Fashion

All About Jeff Banks

Brigit Grant — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:55:48 +0100

Brent Cross has never seen anything like it. Men who would ordinarily be shuffling through the centre in the wake of their born-to-shop spouses were suddenly parading like peacocks across the marble floor. Strutting and twirling in their own clothes for an appreciative crowd of onlookers, these Cara Delevigne wannabes were all vying for the title of “Best Dressed Man” at the instigation of a British fashion veteran — and he was loving it.

Jeff Banks has always known how to draw a crowd. Long before Gok Wan was able to accessorise, girlfriend, this Welsh-born designer was doing make-overs on the public as host of BBC’s The Clothes Show. With Banks at the helm, The Clothes Show was instrumental in the creation of the supermodel genre and the then young Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell appeared in numerous campaigns for Warehouse, the high street designer label Banks started in 1976.

Flick through his soft-back biography and you can see the diminutive designer in bell botttoms opening his Clobber boutiques in 1964 or hugging Vivienne Westwood in 87 when he helped her to establish her own fashion label.
“I got everyone to do everything for free for her first show at London Fashion Week, though it was touch and go. She was still sewing just seconds before the show was due to start,” he recalls. ‘I’ve just got to finish this last dress,’ she said, and sent her models out in Harris Tweed crowns.”
After dressing Annie Lennox, marrying Sandi Shaw and snapping Carla Bruni in a smock and woollen tights, it was time to focus on the fellas, which he has been doing with Debenhams since the sale of Warehouse in 87. And now this stand-alone store in Brent Cross.

“We only thought of doing this last December and if it hadn’t been for a delay on getting the fixtures made, I’d have been here sooner,” says Banks, who slips effortlessly into the stylist role for the benefit of inquisitive shoppers — and my husband Neil.
“I was in jeans when I arrived,” said James, a wide-eyed customer who exited in a suit plus new haircut courtesy of HOB.

“Should I be scared?” asked Neil sheepishly. “Not at all,” enthused Banks. “James is walking out of here a gentleman. Did you know that 70 per cent of men’s clothing is bought by women? And that’s the problem.
“Women always take over and presume to know everything. Gentlemen need the room to express themselves and I like to create that space.”

Once alone in “that space” with Neil, Banks went into bespoke tailor mode, proffering bunches of fabrics and linings, while explaining the benefits of using the wool from Australian sheep .
“They eat grass that is less coarse, so the wool has a thinner micron.” This might have made a another man’s eyes glaze over but my husband is in knitwear, so it was Merino from heaven.
According to Banks — and you might want to pass this on to your partner — a narrow lapel and a short jacket is very modern, window-pane check is bang on trend and long side vents in a jacket provide a bit of flash and flair.
“You have to know why you want a suit.Do you want something sharp and black for going to a concert? A mohair suit for weekends and racing? Or is it for work?”
As Neil considered his needs, Banks went off to judge the Best Dressed Man contest.
“Fashion has changed a lot,” he observed as the men lined-up before him.
“It’s a lot less cut and thrust. Everyone wants to be famous before doing their time and young designers do catwalk shows thinking they will become stars. Six months later they ‘re bankrupt. No, I’m not a fan of the way it is now but this is what I do.”
And judging from the gathering crowd’s response he is still doing it very well.

Win a makeover and new wardrobe

Brigit Grant — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:50:03 +0100

Do you think your man needs a makeover? Does your Dad need to dapper up his game? This is your chance to make that happen as Jeff Banks has kindly offered £250 spending money to a fella who needs a bit more fashion in his life. Whether it’s something casual for the weekend or a spanky suit for a big night out, the lucky winner can peruse the rails in the new Brent Cross store. And there’s more.

HOB Man(hobsalons.com) will also give the winner a cut, hot towel shave and luxury treatment at its gents grooming haven at Brent Cross. To win this great double prize in time for Father’s Day on June 16, just tell me why the old man needs a makeover in 100 words or less. And if you happen to be a male reading this, tell me why yourself. Just email me at bgrant@thejc.com or pop your thoughts on a postcard to me at the JC, 28 St Albans Lane, NW11 7QE by June 1. Good luck.

