Since a relatively young age I found myself enraptured by the world of fashion and currently I really do not know anything else that quite fascinates me so. As a child I used to want to be fashion designer since I can remember and I spent my time painting Marchesa Princess esque dresses. Much to my brother’s dismay I once even made his action man a dress out of the netting in which you buy your oranges in – oops.
Every once in a while I do admittedly become a little jaded and wish I preferred other pursuits in life but then I always fall back in love with fashion all over again without fail. This interest grew and I grew up and I first started to become interested in designer fashion by reading Vogue. Some of the haute couture editorials simply blew my mind and so I fell in love with the fairy tale; the unaffordable, the dream. The word phantasmagoria springs to mind. To me these fashion editorials were a window into a different world and a way to escape the every day grind of my other wise ordinary life.
Photograph of Kate Moss from Vogue US April 2012, shot by Tim Walker, styled by Grace Coddington at the Ritz Hotel, Paris
Whenever I see someone impeccably or dazzlingly dressed my face lights up and I have what I like to call a ‘fashion moment’. Whether it be a women in the perfect tulle dress or a man in an immaculate three piece tailored suit; these moments are nothing short of euphoric and although they tend to be brief they have quite a lasting impact. To this day I have yet to find anything that kindles a similar response in me. I feed off these moments, I find a new bounce in my step and at times find myself genuinely inspired. I find myself attached to brands and I love watch them grow and develop in time – there is a connection there that is unlike no other. The brands, the history and the future of the brands are important to me.
This love affair took a more active role in my life as I went from admiring fashion to creating my own fashion moments. I discovered the experience. The marble floor boutiques and department stores which used to scare me became my playground and I discovered that I could get the same kind of euphoria wearing clothes. The moment I put on my first pair of Jimmy Choos something inside me changed and I felt for the first time in my life like a million dollars. I was wearing something visually I adored and I felt good about myself; it was if a whole new world had opened up for me.
I love how with clothes I can be who I want to be; one day I can be dressed to the nines and the next I can be lounging about in old cashmere. This expression of myself soon became an extension of myself and I am known for how I dress and what I wear (or in some instances don’t). I never think of myself as a dictator of style so to speak but I know what I like and I know what I don’t like and when I love something, well, then I really cannot help myself. I genuinely enjoy my clothes, I love wearing them, I love dressing up and I even enjoy putting my shoes away in their dust bags and boxes. I collect clothes like an art collector collects art; each piece is special to me.
I am ashamed to admit at times that I breathe for fashion and yes I do dream about finding perhaps a more high brow vocation (perhaps investment banking; it would certainly be friendlier on my bank balance!). A fair few of my acquaintances think fashion is a very superficial thing – perhaps it is; but at the same time fashion is an important part of our lives. Fashion is also a very important factor to our economy here in England; fashion week each season alone brings in over £100,000,000 and our fashion industry in England was valued between £2.5 and £2.9 billion in 2010 and has no doubt increased since then. …but more importantly it makes me happy and one lesson in life I have learnt is to never taken anything for granted if it makes you happy. So my affaire de coeur with fashion continues; the fairy tale continues – I just need more excuses to wear ridiculous shoes than other because I can 
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