Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Fashion designer known as the longest-standing designer at London Fashion Week and for dressing Diana, Princess of Wales.
On the island
Eight records
No reason given beyond the introductory anecdote.
No reason given beyond the introductory anecdote.
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
No reason given beyond the introductory anecdote.
Arthur Somervell (after Handel)
No reason given beyond the introductory anecdote.
In conversation
Presenter asks
4:28Do you think this [the desire for more sustainable clothing] might be the beginning of the end for fast fashion?
Unfortunately, probably not. I still think there's that customer out there who wants immediate gratification, then throw it away. We're human beings and in the end of the day, we'll change briefly, but I think we'll probably be back again to some bad, bad habits. You know, they don't just go away overnight. Never expect too much from human nature.
Presenter asks
5:10How do you bring together your artistic vision with the commercial demands of selling a product? Is that tricky?
It is impossible. What I paint is really a complete freedom, complete escapism, whether I'm in a restaurant or in a bar or somewhere. Usually abroad I just bring my pad and I do a quick watercolour whether I'm in India or China or Italy somewhere with a paintbrush. I'm not afraid of colour, I'm not afraid of making mistakes and I enjoy that freedom and it's just like complete utter abandonment.
Presenter asks
5:57Is that [commercial sense] something that comes naturally to you?
Uh It is, and I'm very aware of that commercial side, which which is probably I inherited from my father because he was up to a certain period he was very, very successful and he was very smart, and he's always stood behind me, even though he's been dead for a long time.
The keepsakes
The book
Anne Louise Avery
It's a wonderful story of animals. And I kind of relate to that because I am a little bit of a fox myself.
The luxury
Presenter asks
7:34Tell me a little bit more about your father. He was a bit of a charmer, I think.
He was, he was a very strict man, but he had a lot of respect and he had a wonderful bowl of hat. And when he would go in through the local Allied Irish banks, he would take off his hat to the ladies. And he came from Limerick. His parents had a pub, but I think they drank most of it. So he more or less came up to Dublin and swept the floors of a big store called Splitz's, which is now Brown Thomas's. And I'd always make him his fry on a Saturday afternoon so I could get his car. He would give me his car at the age of 17 without any driver's license or anything. And I would make him his wonderful evening supper, I suppose you could describe it. But it was mainly made of bacon, egg and sausage and then milk, hot milk on top. Unbelievable. Poured on top. Hot milk poured over the bacon, egg and sausage. Yes, I know, exactly. And then he'd give me his keys and maybe a couple of quid and I'd say give him a kiss and I'd go off and I loved him. And he had those magic hands that you've been having.
Presenter asks
9:27How did your mother, Kay, come to find herself in Ireland?
Her parents were from Kilkenny and she was getting over a love affair in New York and they thought, oh, we need to get her away for a little bit. So they got her on a plane to Dublin. She had relatives in Dublin and my father attended a party in Dublin in Ratgar, which is a very posh area of Dublin. And he was like the well-to-do success of Dublin at the time. And he saw this rather glamorous American woman. They had contact at that point. She went back to New York. And two weeks later, he got on the boat and they got married in St Patrick's Church. And then he brought her home back to Ireland.
Presenter asks
25:50What was [Diana, Princess of Wales] like to design for?
So genteel, so feminine, so warm, so humorous. And I sat in the drawing room, which is at the side of the house looking out onto Hyde Park. Yeah, this is Kensington Palace. And I couldn't believe looking out of the window at Hyde Park, and I am here. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life.
“I suppose because I'm like a lot of creative people, we're never fully satisfied. So you have to keep going to find that crock of gold, which you probably will never find.”
“I just see him going through the fabrics with this wonderful big thumb. He just knew the quality by hand and I still today I can still tell even with people I go, yeah, there's a little bit of polyester in there, a little bit of visco... It's again, it's not from knowledge, not from learning. It's from, I thank my Father and God.”
“To grow like a like a plant. With my little red bike and my imagination. Even as a baby, I still remember as a baby being in my pram under a tree watching the rain coming down. So yeah, I was allowed to flow.”
“I still believe we are that far out of the bog. And that's where the best things come from. Of writers, of musicians, sitting in a bar, in a pub, in a bog, whatever. We are much better with the soil on us, on our hands than cleansed.”
“It was rainy, of course, typical Dublin weather, and she had a very nice umbrella, but above all, she was wearing a very nice skirt that was buttoned up as one side, but she had it slightly open with ankle socks and very high shoes. I thought, God, she's kind of cute. So I kind of speeded up the walk a little bit and I moved in beside her. I said, I think I recognise that skirt. And then she looked at me, said, Oh, God, I just borrowed it because she borrowed it from Annette Kennedy, who was one of the girls who worked in my shop. I said, Oh, well, it looked really good on you. You know, you look amazing. So one of your designs. One of my designs, yeah, very bold. And she was the eldest of seven children. I was the youngest of seven children. So we kind of hit her off really well. She's given me seven amazing children, six boys, one amazing girl, and was still, I believe, I love her now more than ever.”