sus apoutre, one on the portres ava tour.

Speaker 425:08

Dol Moque, La Paltia.

Presenter25:26

Be in a mind

Speaker 425:28

Uh

Presenter25:28

Edith Piaff singing La Vienrose. Um you're a francophile, Jasper. You own a house near Bordeaux, which according to all descriptions is very plain and simple and uncluttered, and you've been quoted as saying that you don't care if people put their dirty shoes on on the sofas and because you can wash them and you like material that's been washed a lot.

Presenter25:47

Should we believe that?

Jasper Conran25:49

But why shouldn't you?

Presenter25:51

Because because if I'd gone to some trouble to, you know, cover my sofas nicely, I wouldn't want people you've also said you don't mind if people burn holes in them. I mean, are you really that relaxed about it all?

Jasper Conran26:02

Yes. It's the countryside. There's a lot of dirt outside, and it's inevitable that a lot of it's going to come in, and I actually think if people are relaxed and having a nice time

Jasper Conran26:15

Then

Jasper Conran26:16

Fine, I'm a realist, Sue.

Presenter26:16

I'm a real

Presenter26:19

You claim to be relaxed on the one hand, but you also are are a minimalist. You don't like clutter about dooms.

Jasper Conran26:25

Uh

Speaker 426:25

No, but

Presenter26:25

But I mean, you can't be relaxing'cause you've got to rush around putting everything away. I mean, you can't leave the shampoo out in the bathroom and the books in the sitting room. Isn't isn't it hard work being minimalist?

Jasper Conran26:36

It's a terrible burden, Sue.

Jasper Conran26:39

I can't tell you how awful it is.

Jasper Conran26:42

Yeah.

Presenter26:42

And you sit there in France designing on a computer, you sit underneath the lime tree. How often can you get there and do that?

Jasper Conran26:46

Yes.

Jasper Conran26:48

Yeah.

Jasper Conran26:51

I probably go there about once every two months for a week or so.

Presenter26:54

For a wheel

Presenter26:56

So you can send your designs back up because

Jasper Conran26:57

Yes, I can work on the computer and I can modem them through to London.

Jasper Conran27:03

And they spew out there.

Jasper Conran27:06

But they groan because they have to process them.

Presenter27:09

So it's really much like being on a desert island, really. You can sit there on your own.

Jasper Conran27:09

Seriously.

Jasper Conran27:13

I think it's amazing.

Presenter27:13

I think it's mainly

Jasper Conran27:15

That techno I love technology. I never, you know, a plane never takes off without me thinking, God, this is incredible.

Presenter27:23

Well, you can't have your computer on the desert island unless you take it as your luxury, of course. But you can't be in contact. What will you do on your desert island? How how will you go on? Will you build the shelter? Will you organize life?

Jasper Conran27:34

Well no, I'll make a garden first. I'd make a vegetable garden and I'd make a a very attractive homestead and that would have lots of Conran touches about it. I'd be very, very busy, I thought about this, and I would have a lovely time. I'd probably open a shop, yes. And a restaurant.

Presenter27:52

Yeah.

Presenter27:55

Um and a red

Jasper Conran27:58

And a small boutique.

Presenter27:58

Sorry, I'm not sure.

Presenter27:59

So you'd have plenty of of practical things to do to keep yourself busy. It'd just be a matter of of keeping your soul together, really. How would you do that? You have to stop talking again, right?

Jasper Conran28:03

Yeah.

Jasper Conran28:08

Yeah, it's just otherwise the world would heave a sigh of relief, no doubt. But, um

Jasper Conran28:13

I think because I've learnt to be self sufficient in my life, and because I've never been bored in my life, ever. So just keeping yourself alive is going to be a twenty four hour job.

Jasper Conran28:26

I don't know my desert island, but

Jasper Conran28:28

It'll be nice'cause the water'll be aquamarine.

Jasper Conran28:32

And the palms will sway. I will try and make it enjoyable.

Presenter28:38

Echo number seven.

Jasper Conran28:40

is Maria Callas singing the Aria Vicidate from Puccini's Tosca. The first time I heard Maria Kallas' voice, I

Jasper Conran28:52

nearly burst into tears. I I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. And this song in particular is all about how how she did it for art

Speaker 429:42

And the beauty

Presenter29:49

Maria Callas singing the Aria Vissi d'Arte from Puccini's Tosca with the Orqueste de la Societe des Concerre du Conservatoire, conducted by Georges Pretre.

