SITTING BETWEEN award-winning British designer Giles Deacon and New Look’s trend director, Barbara Horspool, at the company’s spacious headquarters in London, I am struck by the very obvious rapport between the two.
Horspool joined New Look, the company founded in Dorset by Tom Singh in 1969, from Marks Spencer, where she was head of womenswear design, at the same time as Deacon was hired to create a capsule line for the company in early 2007.
“I got a bit of a shock when I joined,” says Horspool with a smile. “I didn’t like the product but I liked the people – their energy and passion, and they were funny. I reckoned that was important if you were going to enjoy your work for a big business. It has a small infrastructure and you can have conversations at which decisions are made, rather than meetings.”
Horspool is credited with refreshing New Look’s image and establishing its fashion credentials. She explains that when she joined, there was no design team and there wasn’t a belief that they could have a strong point of view. “I thought it could be taken seriously as a fashion retailer. We’re not pretentious, it’s for people who want to look good and have fun with fashion.”
She has since established a 35-strong design team. “It took me five years to do it. Financial people are scared of the creative. Designers use research, talk to people, and know the vibes that are happening. You think it’s intuitive, but you gather it all up.” She talks, for instance, of fighting for the colour camel as opposed to grey for winter 2010, and being right. “My whole life is predicting what the future will be.”
New Look, which opened its largest store in Dublin at the end of last year, is a massive organisation with 11,000 stores worldwide selling into 122 countries. “Next is number one in online sales, followed by Asos and New Look.”
She says that Giles Deacon and Limited Collection do well online, with the average age of purchaser being 32, although it sells to women from 16 to 45 years and upwards. “The preoccupation with age that people have, as opposed to a youthful spirit, terrifies me,” she says. “The world isn’t like that. People have really odd preoccupations. We’re in the business of looking good. If you want a pick-up in the morning, you wear something bright. It’s about making the day better.”
She is a spirited, vibrant woman with a clear sense of direction, and her youthfulness shows in the way she dresses. Today she’s in a print dress with patent shoes and a pale leather jacket. At a recent British fashion event, she was the only one wearing red (a dress by Deacon) in a sea of black.
New Look’s prints make it stand out from other high-street retailers. “We’re buying more original artwork than any other retailer in the UK and all our prints are developed in-house.” According to Deacon: “She has a brilliant understanding of design and designers, along with top business buying experience, and very few have that proper understanding of the interface between the two.”
Dressed in a navy hoodie and Converse trainers, along with his trademark Cutler and Gross glasses, Deacon is a genial designer who is not only producing collections under his own name and for New Look, but has also been appointed creative director of Ungaro in Paris. “Everybody is organised and it’s all quite specific,” he says. “We are very realistic – people don’t want black trousers from me, but they like statement dresses which can be classic in certain ways without being boring.”
According to Horspool, Deacon has creative licence at New Look and produces four collections a year, usually 12-16 dresses, sometimes with footwear and jewellery. His spring collection features shapely brocade dresses and more flirty striped numbers with tulle underskirts. “We always do well with black and white striped dresses by Giles,” smiles Horspool.
Many of the prints are drawn from vintage finds in LA. “LA is filled with costume designers, architects and Hollywood glamour. There is so much money there and so many women have left huge wardrobes of clothes. There are really strong designers, too. I love it more than New York, though sometimes conversation can be a little vacant. You get work done in a relaxed atmosphere,” says Deacon.
He attributes London’s resurgence as a fashion capital in recent years to the “massive” influence of the east end of London on music, film, fashion. “There’s a feeling that you can do anything, that you can get things up and running very quickly. No other city accommodates new ideas so quickly,” he says.
His workload is something he seems to manage with equanimity. “I like to get the best out of people. I don’t like autocratic environments.”
“When the pressure is on, he is really marvellous at being able to say no,” Horspool adds. “He always makes time, but you know when he is busy. He is always in control. I like working like that.”
