WENDY DAGWORTHY

FASHION DESIGNER AND HEAD OF FASHION AND TEXTILES ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART
1950
Born in Gravesend, Kent
1972
Opened her own fashion business in London, Wendy Dagworthy Ltd
1982
Became director of London Designer Collections
1989
Appointed director of the B.A. Fashion course at Central St. Martins College
1998
Appointed Professor of Fashion at the Royal College of Art (RCA)
2000
Became Head of the RCA's School of Fashion and Textiles

I don't think fashion and feminism should be enemies. Coco Chanel was brilliant; she really changed what fashion meant for women: trousers, no frilly clothes, a slightly masculine look that I still love today. It's a look that freed women, really.

I think it's a huge loss that they've stopping teaching sewing in schools now. We learnt it there when I was growing up, and there's nothing anti-feminist about being able to make your own version of a Vogue pattern. I suppose it comes from the idea that it was old fashioned - that boys were taught woodwork and girls did domestic science. But those were really useful skills. Both sexes should be taught both skills, just like a lot of men can cook now.

I think it's always good to be flexible. I didn't know what I was going to do after my business ended, but things come up. It's best to put a positive spin on the stuff that life throws at you and then let things happen as they come.

I was twenty-two when I started my own business... Maybe I should have planned the whole thing a bit more, but I think if I had, it might have been too daunting. I'm a doer, and I just got on with it… But I tried to do everything myself, when actually I think I should have had a business partner and delegated a little.

I suppose I am ambitious. But not in a pushy way, it's more because I want to do myself justice. For me, it's always been more about job satisfaction and loving what you're doing in the moment than about putting money away in the bank. Though that's always good when you need it.

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