Esme Young
English fashion designer and television presenter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Esme Young (born 1949) is an English fashion designer and television presenter.[1][2] Since 2016, she has been a judge on the BBC reality series The Great British Sewing Bee.[3]
1949 (age 76–77)
Esme Young | |
|---|---|
| Born | Emma A. Young 1949 (age 76–77) Bedford, Bedfordshire, England |
| Education | Central St Martins |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
| Label | Swanky Modes |
| Parent(s) | Brian Pashley Young CB CBE, Patricia Cole |
Early life and education
Emma Young was born in 1949 at Bedford Hospital,[4] the second of five children.[5][2] Her sister Fiona Espenhahn is also a textile artist.[6] Her brother Jeremy is a documentary film producer.[6]
Her father, Air Vice Marshal Brian Pashley Young CB CBE (1918–1992), was born in Natal, South Africa,[7] and was a career officer in the RAF.[5] He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1944,[8] a Commander of the same order in 1960,[9] and a Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1972.[10] In Series 8 of The Great British Sewing Bee, Young revealed that her father was captain of Wasps RFC in the 1950/51 season. Her mother, Patricia Josephine Cole, was a secretary who worked as a nurse during the Second World War.[2][11] Young has told interviewers she was "partially deaf" as a child due to otitis media, which affected her reading development and still impacts her life.[12]
Young began attending boarding school at age five.[4] She attended the Convent of the Holy Ghost, Bedford, where she learnt to draw and to sew.[13] She went on to Saint Martins School of Art.[13][2] When a tutor mispronounced her name as Esme, she began using that instead.[4]
Career
Swanky Modes
In 1972, Young, along with fellow fashion designers Judy Dewsbury, Melanie Herberfield, and Willie Walters, founded a shop in Camden Town called Swanky Modes.[14][15][1] Young told an interviewer the group opened the shop because they "couldn't buy anything we wanted to wear in shops, so we made whatever we wanted to wear".[16]
The house was known for "raunchy body-con dresses".[17][18] A transparent macintosh that was one of the company's early designs was photographed by Helmut Newton for Nova.[19] Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Swanky Modes clothing appeared in Vogue, Honey and The Face.[3] Their clothing was also photographed by David Bailey, Nick Knight, and John Swannell.[3] Clients included Grace Jones, Julie Christie, and Cher.[20][21] The company's lycra Amorphous dress is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.[6]
Film and television
Young has made costumes for many films including The Beach, Bridget Jones's Diary, Romeo & Juliet and Trainspotting.[13][22] She designed the bunny costume worn by Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones's Diary.[12] One of Young's most famous designs was the 'Amorphous Dress' worn by Linda Kozlowski in the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee; a dress that is now in the V&A Collection.[13]
Since 2016, Young has been a judge on The Great British Sewing Bee.[3]
In December 2022, Young was a contestant on Richard Osman's House of Games.[23]
Academic career
Young teaches at Central Saint Martins and is involved in a project called "Exploding Fashion" which highlights the importance of pattern cutting.[22][24]