Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Fashion designer known for whimsical prints and as the muse in David Hockney's painting 'Mr and Mrs. Clark and Percy'.
On the island
Eight records
Well, when I was young I thought it was a wonderful record and it's got a real good beat and I think I'd be very happy on the Desert Island listening to it.
My father used to think of himself as a bit of an opera singer and he introduced me to classical music and Puccini makes me want to cry, so here we go.
I've always been quite a francophile and this music reminds me of lovely trips, all sorts of places in France, driving around the countryside.
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)
Marvin Gaye I listened to a lot in my youth and used to dance a lot to him, and I think it's a a very, very pretty record.
I love this record. I like the words and I love the tune. And I think it's a great song.
Sophie Daneman & Daniel Taylor
I love this because Andy, my partner, who's actually, as David says, quite a rock for me in life. And I'm going to play this because we went to Glenbourne and we took a picnic and we arrived and it was this sort of the rainiest day, the windiest day. And I remember sitting against a brick wall having this so-called picnic and then going into this opera house and listening to this divine music.
Tim Buckley singing Dolphins and it's not to everybody's taste, but it is to mine.
RêverieFavourite
I think this is the most delightful piece of music. I can't believe somebody could make such beauty and the fact he was twenty-eight when he made this piece of music is incredible.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:25When you see some lovely young thing swanning down the street in one of your current creations, do you still get a thrill?
Yes. It's lovely to meet. I I think um the older you get, youth looks more and more delectable and you think, gosh, I was there once but when you're young you never appreciate it the same way.
Presenter asks
2:23What is it do you think that has made [your vintage designs with Ossie Clark] such design classics, and such collectibles?
I think he he could make whether you were small, fat, thin, or whatever, look. You're most attractive, and they had a sort of spiritual feel about them that I don't think any other designer has managed to create since. We all felt very, very lovely in his clothes.
Presenter asks
4:21That first picture that we all became aware of, Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, when was it painted?
nineteen seventy one. David was doing a series of portraits of his friends, and he said I'll come and take some photographs of you. I'd like to do a double portrait. … we never thought it would become so heroic. I mean nobody ever thought that that would be like the number one postcard sold at the Tate.
The keepsakes
The book
Tropical Flowering Plants: A Guide to Identification and Cultivation
William S. Greer
Well, I'd like to take a a book that uh would give me information about growing tropical flowers because obviously I would think I'd be on a tropical island, so my choice would be tropical flowering plants. Yeah, Compendium.
The luxury
I think if I was alone on a desert island and um in the middle of nowhere surrounded by lovely things I would like to sleep properly and I think if I slept properly I could face whatever I had to and um I think a luxurious bed would be a dream.
Presenter asks
8:28Is it true, Celia Birtwell, that you're no good with a needle and thread?
Absolutely hopeless. … It's quite funny because I love fashion and I love everything about it. I like painting my prints and um I've got endless patience for doing my own work, but sewing leaves me cold.
Presenter asks
20:08How did you manage to combine having two small children with this burgeoning fashion label and being at the centre of fashionable society?
Well, I've always been a home's body. I've always been the ho one at home. I like my home. … He would always party and I was often at home. But gradually as the relationship unfolded it became more more and more impossible to sort of stay together. He'd sort lost the marvellous thing that I loved about him, I guess, and had become very, very sort of almost self destructive.
“I think his work was very hard edged. He had a very strong architectural knowledge of form, and I think I haven't got any of that. I'm two dimensional and I see things in textiles. So I think my treatment alongside him gave it a softness that it wouldn't have achieved otherwise.”
“I never thought of myself as a muse or a model. I thought of myself as a doer and a creator. My life's been full of surprises, actually, and I think fate's played such a a particular role in it.”
“I think things can be more pleasurable now to look back on than they were at the time. I think that's very absolutely true.”