AGEING COOL

“When I was about 14, I lived above a fish and chips shop… and I stank of them. Kids used to tease and bully me, ‘Fish and chips! Fish and chips!’ At the time, my mother would only give me two frocks a week to wear; she was quite weird. She wouldn’t wear one hat but two or three. I was so badly dressed, so ragged, that I had to change the way I presented myself. It probably all stems from not wanting to look like my mother.

“Things changed immensely in the ’60s: we didn’t have to wear corsets anymore; everything was a lot freer. The clothes weren’t like the rubbish stuff around now; they’d be made of fabulous materials like pink suede. The designers were wonderful, the dresses were all well-made and only suited certain types – not just any girl in the street. I was the first person out of everyone I knew to buy a pair of jeans. I remember this lady saying, ‘Oh, you look so !’ But I’ve always remembered standing out. My son would never let me drop him off at school because of it.