Meet the wedding-dress designer revamping the Duchess’s style
Fiona Clare started out in bridalwear, but is now a key player in the team helping the Duchess of Cornwall cut an elegant dash on the world stage. Caroline Leaper reports
When the Duchess of Cornwall turned 70 this summer, a beautiful celebratory portrait was commissioned. Mario Testino, one of the Royal family’s favourite photographers, took the flattering shot; Hugh Green, the Duchess’s personal hairdresser, did a bouncy, soft blow-dry. And her choice for the outfit? One of her most trusted dressmakers, Fiona Clare.
Clare hadn’t known that her navy jacket and embroidered dress would be featured in the milestone picture, which made front pages around the world. “I had absolutely no idea,” she says. “I had made it for her before she went on tour to Austria earlier in the year, but I didn’t know that she would wear it for that shot. It’s like getting an A* at A-level or something – it’s a fantastic feeling when you see the result.”
With a roster of designers including Clare, Bruce Oldfield and Anna Valentine now on her side, though, Camilla’s look has evolved from country casual to become polished, elegant and, most importantly, figure-flattering. On tour in Singapore last week she debuted a case-full of smooth, softly printed day dresses and sharp tailoring options.
“Nothing is fussy about her clothes now,” Clare says. “I spend a lot of time looking back at pictures of her in things before making decisions about cuts, as she’s photographed from every angle so everything needs to be flattering.”
Clare is an unassuming designer who rarely gives interviews and is most content when fitting customers in one-to-one appointments. She began her career making wedding dresses before realising that, while the bridalwear market was a saturated place, there wasn’t much out there for mothers of the bride or groom.
“I found it really rewarding when mothers-of-brides would come in feeling frustrated and not confident, and leave my studio feeling great,” she says. “There is very limited choice out there for the mothers who want to look classic and glamorous, but not frumpy. There’s nothing better than having something made to fit just you.”
Despite prices for made-to-measure dresses starting at £2,000, Clare has found that customers return to her again and again once they realise how flattering and adaptable their bespoke pieces are. “Everything is simple with clean lines to make it timeless; it’s not high fashion, it serves a different purpose,” she says of her ethos. “It’s about making things as versatile as possible so that people don’t look in their wardrobe and see that one outfit which is ‘the wedding guest outfit’. A client should be left with a coat that she can wear with jeans, and a dress that can be worn again and again.”
Recommendations are key to the success of her small business, which she has always endeavoured to keep small. It was in fact another of her regular clients, Annabel Elliot, who introduced her sister, the Duchess of Cornwall, to Clare’s work six years ago.
“Annabel was the initial introduction, I’ve been making for her for about 12 years now,” Clare says of the way she met Camilla. “It wasn’t immediate. [Camilla’s] dresser Jacqui Meakin came down to meet me and then a couple of months later she rang me up and said the Duchess would like to meet me with a view of possibly making something. I was so excited.”
In the years since, Clare has dressed the Duchess for a number of high-profile occasions – from Prince Ge George’s christening, to her Italian to tour this summer. Fittings for the Duchess Duch take place at Clarence House an and are organised by Meakin depend-in depending on her work commitments. “Everyth “Everything is arranged by her dresse dresser – all the Duchesses have a wardr wardrobe planner to help them,” Clare reveals. “You don’t get a mass massive amount of time because her s schedule is packed, but it’s a wonderful experience and she immediately puts you at ease. She’s very warm and easy and I feel so proud wh whenever I see her.”
F For other clients, Clare us usually does the fittings in her ate atelier, a converted Victorian sc school in Battersea, offering a fully fu bespoke service. It’s this p personal touch, and the oppor opportunity to interact with the perso person who is designing and maki making your clothes, that ensures all cl clients get the same treatment as th the VIPs.
“C “Customers come in for fittin fittings, I have a few machinists,” she e explains. “I still do the patte pattern cutting and fitting myself. I love what wh I do so much that I’ve intention intentionally kept it small. There are less a and less doing it this way, but I thin think it’s wonderful for people to see ex-a-exactly where their outfit is made and who by. It becomes an experien experience, too.”