As London Fashion Week kicks off, some familiar faces from British fashion will be showing up to support this season’s new designers.
Karen Millen OBE, best known for her classic womenswear sported by the likes of Hollywood star Emily Blunt and The Princess of Wales, is showing her support for young British designers at the ‘THIS IS ICON’ runway alongside industry greats, such as Scottish designer Pam Hogg.
“[London Fashion Week] is always fun, because you can see all the emerging talent and such a wide spectrum of ideas that you can absorb like a sponge,” says Millen. “You just take in the little bits that subconsciously resonate with you.”
Millen founded her namesake label in 1981 at the age of 19, starting with just a modest loan of £100. When she looks at the fashion landscape today, however, she sees it as being even more daunting for young creatives now: “If I knew what I know now, we would have never started at the beginning – because you’re in it for the long term.
“Whatever industry you go into, you’ve got to be 100% committed, because it becomes your life for many years. I think it’s important not to think that you are going to be a success overnight, because you know you have to learn and be resilient,” she reflects.
Millen ran the business for 20 years.
Millen and her ex husband, Kevin Stanford, who co-founded the business with her, sold the label in 2004 a few years after they divorced. “It was a very difficult time, and I almost just wanted it all to go away,” Millen says today. “We had the opportunity of selling the company, but I didn’t really look into it as well as I should have done.
“[Upon selling] I couldn’t use my name in any further endeavours. Not KM, not Karen – I couldn’t use any part of my name, which we’d overlooked at the time.”
She says for young creatives breaking into the fashion industry now, authenticity is what counts. “Stay true to who you are, and don’t be afraid to ask questions – because you don’t know it all.
“No one thing will make you successful, it’s a combination, but I think the main thing is finding your unique selling point. What’s your purpose, what’s your point of difference?”
Millen found her niche with sharp tailoring.
When first starting out in the early Eighties, Millen relied heavily on word of mouth to push her brand. “It was very slow growth, very organic, but that enabled us to get things in the right place and put the infrastructure in.
“Sometimes I think, because life is so instant now with social media, people just expect things to happen instantly or want to see results quickly, but you’ve got to be more patient,” she says.
“Because if you’re going to be there for the long term, you need to go slowly. You can disappear as quickly as you appeared, if you’re not ready to take that leap.”
Now, 20 years after selling her brand, Millen has returned to her namesake label, designing a capsule collection that will launch in October. “It’s my final collection with the brand,” says Millen. “It’s been interesting to see the change in the way they work. We were so much more hands on because we did everything in house.
“Now, everything goes to a factory, so you have little control and it loses its identity a little bit, because it becomes part of a big machine that other brands are doing – it just all overlaps.”
Whilst Millen found the fashion industry a tumultuous field at times, she’s determined for new designers today to have a better experience. It’s why she is supporting emerging talents at London Fashion Weeks’s ‘THIS IS ICON’ show in collaboration with the NSPCC.
“It’s their first time being on stage, looking at their collections, surrounded by celebrities – it must be quite nerve-wracking for them,” she says.
“It is quite an intimidating industry, even for me, so it’s a great opportunity to for them to collaborate and network, which I think is really healthy.”
The charity event is now in its fifth year, and celebrates the ICONS of society by harnessing their influence to give back and support emerging talent. Millen will be attending the Friday night catwalk alongside Sir Brian May, Naomie Harris and Lord Sugar MBE.
