Behind the Seams: The perfect gift for fans of The Great British Sewing Bee

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Their designs appeared in the pages of Vogue and were photographed by iconic photographers David Bailey and Helmut Newton. One of their first designs – transparent rain macs – was photographed by Newton for Nova magazine, with the models wearing nothing underneath, in the early 1970s.

After graduating from Central Saint Martins, she founded ultra-cool Swanky Modes in Camden Town, went on to work with the likes of Cher and Grayson Perry, and was also responsible for some iconic moments in film costume history – including Bridget Jones’s black bunny outfit. I still fear the stay pressed, flat fronted nylon trouser, but admire it as a part of our wonderful textiles heritage and history. On 19 February 1949, at the Nursing Home, 34 Kimbolton Road, Bedford, to Patricia (née Cole), wife of Wing-Commander B. We meet in mid-May in a small park in the City of London, round the corner from the Peabody Estate where Young has lived for more than 40 years. It was more like suits that young men wear today, tight fitting that have one button and slimmer trousers.

Then, as he recovered in hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, Brian fell in love with Esme’s mother Patricia, a “glamorous and full of life” nurse.

When you're young, you feel invulnerable and think anything is absolutely possible and you don't think about messing up. 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”. Such an interesting life and clearly a wonderful woman, thoroughly enjoyed finding out all about her life, family and Swanky Modes! In an unforgiving industry when you are asked to make clothes for a someone then be justifiably proud.Now 73, her love of an artistic challenge and a boisterous party have seen her hang out with David Bowie and the Sex Pistols, create Bridget Jones's famous Bunny Girl costume and dance with Dustin Hoffman. But she now realises that her retreat into a creative mental space was at least in part due to the isolating effects of her deafness. She wore the necklace to a screening hosted by English National Opera of The Mysterious Register: A Journey to the Edge of Possibility in London last month. I want to see their personalities and that’s in the choice of fabric, colour and their sewing techniques. Esme has a great attitude to life and tells some great and interesting stories about her time in the fashion industry.

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. The thread that runs through Young’s life and experiences is always her creativity, her talent for costume seeing her make costumes for Trainspotting, Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach (2000), Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin (2013), the bunny suit for Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and all of the shirts in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, among, many others. The label quickly rose to prominence thanks to superstars Grace Jones and Cher favouring their designs, which included raunchy body-con dresses. While her career is in clothes, however, it is the large necklaces she wears that are her signature style.

The latest series of The Great British Sewing Bee is well underway with the remaining contestants hoping to impress the judges and earn a place in the semi-final. Today, she decorates the flat with her collection of animal skulls that she finds on trips to Greece. To get you into a creative mood and show you how wonderful (and relaxing) the hobby can be, we're inviting you on the ultimate sewing holiday in Bath, where you'll have the chance to meet Sewing Bee judge Esme Young. In the '90s, she moved into designing costumes, creating Renee Zellweger's iconic bunny outfit in Bridget Jones, and dressing Leonardo DiCaprio and his co-stars in Romeo + Juliet.

She has not worn the necklace since for fear it might leak: each bottle contains a different colour paint. Their clothing was also photographed by Helmut Newton, David Bailey, Nick Knight, and John Swannell. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity arose a year after Esme impressed the Goddess of Pop when she altered her “exquisite, very expensive” Yves Saint Laurent sequin jacket by unpicking and resewing each jewel one by one. Esme Young is one part of BBC 2’s ‘ Great British Sewing Bee’ judging duo, joining the show in 2016. She told us Helmut Newton would be keen to photograph them and asked me to send some drawings to him.Then it’s on to her years as a costume designer for films, music videos and TV, rubbing shoulder pads with numerous celebrities including Bowie and Dustin Hoffman, Juliette Binoche and Cher, Madness and Barry Manilow, with holidays in Iran and Mexico and teaching Fashion at Central St Martins to finally to becoming queen bee on one of the nation’s favourite reality shows. I don't watch the sewing bee, but this was a book club choice and I enjoy a good autobiography, which this was not. The hotel is a stone’s throw from some of Bath’s most impressive sights which you will have plenty of time to explore. Lots of name dropping of who she had met, partied with etc, I was not impressed, don't feel I got to know her at all. She made a necklace, comprising five plastic bottles hanging off the colourful metal clips, during a break in filming.