Presents to make your Mother’s Day

Brigit Grant — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:00:07 +0000

Forgive the short notice, but it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday. With its Lent/Easter associations the date understandably doesn’t feature on the Jewish calendar, so that gets me off the hook. With everyone — except my mother. The notion that a 24-hour period entirely dedicated to thanking mums excludes Jewish mothers might work as a theological explanation, but I dare you to try explaining that to them.

In a weak attempt to do so, I Googled the word “mother” and the first one to pop up was the late Mother Teresa, the beatified Catholic devoted to helping others. A more specific search revealed that “a Jewish mother is devoted to helping others and she makes soup”, and who can argue with that? When I was 10 and better at planning, I prepared buttered crackers for Mother’s Day, a week early and kept them under my bed for that surprise breakfast. Though they were inedible, the thought was there and I didn’t have to do a last-minute panic shop for a gift.

For those who are acknowledging the day in some form and need something last minute, I’ve covered all the bases from the smelly stuff to the luncheon dress and everything is available to purchase all day on Sunday.

So forget the hurried petrol station bouquet and hit Fenwick or Liberty’s and invest in some permanent scent provided by Noble Isle’s Willow Song reed diffuser, which makes a house (currently mine) smell subtly of fresh flowers for weeks. At John Lewis there’s Dr Haushka’s Serenity gift set (drhauschka.co.uk) which is bath and hand cream scented with lavender, a flower regarded unfairly as old-fashioned. But in the right hands (ie Dr H’s) lavender is lovely and calming and every Jewish mother needs help with that.

At Debenhams and M&S there are clothes for bed that are not only perfect for mothering mother, but also give her something to wear on Pyjama Day for Comic Relief on March 15.

Better than lunch and far healthier, take mother and bubbe shopping on Sunday, for dresses to suit all shapes and ages at Ronen Chen in Temple Fortune and Marylebone, and then drop into Jessimara on the Finchley Road for something by Ingenue. Those who require an outfit for lunch should go to a branch of Phase Eight for something floral and fitting and drop into John Lewis for finishing touches by Azuni.

I love their Pompeii ring, though it’s my mum I’m meant to be thinking about and I know the Wilbur & Gussie bag with leopard clasp is more her thing. It’s also more than I would spend on a Mother’s Day gift, but then she has got a significant birthday this month. I also know that if I buy her the “granny shopper” at Debenhams, she is unlikely to be impressed.

More Fearne Cotton than Dot Cotton, the trolley my Nana once called a “pusher” has been given a makeover and even has a built-in cooling bag system. “Practical and fashionable”, I can hear myself telling the woman I once served mouldy crackers as a gift. I’ll let you know how it goes. Oh, and if you miss the official day, remember every day is Jewish mothers’ day, so she won’t mind when the present arrives.

Tights that are right

Brigit Grant — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:22:01 +0000

Hands up if you’ve bought a Prada blossom skirt yet? An iridescent Alberta Feretti dress to be worn with neon- trimmed trainers? Maybe a crop? No, me neither. It’s not that I’m not interested in the 2013 fashion trends, as nothing pleases me more than the thought of spring and fewer layers.

But that’s all it is right now — a thought — as we’re more likely to be struck by a snowball than a sunbeam over the coming months and some of us don’t generate enough body heat to strip off and try on.

As my father-in-law Stanley likes to say: “I don’t have the koyach to even look”, but I do look, and while I may not be adding to my stuffed closet, out of deference to the industry I write about, I continue to boost the sale of shoes, boots and tights.

I’ve always loved tights and though I’ve dallied with stockings, hold-ups and over-the-knee socks through the years, show me a pair of Wolford Individual 20 and the contest is over.

I use to buy the luxury Austrian hand-made hosiery in Franks in Golders Green and I’ll never understand why that shop closed. Aside from their expertise in hosiery, the older shop assistants were grande dames of lingerie and could spot a bra size at 20 paces, while hoisting a strap with the gusto of an Olympian weight-lifter.

With Franks gone, my love of Wolford continues, but I now buy tights at mytights.com where they do a range of brands that is hard to find at a department store.

You don’t need me to tell you how to buy tights, but it’s easy to forget how a Jonathan Aston pattern or an accent of colour by Charnos can give a quirky spin to a mundane suit or give shoes a personality.

Everyone wears black to everything these days, but teaming an LBD with Aristoc mock suspender fishnets gives edge to an also-ran outfit, and that is true of so many statement tights, even the coloured woolly kind (though avoid green unless you’re in Emu fancy dress).

