Jenny Packham Biography - Designer Duchess of Cambridge Pictures | British Vogue (original) (raw)

JENNY PACKHAM is one of the red carpet's go-to designers for dazzling feminine glamour. From dressing Hollywood royalty - including Angelina Jolie, Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet and Kate Hudson - to actual royalty like the Duchess of Cambridge, Packham's bejewelled, floor-length creations never disappoint the waiting photographers.

• Born in Hampshire on March 11, 1965, Packham is the sister of television presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.
• After studying fashion at Southampton Solent University and then receiving a First Class Honours degree from Central Saint Martins, Packham founded her eponymous line - then called Jenny Packham London - in 1988.
• After showing for several years during London Fashion Week - including the dramatic autumn/winter 2003-4 show where Jodie Kidd suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction - Packham moved to show in Milan for autumn/winter 2006-7. After four seasons there, she returned to London to present her autumn/winter 2008-9 collection. As of spring/summer 2011, she now shows every season during New York Fashion Week.
• In 2010, Packham added lingerie to her existing collections - which by then included bridal, ready-to-wear and accessories.
• In 2012, Jenny Packham joined the Designers at Debenhams portfolio with a new women's, accessories and children's occasion wear collection - No. 1 Jenny Packham - which arrived in stores in April 2012. "As a young girl I was regularly abandoned in Debenhams Southampton whilst my parents disappeared to search for the latest Teasmade," she said on her blog for the store's website. "Therefore it is only natural that I have chosen Debenhams to launch my first High Street collection."
• Packham's celebrity fanbase includes Angelina Jolie, Keira Knightley, Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Aniston as well as almost every famous Kate - from Middleton and Beckinsale to Hudson and Winslet: "Cate Blanchett," she joked in March 2012, "she's the one we haven't dressed!"
• The Duchess of Cambridge is probably the designer's most famous red carpet muse - having worn both her daywear and her red-carpet gowns on numerous occasions - although Packham has never spoken about dressing Catherine.
• Packham's designs have also appeared in several films

-including Sex and the City, *the Devil Wears

Prada, Die Another Day, Casino Royale* and *Harry Potter and

the Deathly Hallows*.

• The designer developed a close relationship with *Sex and

the City* stylist Patricia Field, who styled her autumn/winter

2007-8 show: "Patricia and I first worked together in *Sex and

the City* and we connected over our mutual passion for

unadulterated glamour," Packham said in an interview for

Lusso magazine. "I admire her enthusiasm for creating

revolutionary style. It was fantastic to have her styling her first

ever show on our catwalk as she fused an urban influence with

dresses inspired by oriental exoticism."

• She and her husband Matthew Anderson - who is now her company's CEO - have two daughters, Georgia and Isabella Packham-Anderson, and the family lives in Hamstead, North London.