A few of my favourite things
Nicknamed the ‘Princess of Punk’, British designer Dame Zandra Rhodes burst onto the fashion scene in the 1960s and continues to work from her London studio. She has dressed famous names from Freddie Mercury, Diana Ross and Barbara Streisand to Princess Diana and The Princess Royal. In 2003, she founded London’s Fashion and Textile Museum and, in 2020, formed the Zandra Rhodes Foundation, a charity that enables future generations to study her life, designs and techniques. Her memoir, Iconic: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects, is out this month and she has a new collection with fashion designer Celia B.
My sketchbooks come with me everywhere. When I am on holiday or travelling for work, I try to do a drawing a day, usually of the landscape or the view out of my window. The drawings in my memoir are all taken from them and I reckon I have more than 100 sketchbooks in my archive, documenting my life, adventures and thoughts in physical form. I have a rule that I start from page one and work my way through to the end; no page can be torn out. If I come up with a bad drawing or idea, I must live with it or work on it and disguise it. I suppose my drawings are raw and real—there’s no room for photoshopping or airbrushing.
You could say I have a sweet tooth and my one vice is double cream, which I add to most dishes, especially when hosting a dinner party. Double cream is a key ingredient in many things; beetroot soup, pomme dauphinoise, summer pudding and, sometimes, if I am feeling extra luxurious, I pour some double cream into one of my Mexican handcarved ceramic pudding bowls and sprinkle over crushed digestive biscuit—a little treat for myself after dinner.
My outfit is never complete without some jewellery by Andew Logan. Every jewel tells a story, whether it is a memento from my and Andrew’s travels through India or a ring kindly given to me for a special birthday. I wear a different ring and brooch each day and team it with whatever necklace I may be wearing. At the moment, my favourite is a fantastic freshwater pearl choker I purchased in Italy, then I add my silver Andrew Logan cluster mirrored star to the bottom and it is even more magical. I had a styrofoam board built into my wardrobe purely so I can display all of my beautiful brooches—they really are wearable art (https:// andrewlogan.com).