Just think what a stir you would cause in tights by Turkish brand Penti (penti.com), which feature a man climbing up one of the back seams, though his visibility is dependent on skirt length.

When Henry Holland put the alphabet on his House of Holland tights I bought three pairs, as a sheer 15 denier is a risky wear. I’ll never forget the time I fell over in a pair of Teflon-like Wolford Individual 20 (£25) and cried. Not because I’d shredded my knees but because of the ladders. Levante, Andrea Bucci and Charnos are among the brands that do ladder-resistant tights, and Charnos even do a line with “Queen of Shops” Mary Portas using 3D elastene. As well as tights, Portas has developed a range of hosiery sleeves, or “armery” as she calls them, to help banish bingo wings.

I’m not sure I’m ready for armery, but Falke’s Perfect Skin colour tights interest me. I’d always stayed away from natural for fear of the sausage effect (don’t ask), but their shades have been carefully created with a dermatologist to ensure every woman can find their optimal colour tights to achieve the most natural effect for their skin colour.

A sort of even complexion for legs that won’t see much sun for a while yet, in spite of what the spring clothes arriving in the shops suggest.

How to get the Les Mis look and dress like Eponine

Brigit Grant — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:59:55 +0000

I couldn’t be more excited. Today the film version of the musical I love more than any other opens at cinemas nationwide. After 28 years on the stage, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Misérables has been turned into a motion picture starring Hugh Jackman as Victor Hugo’s protagonist Jean Valjean, and I’ve bought my tickets. For every night next week.

Musicals are my thing as my mother Carole raised us primarily on a diet of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Kander and Ebb, so we were word perfect on Carousel and Chicago long before we could read.
With that kind of training, learning Herbert Kretzmer’s lyrics for Les Misérables was a morceau de gâteau and the classic anthem One Day More still makes the hairs on my arm stand on end. To think that the show almost foundered when it first opened and critics dubbed it “The Glums”.

But what’s all this got to do with fashion? Well, quite a bit in my opinion. For one thing, it gives a dash of street cred to my ageing “24601” T-shirt. That’s Jean Valjean’s prison number and it currently adorns everything from vests to shopping totes at cafepress.com where they are hoping to attract fans.
I’ve always been a sucker for a movie slogan sweatshirt, but more interestingly I like to see how the high street interprets a big-screen hit.

For the translation of Les Mis from stage to screen, director Tom Hooper was most insistent that costume designer Paco Delgado showcased clothes, not costumes for the characters.
Drawing his inspiration from the artists Delacroix and Francisco de Goya, Delgado had to make clothes that reflected the styles worn throughout the story’s 33-year span, and tailors from England, Italy, France, and Spain were used to produce approximately 2,200 costumes, many of which were for the movie’s hordes of beggars.

‘’We had to make the costumes and then destroy them to make them look old, like they had been worn for 10 years,’’ says Delgado. ‘’We used chemical processes like bleaching and fading, then mechanical processes like sanding or making holes. We had to recreate very quickly what would happen to a garment over years.”
Now even I, who have dressed like Annie Hall, Daisy Buchanan and Morticia Adams, believe that the “beggar look” is not the way to go, but there are many looks that make The Glums worth emulating. With Inspector Javert, played by Russell Crowe, we get bang-on trend funnel neck coats, military jackets and boots.

Even Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the Master of the House, has gone military and his jacket has its own backstory. “We decided that he probably stole it during one of the Napoleonic Wars and then pretended he had been an officer,’’ Delgado explains.

Of course it’s all about interpretation and though tragic Fantine (Anne Hathaway) isn’t a natural fashion icon, Delgado dressed her in cornflower blue and as her story unfolds, put her in clingy fabrics and airbrushed the sides of the costumes darker to make her look thinner.

The real wardrobe inspiration In Les Mis is provided by Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) with her embellished gowns and delicate hair accessories, and urban warrior Eponine (Samantha Barks) who wears slouchy suede boots, laced shirt and ragged hems. For Cosette-style clothing, I discovered 59 Strings (59strings.com), a bespoke boutique fashion company where Japanese designer Luna Sky is creating eveningwear worthy of the spotlight.
Meanwhile at Joe Browns (joebrowns.co.uk), a little known lifestyle company in Yorkshire, they have nailed the laid- back Eponine look with their boots, tunics and longline coats that will take you through the colder months and into spring.

