‘BEING CREATIVE GIVES ME JOY’
Fashion designer Jenny Packham talks life and business
Iimagine everyone considers their childhood to be normal at the time, but looking back, I think mine was quite alternative. My mum loved to be creative and would be making sculptures or painting in between looking after us, while Chris, my older brother, would be dissecting owl pellets on the dining table while I’d be making something fabulous to wear that night. There was an endless energy in our house and being bored was unheard of.
My mum came from a generation that made their own clothes and my grandmother was the local dressmaker, so most of my early wardrobe was mum-made. It was inevitable that
I would make my own designs as soon as I could. There wasn’t a lot of choice when I was growing up in Southampton in the late 1970s and it felt important to look different, stylish and to get noticed. If there was a party on a Saturday night, I’d buy fabric in the morning and make a dress in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Chris was always collecting animals, so our house felt like a mini zoo; neighbours would often bring injured animals for him to save. Chris excelled at so many different things and
I needed to find something I could do without having to compete with him. I gravitated towards art and, when I realised being a fashion designer would allow me to be creative every day, I never looked back. When
I was 16, I studied fashion and art at Southampton Art College. One day, I overheard some girls talking about St Martin’s School of Art (now Central Saint Martins) and how it was the best place in the world to study fashion. I decided that’s where I wanted to go and I was lucky enough to get a place.
I met my partner, Mathew, when we were both art students – he was studying sculpture – but we didn’t become a couple until about a year after I graduated, when he was the art director on a music video and asked me to design the costumes. Within a few months, we’d rented a studio on Portobello Road in West London, and launched a luxury fashion brand. We were
I made my own designs as soon as I could
very naive but enthusiastic and brave. I had always wanted my own business; with my mother’s dedication to creating a world of possibilities and my father’s abiding belief that giving up is not an option, it felt natural to want to be in control of my own creativity.
We built the business from nothing; we had no money and had to apply for loans to get started. We were lucky enough to get some funding from the Prince’s Trust and we signed up for evening classes in business. There was no social media in 1989, so we’d drive around, putting invitations for fashion week through the doors of the fashion press. It’s the firsts that stand out: the first collection we sold, the first celebrity we dressed, the first dress in Vogue. Moments like that have always felt like real achievements.
GROWING THE BUSINESS
One night, we drove to King’s Cross station to buy You magazine because one of our dresses had made the cover. I remember holding the magazine and feeling we’d really made it.
Mathew quickly took up the reins of the business, while I concentrated on designing the collections. We’d discuss everything together and we shared a passion for both the product and the business. For me, a well-designed dress is one that most women want to wear. Thinking about how we develop our brand and growing our collections is something I have always loved doing.
We’ve dressed many celebrities over the years including Kate Winslet, Taylor Swift and Dame Helen Mirren. I’ve always found it exciting, especially if I can work with them directly. I love to collaborate and make sure the dress is what they want, then add a bit of magic
that surprises them. Over the years, backstage at fashion shows, I’ve often been asked the same three questions: ‘Where do you get your inspiration?’ ‘What celebrity would you like to dress?’ And ‘how do you work with your husband?’ In reply to the last question I’d always reply, ‘How do you not work with your husband? You don’t know where he is all day!’ We have always worked together and, at the same time, we brought up our daughters, Georgia, 27, and Bern, 23.
LOVE AND LOSS
However, a few years ago things between us changed and we separated. It was never going to be an easy separation; there were a lot of people who were dependent on us and a permanent split would tear our world apart. Undoubtedly, it was the business that had caused the stress in our relationship, but it felt so irresponsible to split up and lose everything we loved, so we took the decision to try again. I think in our time apart we were able to reflect on everything we had achieved together and how much our creative life meant to us. Luckily, our love had just gone away for a while but not given up. It was an important thing to have happened and I’m glad we survived it.
I don’t think our daughters ever felt we would actually split up. I think they just thought Mum and Dad had gone a bit mad for a while and they’d sort it out. Georgia is training to be a transpersonal therapist and Bern is studying creative writing. Georgia models for us occasionally and I would love to have Bern working with us, too, as she is so creative, but fashion is not her thing and that’s okay. I would never push anyone into it.
The most difficult thing I ever had to deal with was my mother’s death. It was so sudden. She went out one morning to drive her friend to hospital and told my dad she would see him at lunchtime but, on the way, a catastrophic rupture of her aorta caused her sudden death while driving on a dual carriageway. Fortunately, no one else was injured. I was in shock and for quite a long time, I couldn’t say she’d died. I used to say she had disappeared.
I couldn’t say my mother had died; I said she had disappeared
We were very different women and disagreed about a lot of things, but we had an incredibly tight bond and shared a love of fashion. Sorting out Mum’s wardrobe was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Rather brutally, I emptied all her clothes into bin bags and gave them to charity. Perhaps I thought my pain would go with them. It was regrettable, but I have since forgiven myself. At certain times in your life, you just have to let go and do what feels right at the time.
My brother Chris and I are very good friends; we take a real interest in each other’s work and
I am so proud of his campaigning to protect wildlife. There is certainly a relentless ambition that we share. We are both self-critical of what we do and strive to do better, but I don’t see it as a negative trait. Maybe it is a coping mechanism to protect ourselves from failure, but it’s also a way of challenging ourselves. It wouldn’t make sense to me not to try to make my next collection better than the last.
I can’t pretend that the last year of business during the pandemic hasn’t been tough – we make party- and evening-wear after all. But fortunately, we have a great online presence. In fashion, you become used to adapting quickly, so when we went into the first lockdown, we designed a new collection with excess fabric and trimmings that we had stored in our studio. On a positive note, the lockdowns have allowed me more time to be creative – taking me back to doing what I love most. • How To Make A Dress (Ebury Press) by Jenny Packham is out now