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Am I a fashion icon?

15 0
yesterday

Ever since I met Omi (one half of the fashion design duo Vin Omi) on a train, I have found myself, every six months, walking in their London Fashion week show. A preposterous idea, you’d think, an 86-year-old strutting down the catwalk. But I’m such a show-off, I can’t resist it. It is enormous fun. There’s a lot of hanging about while all 60 or 70 of us get our make-up and hair done and get fitted (and later dressed) in whatever we are to wear. I like the atmosphere with everyone in one big room and so at ease with each other. Exquisite young models of both sexes are stripping off with no embarrassment, sitting on the floor, everyone relaxed and friendly. One year I turned up to find my costume was a tube of black latex, the slits down the sides threaded with red cord: bondage gear, without a doubt. It was so tight it took two men to yank it over my head and down my body.

The last couple of shows have been in the Art’otel in Hackney, which, since it is circular, means we walk right round the edge of the building, with the public and press in rows along the side. Last time I lost my bearings and did two circuits by mistake. Vin had tipped off the musicians that it was my birthday........

© The Spectator