So that’s you dressed Glum style. Now, after three: “At the end of the day, you’re another day older…”

How to look lovely for longer - make-up for day to night

Brigit Grant — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:00:00 +0000

When I worked in an office every day I was deeply envious of the women who didn’t. Not because their free time allowed them extended lunches and spontaneous shopping trips, but because they arrived at parties looking immaculate, while I turned up at the same soirees looking smudged and bedraggled.

Setting out from home allows one time in front of an appropriately lit mirror. Heading out from the office means battling the basins, dressing in a stall and sorting out one’s hair in the shadows of a fluorescent strip beam. No wonder I arrived looking like a cross between Bertha Rochester and Boy George.

But it’s not just working women who struggle to look the part to party. Hosting a dinner at home and maintaining a matte finish at the table can be just as tricky with all that kitchen steam and no hair and make-up artist lurking by the fridge.

So with the festive season in full throttle, social demands aplenty and a new year pending, I thought it was time to find a day-to-night look that travels well, requires the minimum amount of retouching and will look good in any light source — regardless of wattage.

When the “red lips and nude face” approach was suggested by celebrity make-up artist Kim Jacob (she has created cosmetic ranges for FCUK, Boots and Bayan SPA), I wasn’t sure.

Neutral and chic with claret lips isn’t really me or possibly even you, but Kim put up a convincing argument simply by producing a photo of Louise Rednapp modelling the look.

Louise and Kim launched the cosmetic range Wild about Beauty this summer and together they offer everything from an illuminating serum to a Nutrilash Nourishing Mascara as well as lots of anecdotes about their friendship and love of natural products.

With years of on- and behind-the-scenes camera experience, I’m sure you’ll find their tips are useful and I have put together a list of products (some from lesser known, but brilliant on-line brands) that you’ll need to pull off the timeless look for that next party.

Onesie more thing

Brigit Grant — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:54:50 +0000

I would like to apologise to my step-son Michael. About two years ago he walked into the kitchen wearing a bright green zip-up baby-gro. At least that is what it looked like and we all fell about laughing.

“Surely you’re not going out in that?” we chimed as he headed for the door in his romper made by the Norwegian company OnePiece. “Yes,” he said and clearly he was on to something, as now everyone from Brat Pitt to One Direction has one or more for work, rest and play.

I thought it was 2012’s coolest piece of clothing until I saw Louis Walsh wearing one, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing it to walk the dog. Oh, and to do the school-run, and to watch TV… let’s just say, onesie on, it never comes off.

Valentino, maestro of red-hot couture

Brigit Grant — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:43:54 +0000

The email was polite and succinct. “Dear Brigit, we’ve managed to get you five minutes with Valentino at midday on Wednesday. Look forward to seeing you then. Kind regards…”

Now ordinarily, being allocated such a frugal amount of time with an interviewee would be laughable, but this was different. To spend 300 seconds (it sounds longer) in the company of the undisputed master of Italian couture is a feather in the fedora of any fashion scribe, and the last time I was this excited about a work itinerary was when I received the following email from Disney: “Date: Feb 8, 2012. Location: Mayfair Hotel, London. Time: 4.30pm. Interviews with Kermit and Miss Piggy”.

Not that I would dare to compare the quizzing of two felt puppets to an audience with the prophetic designer who has dressed everyone from Jackie Onassis to Lady Gaga, but hopefully you know what I mean .

The reason for Signor Valentino Garavani agreeing to meet with the fash-pack was to promote the 50th anniversary exhibition celebrating his life and work at Somerset House in London, and if you like beautiful clothes, I urge you to see it.

“Beauty and elegance is all I thought of when I design,” says the nut-brown octogenarian who opened the House of Valentino in Rome in 1959 to create spectacular gowns without ever using a single sewing-machine. “Everything is handmade by le ragazze,” he says, referring to the gifted seamstresses he employed.

Many of those hand-crafted designs — 140 in total — worn by style icons such as the aforementioned Jackie O, as well as Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Madonna, are on display as part of the exhibition and one can only marvel at the ebb and flow of each gown.

Standing close to the black and white tulle dress worn by Julia Roberts for the Oscars in 1992, it’s easy to understand why Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld once whispered to Valentino: “Compared to us, the rest are making rags”. But unlike lofty Lagerfeld, Valentino never collaborated with H&M to create a high-street range. Not that il maestro is entirely dismissive of cheap clothing. “The high-street is very clever at what they do, but they copy.”

