British mums juggling the school run with running the world’s top fashion labels

Think stick-thin French women and male prima donnas control the catwalk? Not any more...

TRADITIoNALLY, t he female rulers of the fashion world have come in two distinct types: Italian grande dames and sniffy French women — all tight cigarette pants and rail-thin limbs.

But at Paris Fashion Week this month, it was clear that there’s a revolution afoot. And its leaders are not moody Gallic women, but sensible British mothers.

There was fever-pitch excitement around the debut of Birmingham-born mum-ofthree Clare Waight Keller as artistic director of Givenchy. The first woman to run the fashion house, she’s a far cry from her prima donna male predecessors, such as the controversial John Galliano.

You’ll get no hissy fits with the quietly efficient Clare. She’s more focused on fitting in the school run between shoots.

other hot tickets in Paris were the Celine and Alexander McQueen shows — also both headed by British mums, Phoebe Philo and Sarah Burton respectively.

Stella McCartney, Fran Stringer at Pringle and Luella Bartley at Calvin Klein Jeans are just a few of the other homegrown females juggling family with making waves on the catwalk.

So why has fashion fallen so in love with British mums?

As well as having that vital dose of London cool — most of them studied at Central Saint Martins Fashion College in the capital — they are seemingly ego-free and adept at multi-tasking.

It’s a quality no doubt perfected by also having two, three or even four children.

As Phoebe Philo says: ‘I’m a woman living in a very real world. I have responsibilities at work and home, dealing every day with trying to get everyone’s needs met.’

Perhaps more significantly, these Brits are well placed t o know what r eal women want — and what will tug, squeeze or be unflattering.

In short, they are designing for busy working mothers like themselves — a group with increasing amounts of disposable income to spend on fashion.

So who are the cool, calm and practical mothers taking over the most desirable roles in couture — with their seven-figure salaries, grooming budgets, clothing allowances, apartments and even school fees all part of the package — and how do they balance the demands of children and the catwalk?

MULTI-TASKER WHO IGNORES EMAILS

GIVENCHY is Parisian couture meets Hollywood. Founder Hubert de Givenchy designed Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress in Breakfast At Tiffany’s.

Now 47-year- old Clare Waight Keller, daughter of a legal secretary and an engineer, has taken over. Low-key and charming, Waight Keller joined Calvin Klein on the strength of her graduate collection at St Martin’s, was then snapped up by Ralph Lauren before becoming creative director at Pringle and then Chloe. Having designed handbag after bestselling handbag, she’s rumoured to have left because Chloe wouldn’t agree to ‘salary increases proportionate to sales’.

At her Givenchy show last month, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore and Lily Collins all sat in the front row wearing her designs. FAMILY MATTERS: A mother of three — twins Charlotte and Amelia, 14, and Harrison, five — Clare is married to U.S. architect Philip Keller and lives a Eurostar chic lifestyle with a farmhouse in Cornwall and a cavernous apartment on Paris’s Bois de Boulogne.

She refuses to open emails until she’s walked her son to school, saying: ‘ He’s always in a bouncy mood, talking about the birds in the park or the diggers or things like that. It’s refreshing to have that innocent perspective in the morning and not to have to think about the day ahead.’

As for whether her job is made more diff i cult because of children, she says: ‘A family grounds you. When I didn’t have children, I was working all the time. Now I have to be more efficient, more resourceful, more exacting and focused.’

FASHION NOTES: She l oves surfing and owns ‘approximately’ 130 pairs of shoes. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Chloe parent brand, Richemont, said the label had ‘ good sales growth’ under Clare. Indeed, it increased every one of the seven years she was there. Givenchy will hope for the same.

‘SPHINX’ WHO SPURNED PARIS

VoGUE has called 44-year- old Phoebe Philo ‘ the oracle and Sphinx of fashion’. She’s turned Celine from being rather ‘so what’ into the ultimate status symbol.

Raised in Harrow- on-the-Hill, daughter of a surveyor father and graphic artist mother, the Saint Martin’s ti ’ graduate d t is ih her own best b t advert, all winsome cheekbones and androgynous tailoring. Best friend and assistant to Stella McCartney at Chloe, she took over when Stella left to launch her eponymous l abel. Philo l ater moved to Celine, where her clothes are as achingly minimal and expensive as fashion gets. FAMILY MATTERS: Married to old Etonian artist Max Wigram, they live in North London with their children, Maya, 12, Marlowe, ten, and Arthur, five.

When the Celine job offer came along, Phoebe would only take it if

London, not Paris, could be her headquarters.

‘I don’t know whether that comes from having a family — having something very important at home that needed to be protected,’ she reflected. ‘It was not something I was going to gamble with.’ FASHION NOTES: Used to have a pierced nose and bleached hair, perhaps thanks to an early fascination with Boy George. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Owner LVMH reports ‘solid growth’ at Celine, and turnover is estimated at 600 million euros (£505 million).

KATE’S FAVOURITE KEEPS IT HUMBLE

SMILey blonde Sarah Burton, 43, was raised outside Manchester. The daughter of an accountant father and music teacher mother, she wore her brothers’ hand-medowns as a child.

She joined Alexander McQueen as an intern in 1996 from Saint Martin’s, quickly rising to become his right-hand woman. His suicide in 2010 piloted her into the driving seat. Somehow, she managed to build on his legacy, winning the ultimate commission — designing the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress in 2011. She has become Kate’s most cherished designer.

