The label quickly rose to prominence thanks to superstars Grace Jones and Cher favouring their designs, which included raunchy body-con dresses.

As a result this book was an amazing insight into a life that I would have loved to have lived had I the flare or basic artistic skill. Young published her autobiography in 2022: Behind the Seams: My Life in Creativity, Friendship and Adventure from the star of the Great British Sewing Bee. They had a brilliant graphics department, with lecturers including people like Roger Law (Spitting Image), which is why I then applied to study graphics at what is now Central St Martins. After school she began to pursue a career in art, first at Cambridge Art College then Saint Martin’s, in London. Imitation pearls adorn the costume jewellery necklace, made of metal and glass, that her friend Patrick Lee Yow gave her.

How she looked was often “dressed as a peacock” according to her mother, who refused to walk beside her as favourite outfits included a children’s patchwork dressing gown paired with tartan scarf and straw bag. I'm so glad I've delved deeper into Esme's life with this book, it makes the Sewing Bee even more enjoyable. I loved Esme from when she first appeared as she had that certain something, the wherewithal of someone who has been around the block and can spot a mistake from three fields away! Because it’s not about where people come from, what gender they are, what colour they are; it’s to do with their talent.

In Series 8 of The Great British Sewing Bee, Young revealed that her father was captain of Wasps RFC in the 1950/51 season. Prior to joining Sewing Bee, she made Leonardo DiCaprio’s cheesecloth shirt in The Beach, Scarlett Johansson’s fur coat in Under The Skin and every outfit worn by Kirsten Dunst in The Two Faces of January. She also created Dale Winton's pink lurex suit and his assistant’s dress in Trainspotting, Juliette Binoche clothes in Breaking and Entering and Carey Mulligan and Charlotte Rampling's clothes in Never Let Me Go. I do love a bit of sparkle,” notes Young, who wore the piece for the 2022 Christmas celebrity special episode of the Sewing Bee.The fact that life is to be living and enjoyed and that new experiences are far more important that finances. She wouldn’t walk down the street with me when I was a teenager because of how I looked,” Esme says. She got the job after meeting a show producer by chance at a party prior to the first series being aired. It's packed full of surprising references to musicians and other artists - I don't know why I'm surprised, but it's maybe because Esme looks so prim and proper and she is so clearly not. By day, she was creating garments and at night she rode her motorbike to parties dressed in a leopard-skin catsuit.

While The Great British Sewing Bee’s bid to find Britain's best home sewer has been attracting audiences of five and six million since it started in 2013 - Young joined in 2016 - she doesn’t watch herself because doesn’t have a TV. It was also one of the world's first Lycra dresses – no mean feat considering Lycra is notoriously hard to sew. I remember reading about her 70’s/80’s label Swanky Modes back in the day and being so influenced by the London punk, New Romantic and new wave scenes.Recycling fabrics is a top ­priority on Sewing Bee, a feelgood TV favourite set to reach the final of the eighth series later this month. She has not worn the necklace since for fear it might leak: each bottle contains a different colour paint. It's not that I wanted scandal, I cannot imagine Esme is the type of person to dish the dirt, but it was all a bit nice. Speaking about her biography, Esme said in a statement: "Telling the story of my life has been an exciting but terrifying experience – making the bunny outfit for Renée Zellweger and later becoming a judge on The Great British Sewing Bee in my late 60s were both much easier. Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.

Brian would probably have died were it not for a passing medic, by chance another South African, who had worked at Guy’s Hospital in London. I met a woman at a party who told me she was a producer on a sewing programme and asked if I might be interested. The contestants had been tasked with making a co-ord two-piece trouser and top set, as inspired by Esme's tropical silver screen designs. Born into the very early era of punk, and then raised in the difficulty of the early 1980s, I always saw fashion as a huge important element of society - a reflection of what the masses wanted to be, and in many cases what could be afforded and imagined as a result of the restriction.It is, however, quite reserved - although names are dropped throughout, don't expect lots of juicy stories about people, you definitely don't get them. Her interest in jewellery started at school, where she learned to make a necklace from wooden beads. From adventures at Central Saint Martins to The Great British Sewing Bee , go behind the scenes of Esme Young's amazing life. He parachuted to safety behind British front lines after being burnt by his blazing fuel tank but soldiers, fearing he was German, shot him in the arm and leg and threw a grenade causing a “hole in the side of his body”.