Retiring four years ago, with a send-off that saw him turn Rome into a fashion runway bathed in red light, the couturier has now turned his hand to designing for the ballet, so a collection for Top Shop is not on the cards. So where does that leave a Valentino votarist on a budget? For starters there’s the pop-up Valentino exhibition shop at Somerset House where they are selling limited-edition tote bags at £350, along with bespoke silk scarves, moleskin notebooks for jaunty journalists and a range of sunglasses from the Valentino Eyewear Collection from £150.

For those who want to make an investment in Valentino without alerting the bank and before the brand is watered down by the conglomerate that now owns it, a visit to www.theoutnet.com may prove fruitful. Browsing there, I spotted a Valentino £1,670 bubblegum pink shoulder bag for £751.50 and a £1,677 silk crepe red dress for £749.25. The latter was tempting, if only because red is the designer’s signature colour.

As he puts it: “In the middle of a group of women dressed in black, a woman in red is a vision.” Apart from shoes and scarves, I have steered away from red as a rule, but Valentino insists his rossi is a red with a tiny bit of orange added and works for brunettes, blondes and even redheads.

As my bank manager is fittingly on red alert in spite of the festive season, I decided to look for a Valentino tribute dress I could afford, such as the ’60s-inspired silk chiffon Gwyneth dress at Silk and Sawdust, the Fifties Duchesse by London-based designer Suzannah (unknown by me until now) and The Pretty Dress Company’s flatteringly fitted lace effort which is available at Van Mildert in Glasgow and Gateshead. Turns out rossi lookalikes are available everywhere once you start searching, which is what the maestro meant when he said, “they do copy”, before revealing that Berluti makes his shoes, Caraceni makes his suits and he doesn’t travel anywhere without his six pugs. It’s amazing what you can learn in five minutes.

‘Valentino: Master of Couture’ is at Somerset House, London WC2 until March 3 2013. www.somersethouse.org.uk

Fashion and Beauty Editor's cheeky Chanucah gift ideas

Brigit Grant — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:05:02 +0000

I don’t need a reason to shop, but Chanukah is as good as any, and with many of us now buying gifts online, I thought you should have a head start at the Post Office with a few ideas that have a fashion feel. Oh, and as the mother of a five-year-old girl, I make no apology for the selection, but grown-ups will enjoy them too.
Take The Dumpling Dolls (pictured).

Freshly-baked and dressed in bespoke clothing, and patent shoes, I was hooked from the moment I heard they were created from Mrs Dumpling’s tears. You can read their sad tale on the enchanting website which is the work (as are the dolls) of Scott and Gill Harris. “I considered calling them kneidel dolls, but wasn’t sure everyone would get it,” said Scott aka Mr Dumpling. For £25 you can choose a doll with your dress sense at www.mrsdumpling. com or call the bakery direct on 0781 3313266.

For a beauty gift with a Chanucah slant, nail decals (no. 6) featuring everything from stick-on dreidels to Stars of David are a novelty. Rabbi Yael Buechler came up with her “Torah meets nail art” as a fun way to get the girls at her New York school to study Midrash. Order now for $11.99 at www.midrashmanicures.com if you want them in time for the festival.

If you don’t want to risk international post, the Nail Art Party Pack (no. 4, £9.99), which has a gem wheel with over 500 nail art embellishments, is near at hand at River Island (www.riverisland.com). And then there are the cat (£45) and mouse (£36) brooches at www.tattydevine.com.
So cute, but as a scribe I’d prefer her speech mark earrings(£24).

I’ve lots more ideas, but no room, so look out for them next week, and see the JC Chanucah gift supplement on November 30.

The King of Vintage Couture

Brigit Grant — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:34:47 +0000

There are times When I really love this job. Not because I have a head-start on the season’s trends and first dibs on face creams, but because of the fascinating people I meet. People such as Cameron Silver.

No, I hadn’t heard of him either, at least not until his book, Decades: A Century of Fashion, landed on my desk with a resounding thump. A3 in size and weighing approximately 2 lbs, Decades is the macher of coffee-table books, and though you may need a trolley to get it home, the reward for your effort lies within the 250 pages of stunning fashion images — many of which have not been seen before.