FAMILY MATTERS: Married to photographer David Burton with three daughters: twins, elizabeth and Cecilia, four, and Romilly, one. Home is a ‘rambling’ Victorian house in North London.

Her normality is undoubtedly a strength — attracting praise from Vogue editor Anna Wintour. ‘[Sarah] is so humble,’ she says. ‘A significant part of her success is that warmth.’ Sarah herself says:

‘Having children gives you balance. It’s only fashion.’

FASHION NOTES: Not a party girl, in spite of creating evening frocks for Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama, Gwyneth and the like. Prefers country walks and pub lunches. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Owner Kering say McQueen stores delivered ‘very strong growth’ in 2016, and singled Sarah out for praise.

MACCA’S GIRL HAS THE LAST LAUGH

IT WAS always going to be hard to i gnore Sir Paul McCartney’s daughter. Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and yasmin Le Bon modelled in Stella’s Saint Martin’s graduate show — for free.

After a youthful stint at Chloe, Stella set up her own label in 2001. She’s proved herself immensely versatile: somehow her eco-warrior sensibilities don’t stop her designing flattering, grown-up clothes. Her success is one in the eye for Karl Lagerfeld, her predecessor at Chloe, who sniped after she got his job: ‘I think they should have taken a big name. They did — but in music, not fashion.’ FAMILY MATTERS: Married to Alasdhair Willis, creative director at Hunter wellies, they have two sons and two daughters: Miller, 12, Beckett, nine, Bailey, 11, and Reiley, seven, and live in London’s Notting Hill. Stella, 46, has said she will pull her children out of private school if they get too ‘posh’. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Business is booming. Figures released for 2016 show sales increased to £41.6 million — up almost £10 million in a year. Dividends to shareholders doubled in a year, meaning Stella received £4.32 million on top of her salary and bonus.

PARTY GIRL PAL OF KATE MOSS

APPOINTeD global head of design at Calvin Klein Jeans this year, Luella Bartley, 43, also produces collections for the Hillier Bartley label she runs with pal Katie Hillier.

Once one of the hardest partyers in London, she is buddies with Kate Moss and has an edgy, feminine style. Ivanka Trump was photographed in Hillier Bartley this year and Alexa Chung and Florence Welch have worn it too. FAMILY MATTERS: Three children — Kip, 14, Stevie, 12, and Ned, 10, with her fashion photographer husband, David Sims. A keen surfer, Bartley used to be based in Cornwall but the family has since returned to London. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Fashion watchers will have to wait for her first set of results from CK.

OSH BOHEMIAN STYLE STARS LOVE

ONCe described as the ‘British Ralph Lauren’, Alice Temperley, 42, grew up on a 160-acre cider farm in Somerset. After studying at Saint Martin’s, she set up her own l abel f ocusing on f l oaty dresses before expanding into bridal wear. Her diffusion line at John Lewis is their best- selling ever, and her posh bohemian look has attracted everyone from the Middletons to Kim Kardashian.

FAMILY MATTERS: Divorced from the father of her eight-yearold son, Fox, she lives in Notting Hill with portrait photographer Greg Williams. There’s also a country pad in Somerset.

She’s been open about the strain of work and motherhood saying, ‘I gave birth [to Fox] in 2008, right in the middle of the recession. I basically had no maternity leave — it was a terribly tough time. The toll it took on my body, my brain and my hormones was extreme. I was doing fabric meetings with my baby breastfeeding under my shirt. Women shouldn’t have to put themselves through that.’

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Sales in 2015 were £11.6 million, but things now aren’t quite so peachy. However, directors believe profitability will improve — and the diffusion line is a clear hit.

PUTTING PRINGLE IN THE PINK

FRAN FR STRINGeR, from Middlesbrough, br worked at Topshop, Acquascutum Ac and Mulberry before joining joi Pringle, the world’s oldest fashion fas house, and was promoted to head of womenswear last year.

Her H debut was very successful, with wi fashion arbiter Suzy Menkes of f Vogue saying she ‘got everything right’. Down-to- earth Stringer cried when she heard.

As she herself says: ‘It’s sometimes an overwhelming task. Basically every person I know has a jumper — and we [Pringle] pretty much invented that.’ FAMILY MATTERS: Daughter of an architect and a reflexologist, Stringer is intensely private. She has a daughter, Indigo, five, and is about to have another baby with her web developer boyfriend. FASHION NOTES: She knew Pringle from childhood because her brothers would go clubbing in the brand’s pink jumpers. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Too early to say. Pringle was recently bought by the Hong Kong-based Fang family but has yet to make them a profit.

PUBLICITY SHY, BUT ADORED IN LA

IF THe Duchess of Cambridge has another go-to designer apart from Sarah Burton, it’s Jenny Packham. She wore Packham when leaving hospital after giving birth to George and Charlotte. Americans adore Southampton-born Jenny: she has an office in LA because she is so much of a Hollywood staple. But for all that, she is rarely interviewed or photographed. FAMILY MATTERS: Sister of Chris, the BBC Autumnwatch presenter, Jenny, 52, is married to her label’s CeO, Matthew Anderson. They l i ve in Hampstead, North London, with their teenage daughters, Isabella and Georgia. When they tied the knot two years ago, Jenny wore her own design — a dove grey lace number. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: The couple own the company. The last year on record showed sales of £8.9 million and they took out less than £340,000 as a dividend.