Jasper Conran30:03

Now

Presenter30:04

It's only you're only thirty five. What are you going to do with the rest of it?

Jasper Conran30:07

I love my work. I'm I'm

Jasper Conran30:10

Privileged.

Jasper Conran30:11

to be able to do the job

Jasper Conran30:14

I've always wanted to do.

Jasper Conran30:16

I think I probably troll along in much the same way, hopefully, because I am a lucky man.

Presenter30:24

But it's been, as you said, a a bit of a struggle to get there, and not least because you've been the famous son of famous parents. Your father was quoted in in one article not so very long ago saying, I don't relate to Jasper as a father does to a son. He's more a friend to me.

Jasper Conran30:24

But it's been

Jasper Conran30:27

Uh

Speaker 230:27

Yeah.

Jasper Conran30:28

Yeah.

Jasper Conran30:45

that I'm more of a friend than

Jasper Conran30:47

A son, because I would prefer that. That a friend is somebody you choose, a son is something you're lumbered with.

Presenter30:53

Two.

Jasper Conran30:54

I see.

Presenter30:55

And your mother, would you say, at the end of the day, she's been the greater influence on you? You're closer to her.

Jasper Conran31:00

No, I'm not closer to either of them. I mean, I'm I'm the same, I think. I have a different type of relationship with my father. It's a far more bucolic relationship, you know.

Presenter31:11

Ecolic.

Jasper Conran31:12

Buconic. Well, I've is that the right word? Is that have I used the wrong word again?

Presenter31:15

I used the wrong word.

Presenter31:16

Brucolic means kind of ruddy of cheek kind of thing. Oh, I see.

Jasper Conran31:18

Pastoral

Jasper Conran31:20

Past Roland Ruddy of Chi.

Jasper Conran31:23

You know, we do

Jasper Conran31:25

enjoy each other's company in a very calm, relaxed way.

Presenter31:30

I'm sure you wouldn't want to change your parents, and you can't anyway, and none of us should want to. But I wonder if, at the end of the day, you might have been happier had you been the son of mister and misses Ordinary Achiever instead of mister and misses Superbreed.

Jasper Conran31:46

No, I wouldn't. I'm very, very, very thrilled and pleased.

Jasper Conran31:50

to be exactly who I am.

Presenter31:53

Last record.

Jasper Conran31:54

I've been talking about how lucky I am and I have had a friend.

Jasper Conran31:59

called Sue Fulston, since I started work. And I think in life that it's your friends that get you by, and my friend Sue has done just that, and her favourite song is Dam Zughale's Best Friend.

Jasper Conran32:18

By Marlon Monroe and

Jasper Conran32:20

I would be reminded of her.

Speaker 432:22

A kiss may be grand.

Speaker 432:25

But it won't pay the rental on your humble flat Or help you at the automat Men grow cold as girls grow old And we all lose our charms in the end

Speaker 432:42

But square cut or pear shape, these rocks don't lose their shape. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Presenter32:52

Marilyn Munro and Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Now, if you could only take one of those eight records, Jasper, which one would it be?

Jasper Conran33:00

I think it would have to be Maria Calla singing Vicidate.

Presenter33:05

Because I did it all.

Presenter33:09

What about your book?

Jasper Conran33:11

I would take

Jasper Conran33:12

The Tales of Hoffman by Hoffman

Jasper Conran33:15

I'm very lucky, you see, because I've got a terrible memory, so I can read a book from end to end.

Jasper Conran33:21

and then go back again.

Jasper Conran33:23

They are the most beautiful collection of eighteenth-century French tales.

Jasper Conran33:29

That's it. That's what I want. They keep me going.

Presenter33:31

And what about your luxury?

Jasper Conran33:35

I thought about pens and paper.

Jasper Conran33:37

But I thought, no, I g you I'd have to make my own. That would be a bit more of a challenge. And I thought about all sorts of things that I might want, but actually at the end of the day what will make me feel really good

Jasper Conran33:50

is an endless supply of vintage Krug champagne.

Jasper Conran33:55

Why not?

Presenter33:56

What

Presenter33:57

Why not? Jasper Conron, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you.

Speaker 234:09

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.