Ok, so here’s where it all began…

From my earliest childhood memories I always loved clothes, hair and beauty,  and I would often ask my mum why she didn’t wear earrings, jewellery or makeup, or look as glamorous as the women in magazines. Although I loved my mum dearly, I tried to insist that she made more of an effort with her appearance but it didn’t  work and she was eager to impress her own ‘ideas’ of style on me. I recall one particular day where I had to pull a ‘sicky’ to avoid school (which I hated, incidentally) at all costs because she had used a pudding basin as a template to style my haircut. I was horrified! In fact, I was often reprimanded by the headmistress for dyeing my hair and showing it off on the school bus by illegally removing my school hat and flaunting my peroxide locks!

I remember my first clothing purchase being a pair of boots that I regularly used to admire whilst walking past a particular shop window on my way to school. I dreamed about those boots every night and I was determined to have them so I saved all my pocket money and landed myself a paper round in the early hours to finance the acquisition. Ultimately, I left school as soon as I could so that I could earn real money… to buy clothes.

As soon as I was old enough to drive I would take my little sister around the local department store – Rackhams in Skipton for anybody who remembers the locality – and we would excitedly browse the fashion aisles. We once spotted a gorgeous matching outfit that my sister fell in love with so I promised that I would buy it for her with my very first wage from my own fledgling business that I had recently set up, which I subsequently did. Having taken a hairdressing course in Blackpool, I took a risk and borrowed some money from the bank to buy a hair salon in town. The business was so successful that I managed to repay the entire loan within 6 months which, in turn, facilitated the move to a larger premises where I could specialise in the emerging trend of wigs and hair pieces. I eventually sold this business so that I could focus more on family life and my first born son (another son came later – both of which were impeccably dressed in their youth) so I embarked upon a modelling career which I absolutely adored, again, because I was in an environment driven by the latest clothing, hair and make up styles.

Further modelling and promotional work led me to the Estée Lauder beauty school in London where I joined their promotions team covering all the major Department stores and beauty counters in the North West. I was in heaven because I had the opportunity to scrutinise all the latest clothes and accessories…and this is when I really started building my own wardrobe, figuratively speaking! I also had a flair for men’s fashion, as did my husband at the time and, with a little gentle persuasion, he decided to open a high class menswear shop of his own. During these exciting and flamboyant times, my personal heroines were the two most famous fashion models in the UK, namely Twiggy and Jean ‘The Shrimp’ Shrimpton, and Vogue magazine was my bible.

When my beloved one-and-only grand daughter arrived several years and a lifetime of stories later, I couldn’t wait to dress her and spoil her with designer clothes. Thankfully, she is now following in my footsteps as a lover of fashion, although tastes have obviously changed slightly! Over the years I have been very fortunate  and have been able to invest in and collect some beautiful garments, shoes and accessories from a number of designers, with the retailers being based mostly in Manchester and London, and these pieces have been the source of immense pleasure to me. Now the time has come to share these pieces with you and I sincerely hope that you can enjoy them equally as much. If you have your own ‘Ex’ story and would like to sell your own pre-loved designer pieces, please get in touch, as we’d really love to hear from you.