Dame Zandra Rhodes On The 5 Lessons She’s Learned From A Life Lived In Fashion
Dame Zandra Rhodes is one of fashion’s greatest radicals. Now 83, she has rallied against the expected notions of both what it is to be a fashion designer, and also a woman. Her new memoir, Iconic: My Life In Fashion In 50 Objects, tells her story for the first time: how a determined working-class young woman from a small town in Kent, UK, went onto become one of the world’s most influential visionaries. Her orbit has attracted generation-defining names, from Andy Warhol to Karl Lagerfeld, and has dressed a mix of rock stars and royalty. Here, she shares some of her greatest life lessons.
- Style & Fashion Are Two Very Different Things… Style is taking clothes and bringing your personality to them, whereas fashion is very literally copying what’s in magazines or on Instagram without applying your own character. Stylish people look further than the dress itself to see what it could become on them personally. You find your own style by working at it; sometimes you figure it out later in life after trying different looks. I’ve made an awful lot of style mistakes in my time, where I look back and think ‘that looks awful’ but you have to experiment to get there.
- Friendships Are Life’s Double Cream… My friends mean so much to me. They offer company, inspiration and support through the bad times. I can’t think of anything worse than not having friends, but you do have to make the effort. I’m guilty of not seeing my friends enough, certainly when work has been busy, but it’s important to keep talking and be there for all their adventures, good and bad. You find your tribe by being yourself – you won’t find your people if you pretend to be someone you’re not. Be genuine and authentic and like-minded people will drift towards you eventually.
- Love Doesn’t Always Arrive At The Same Time For Everyone… Always keep looking for the right person if that’s what you want, never give up – I met my life partner in my fifties. It’s impossible to know what the right person looks like and it’s never about their appearance. The right person will enable you to realise your dreams and you won’t need to change who you are to be with them. Compromise is important, but too much of it will destroy your sense of self. Love doesn’t always last, but you hope that it has some sort of lasting effect on you where you feel it was right for the time you lived through. We learn so much from every relationship.
- Success Comes With A Cost… To some extent, success means your life is not totally your own. [It] becomes, at least in part, the things that have made you a success. For me, it could be doing an interview or a public event when you want to be doing something else. But everything has a price. Success is no different, so it’s a case of working out what you’re willing to sacrifice for it. In my life, I’ve never been able to take a break. I never felt that I could step away from work, but I know other people manage to. My personal and professional life are very blurred.
- Happiness Is Everywhere… It’s work you adore, it’s time with friends, it’s filling your life with colour and it’s surrounding yourself with things you love. My home is filled with various artworks and sculptures made by my friends, photos of my favourite people and odd bits of furniture that I’ve gradually collected over the years. It’s how I came up with the concept of my memoir, which tells stories through my many personal mementoes and curiosities.
Iconic, My Life In Fashion In 50 Objects by Zandra Rhodes with Ella Alexander (Bantam) is out now
Ella Alexander is a digital contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar UK and has written for Glamour UK, Italy Segreta and Mr And Mrs Smith. She is the co-author of Iconic, My Life In Fashion In 50 Objects
