My Haven ZANDRA RHODES

The fashion designer, 77, in the living room of her penthouse flat in south London

1 DANCING DOWN THE AISLE

I spend a week every month here when I’m not in my main home in San Diego, and I love how bright and airy it is. This photo of my parents Beatrice and Albert at their wedding in 1939 is very special to me. My mother taught at Kent’s Medway College of Design – now part of the University for the Creative Arts, of which I’m Chancellor Emerita. She met my lorry driver dad, who looked a bit like Errol Flynn, while ballroom dancing.

I inherited my capacity for hard work from Mum, but sadly she died when I was 24 and didn’t live to see my success.

2 A HEAD FOR FASHION

This bust of me was made when I was 50 by the sculptor and jewellery maker Andrew Logan, who also designed this chandelier [pictured, below left]. One day he said, ‘I’m going to sculpt you in case you dye your hair black.’ The original bust was bought by the National Portrait Gallery, but Andrew made me this copy, which I like to look at from time to time because it makes me smile. Of course, I never dyed my hair black…

3 COSTUME QUEEN

I won this Emmy award for the costumes I designed for the 1983 American TV movie Romeo And Juliet On Ice. The first I knew of it was when the award arrived in the post one morning. But when I was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2014 for services to British fashion, I received my award [pictured below] in person from Princess Anne. I felt so proud. I was the first on stage to receive the award that day, and wore a wonderful little baby hat with a rhinestone egg on it. The lady sitting next to my sister Beverley in the audience asked, ‘Would you wear something like that?’ My sister replied, ‘No, I wouldn’t, but the lady concerned is my sister!’

4 BUTTERFLY EFFECT

One evening in 1973 Freddie Mercury came to my little studio in London’s Bayswater. He wanted an outfit, so I suggested coming round after 6pm when it was quieter. I pulled some clothing off the rail for him to try on and he liked this pleated butterfly outfit in cream satin. I didn’t have a changing room then – it was just me and my sewing machine. I told him to move around to see how it felt to wear and he played around, pretending to perform. He looked fantastic in it, so I made him another one, which he wore on Queen’s 1974 tour [in support of their Queen II album].

5 DARLING DIANA

I’ll always treasure this photograph of Diana, Princess of Wales, taken at the opening party of the Christie’s sale held in New York in 1997. It was two months before she died, and she auctioned off 79 of her dresses, including some of mine, for charity. The whole world was watching the sale and it raised a huge amount for good causes. I loved designing outfits for Diana because she had such a lovely figure. She’d come into my shop in London and then I’d go round to Kensington Palace to fit her. It was all quite formal, but she was always very nice to me.

6 TOWN AND COUNTRY

I began listening to The Archers with my mother in 1953 and have been a fan ever since – I even have this cookbook inspired by the series. The thing I missed most about home when I first moved to San Diego in the 1990s – where I now live most of the time with my film producer partner Salah Hassanein – was not being able to follow the show live. I would pester people to send me recordings, but now thankfully you can listen to it anywhere in the world via the internet. I was lucky enough to have a cameo role in 2006 – that was such a thrill.