The book does not claim to be a definitive history of fashion. “It is my own history,” says the Los Angeles-born author, and he is really proud of it. But what is so special about Cameron Silver that Bloomsbury have agreed to publish this mighty tome of first-person fashion essays?

Quite a bit as it turns out and most of it is fascinating because he is such an eloquent storyteller. Dapper and refined with a smooth accent, the 43-year-old Silver is the sort of world traveller one hopes to sit next to on a long-haul flight. Midway across the Atlantic he would tell you about his theatre degree, then his career as a singer of 1930s German cabaret songs that allowed him to indulge his passion for scouring second-hand stores for vintage clothing between gigs.

“I snapped up YSL suits from the ’70s, Pucci ties from the ’60s, but wherever I went I found more interesting women’s clothes than men’s — and though I certainly wasn’t interested in wearing them, I found myself compelled to buy every single truly wonderful thing I came across.”

Though Silver cut a music album, it was the thrift shop splurges that paid off and resulted, in 1997, in him opening Decades, his incredibly glamorous vintage boutique on Melrose Avenue in LA. Today it is regarded as the home of historic couture for A-listers, celeb stylists and a number of princesses — “not all of whom are Jewish,” he jokes.

“My store actually got its big break when Nicole Kidman chose a Loris Azzaro couture gown to wear to the premiere of Moulin Rouge and the pictures of her in the dress appeared all over the world. After that, Grace Coddington [Vogue’s creative director] dedicated eight pages to vintage, which was risky but it signalled the start of mixing old and new for 21st-century women.”

Silver’s challish for fashion can be attributed to his mother, Margot, who, “when being social in the eighties”,dressed in Mugler, Sonia Rykiel and Valentino.

“For my barmitzvah she had a dress modelled after something worn by Princess Diana,” says Silver, whose very presence at catwalk shows these days is a seal of approval for the exhibiting designer. “I don’t think Chanel cares if I’m there or not because it is such a big machine, but the LVMH group is into me and I’ve done some things with Marc Jacobs at Vuitton.” “Some things” for Silver can range from hosting an exclusive party in Singapore next Tuesday to narrating Andy Warhol.

Currently, it’s the film, Versailles ’73, that he’s promoting. “It’s about the battle for fashion eminence between the French and Americans. Haven’t you heard about it?” he asks.

I am loathed to admit that I haven’t, just as I hadn’t heard about the French fashion socialites Jacqueline de Ribes and the late Baron de Rede who introduced Yves Saint Laurent to Paris society. Apparently. But those are the names you get when you ask the font of fashion knowledge to pull together a guest list for an imaginary Friday night dinner.

“I’m afraid it would mostly be dead designers,” says Silver, adding Halston to the list. “I’d also like the Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli to be there, but then I couldn’t invite Coco Chanel as they didn’t get along.”

As I said, he is a fashion expert and in recent years has noticed a real decline in the number of aspiring Jewish designers. “It was all about Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein… but they are now the old guard,” he says.

“Alber Albaz at Lanvin is wonderful and I threw a dinner for him in LA, but there are not that many young ones. It’s also not the schmutter business it once was as it’s now all about conglomerates and there is so little manufacturing done in the US. There are lots of Jewish CEOs, but I fear the artistry has gone.”

Silver has plans to build his own conglomerate by revitalising old brands and investing in small designers who need cash. He will also have his own clothing line —“evening wear mainly as I’m not into basics. There’s a way I like a woman to dress,” he says.

In the New Year the US channel Bravo is launching a reality show built around Silver and his store and he is hopeful it will be good for business.

“When Decades first opened people came to buy. Now they want to borrow and where do I make money from that?” asks the man who once paid $4,000 for a Schiaparelli walking stick. “But it can work out as when I did Kristin Davis’s entire wardrobe for Sex and The City II — she bought all of it.

With “hold on to anything by Hermes” as his mantra, he says he doesn’t get emotional about the gowns he buys to sell at Decades, but during our time together he regaled me with stories about his finds.

“The incredible thing about vintage couture is that there is only one of something wonderful and I listen to every word my sellers tell me and sell their stories on with their dresses,” he says. “And that story continues, as new owners more often than not send pictures of themselves wearing whatever they bought.”

I’m not sure I have anything vintage of value to entice Cameron Silver to visit, but anyone this interesting will always be on my Friday night dinner wish-list.