Karen Millen is one of the most synonymous names when anyone thinks of the fashion industry, or in more recent years - of interior design, but to me, Karen is one of my oldest and closest friends.
Celebrating 30 years in business this month, ‘Karen Millen’ the brand remains a retail force on the high street. Karen however, who has just turned 50 and is no longer involved with her namesake fashion company, has turned her creative hand in a new direction and is focusing on interior design.
At this pivotal time in Karen’s life as she embraces a new chapter, I sit down with her following her 50 birthday party on the Orient Express, and we take a trip down memory lane about our relationship over the past two decades, and reminisce about the good times and the bad.
We end up surprising ourselves when we realise how much we’ve been through together, how much we’ve relied on each other, and how strong our friendship has become after 20 years.
Happy birthday Karen! We’ve just had a great night on the Orient Express with 26 of your friends to celebrate your 50, and I have to say it was one of the best parties you’ve ever thrown. When I think back to your 40 party and all the other events we’ve shared in each other’s lives – we’ve really had an eventful 20 years of friendship, haven’t we?
We really have. I think when you look at all the high and low experiences we’ve had as individuals over the last 20 years, it has been a massive comfort to us both that the other has always been there.
From the early years of the Karen Millen business when you came on board with the company in Ireland, to the difficult years for me when Kevin and I separated, to your personal battles with alcohol addiction, and then to the selling of the Karen Millen business and moving on to new projects, we’ve been through it all together. I’m happy to say that we’re probably now the closest we’ve ever been.
Do you remember when I first met you in the early 1990s, I was waiting in a meeting room at Karen Millen Head Office in Kent. I was expecting to encounter a very glamorous businesswoman dressed head to toe in Dolce & Gabbana, who’d put me through my paces as a new business partner for the company in Ireland. In fact, when you walked in I thought you were one of the seamstresses!
I remember you were dressed in jeans with a measuring tape around your neck and pins stuck to your top! It was Kevin, your then life and business partner, who did all the business talking and you were the creative force behind the scenes. I think those characteristics I first saw in you are so true to you still – you were humble and professional and focused on where your talents lay, and when we got to know each other I saw that you were also a very kind, loyal and caring person.
How you saw me that first day was really how it was – Kevin and I started and grew Karen Millen from scratch in 1981 and it was all from the heart. I was the designer and my priority was creating collections that women would want to buy. I got involved in the fashion industry for my love of designing and never anticipated the publicity that would come along with it. I preferred to stay in the background and focus on the creative side.
When you first came on board with the company we didn’t click straight away, because you wouldn’t have had many dealings with me on the design side of things. It was only after that business party we attended where everyone else talked shop but you and I really got to know each other that our friendship started and began to grow.
Then later, when Kevin and I separated after 20 years and three children together, I really came to rely on you and our friendship. It was an escape for me to come to you inDublinto get through the difficult time I was having, and I’m forever grateful to you for providing me with that.
It was a horrible time for you and I remember bringing you to Dublin to give you time away to heal. You gelled in with my friends so well that you would come over and stay with me sometimes three out of four weekends! I later appreciated what you went through even more, because you offered me the same support when I needed it further down the line.
We all have difficult times in our lives and friendship is so important to help you through those periods. I have great admiration for Dublin and would regard it as a second home, because of you and all the wonderful friends I made in the city during my visits at that tough time. Everyone was so warm and caring and you introduced me to a safety net of friends who were so kind and welcoming to me.
I had never really embraced the London fashion social scene, as I suppose I never really felt I needed to when Kevin and I were together and had our own group of friends. But when that disintegrated and I felt very lost, you offered me the support I needed and it was in Dublin.
I remember Dublin at the time was a really exciting city to be in, and we were hanging out in Lillie’s Bordellos and Reynards. It was a real ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ scene in Ireland and the same scene was happening in London, but you hadn’t really embraced it?
Yes, I suppose as I said, I didn’t get into the fashion industry to be famous - I enjoyed designing and wanted to be a successful designer, but I didn’t want the celebrity that came with the success. That’s the reason I stood back from the London social scene circus. There’s plenty of better designers than me, and there’s probably plenty less talented who just make more noise about themselves, but I didn’t want to venture into that territory - I was happy behind the scenes and with my cosy family life.
But when my relationship ended and I took shelter in Dublin, I found myself immersed in the rock ‘n’ roll scene that was happening there, and all of your friends welcomed me to it. I got to go to the best events and be seen with all the right people, and whilst it was a difficult time I did really enjoyed it all. I travel a lot to various parts of the world, but my real affection lies inIreland.
It’s great you remember Dublin for all those times and consider Ireland a home away from home. I remember you visited my hometown of Tramore in Co. Waterford with me, and seemed to really love it there too?
It was after you and I visited Tramore together and I met your mother and your brother Philip and we had a drink in Martha’s pub that you began to really open up to me, and I began to get to know your story a bit better. We both came from humble backgrounds, not from big cities, and both really valued our families.
When you’re in the fashion industry there’s a façade that everyone falls under – but it was really nice to see the real you. But then, it was almost like while you were helping and supporting me, I was starting to see what was happening with you more clearly, and I could see the toll your lifestyle was taking on you.
Which brings me on to talk about your birthday parties past – your 40 party was a big success with hundreds attending. I remember the theme was Moulin Rouge, which was the big movie hit at the time.
I remember a lot of people came to my 40 and I was doing the rounds of the room to check all of my guests were enjoying themselves and appreciating everyone’s Moulin Rouge costumes. It was a great night.
We’ve just had an amazing evening on the Orient Express and a night at the Dorchester Hotel to celebrate your 50, with 26 guests including Kelly Brook, Jacqueline Gold and Caprice. Why did you decide to have a more intimate party than in previous years?
I think it’s a sign of my getting older and wanting to hold something smaller, more intimate and really more special for my 50. I’ve done the lavish dos with hundreds attending, and there’s a lot of time spent at those parties working the room to make sure all your guests are enjoying themselves. For this occasion, I wanted something really special for me too and going on the Orient Express has always been a dream of mine.
It was so great that everyone really embraced the theme and dressed in 1930s attire to fit the era of the Orient. It was a great night, and it was brilliant to look around and see all my close friends and family enjoying the event with me. I know when we met Jacqueline for lunch the other day that we all found it funny to see each other back in our normal clothes again! I also really enjoyed the planning and organising that went into everything.
As I don’t have a real ‘business role’ as such any more, it was great to throw myself into this for the last few months, and I felt really proud of the result when everyone had a great night. I’ve made lots of amazing memories to look back on.
I really admire where you are in your life now. I think you’re happier than I’ve seen you in your 30s or 40s and are much more settled and content. Also you were recently recognized for your interior design skills by Hello magazine – your house in Kent is a perfect example of your creative abilities being applied to areas outside of fashion.
The house is a project I’ve been working on since we bought it about 13 years ago. I recently completed the renovation and am so pleased with it. My taste is quite eclectic and I think the house represents that, but it is also a family home and I wanted to reflect that in the interiors too.
I’ve recently gotten some private commissions from friends and I’m excited to work on those projects. My passion before fashion was simply design, and now I’m able to do it for lifestyle rather than just clothes. I see the same in you Ian, as you’ve bought your beautiful Victorian house in Tramore and really put your heart and soul into designing it for you and to fit your lifestyle and taste – complete with pet dog and cat! It really shows how much we’ve both grown up.
I’ve a lot to thank you for. After leaving the Priory addiction treatment centre, even though I had made good friends there, I distinctly remember going straight to your house – there was nowhere else I wanted to go when I came back to the real world. From that night onwards, I think our friendship reinvented itself and we started growing back towards each other.
From a business point of view we weren’t involved any more as Karen Millen had been sold, but personally we were growing into a new chapter. I would like to think the hard times we helped each other through made our relationship stronger?
It definitely has. You really showed me your huge strength of character, and turned yourself around to what you are now. I tend not to tolerate too much negativity in my life, I try to be a positive person – and the best thing I’ve seen you do is turn such negativity into something positive and I couldn’t be prouder or happier for you.
It’s important to be surrounded by positive people and all of my friends are those types of people. I think especially for someone single, it’s so important to have strong, positive friends to share your life with.
You certainly have your solid circle of friends. You have your three great children, Josh 21, Jordan 19, and Jake 14. Do you feel like you a need a man in your life?
I’ve been on my own for 11 years now, and while I’ve no intention of being on my own for the rest of my life, I am quite happy right now as I am. I have an amazing family and group of friends and I get enough from them to be happy. I’m embracing turning 50 and actually am much more energised and am feeling more content right now than I did turning 40.
It seems only when we take the time to look back at the highs and lows we’ve gone through together that we can see we’ve come out the other side on the same wavelength, and luckily retained our friendship throughout. It’s like we’re both finally comfortable in our own environments and it took everything we’ve gone through to get here?
I really feel happy about turning 50 with where I am in my life, and I can see that you’ve found your own happiness and I’m so proud of you. There were some great times and there were some really terrible times along the way, but I wouldn’t change a thing because it has all made us who we are today, and built our relationship to be as strong as it is.
I think what makes our friendship unique is our ability to see things in the same way, and to not need to explain to the other. We share similar visions in terms of taste and creativity. I think that as we’ve both matured in age, in wisdom, in work and in life experiences, we’ve both found our own real appreciation for the important things in our lives.
Yes, it’s a wonderful point to have reached. I’m laughing as I look at our iPads, iPhones and MacBook Airs on the table. I remember introducing you to the very first iPod years ago in South Africa and you were so confused by the concept! Look at us now, and we’re both regular Apple - ites – who would have thought this a decade ago? And who knows what we’ll be sitting with in another ten years’ time!
