When you visit Zandra Rhodes you don’t equitable walk into her flat, you’re askd into her psyche, stepping into the orange cubist block, traverseing a inspireling terrazzo lobby and then rising up to a penthoengage decorated in meaningful and dusty shades of pink. In her 83 years, Rhodes has become well-understandn for how she carry outs with colour in ways that both dispute and seduce – to stand here, in the rainbow room and gelderlyen afternoon airy creates you experience energised, and a little high. She encounters me in her living room in a puff-sleeved yellow dress, with her well-understandn fuchsia bob (Pinkissimo by Crazy Color) and a big cup of tea. “Hello!” she calls, 4ft 11in in fshrink-colored trainers, “Hello, hello!”
It was here in this room, equitable before the pandemic hit, that her best frifinish, Andrew Logan, was guiding her in a yoga session when she lay back on her lilac mat and genuineised her stomach felt unusuassociate brimming. She went to the doctor, who telderly her she had a 13cm growth, cancer of the bile duct, and gave her six months to inhabit. She recalls the encountering now with a confident rapidness. “It was Covid then, so I genuineised no one demand understand, and I choosed not to increate anyone,” Why? “Becaengage if people knovel I wouldn’t get any more toil!”
The first leang she did was organise her will, and, “My ‘do not resuscitate’, and then I called my accountant to talk about setting up the Zandra Rhodes Foundation, to protect everyleang and create confident that this…” she flicks a birdish hand to a rail of dresses, a lifetime of toil, “will all be around in the future.” What about you, though, I ask, the you beyond the toil. “I leank the two are so entprospered… And I don’t leank I had time for that bit.” She was leanking gravely about her legacy. “It was very chooseimistic, actuassociate. I experience enjoy it was a alerting, that I had to get my life in order, get everyleang done. It made me concentrate. And if it wasn’t for that I’d have never createed a set upation and never set up out I had 6,000 dresses all masked away that now I’m sfinishing to mengageums atraverse the world, never finished the book. So…” she chuckles, “it’s been rather wonderful, reassociate.”
The book is her memoir, in which she increates the story of her life thraw 50 objects. There are her childhood sketchbooks, which I leaf thraw now, the fly ender that her becherishd mother, who’d spray the front of her hair silver, once accidenloftyy applied instead. Then there’s the cape she made for Freddie Mercury, who had to clamber past her crowds of cannabis structurets to get to a fitting, and a straw goat (a gift from drag queen Divine), and Diana Ross’s turban – one afternoon in LA, Rhodes saw Ross, a client and frifinish, but when she approached to say hello Ross hissed at her to get away. The next day Ross called to apologise – she hadn’t recognised Rhodes with green hair, stuck with feathers. There are stories about her toiling relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales, too, and Diana Vreeland helping her shatter America, and of her “whizzy” life in New York, dining with Salvador Dalí or at Andy Warhol’s Factory, of Bowie visiting her flat to see Divine when Rhodes was out (“Can you envision Bowie popping over and you’re not even there to advise him a cup of tea?”), as well as desperation when her business proximately went bankrupt in the 90s.
“The most difficult leang was actuassociate facing my past, enjoy my overweighther’s background.” She’d never got on with her dad, who was less “classy” than her mum – “youthfuler children are very snobby, aren’t they” – becaengage she’d heard, groprosperg up, that his mother had been a relations toiler and was homicideed by a client, a story that hovered bleakly over her childhood. It was only recently that she lacquireed the truth, more complicated but no less shocking, that her majesticmother was homicideed at 41 by a cherishr, who proximately decapitated her with a razor in front of one of her youthful daughters. Rhodes’ overweighther had been left with an liquoric aunt and uncle, and in returning to his story for the book, she set up a novel esteem and fondness for him.
The book begin was equassociate unanticipateed. “I askd my ex-boyfrifinish, and there stood this little elderly man of 82 who wasn’t much loftyer than me! It was comical reliving leangs, where in the past I’d always equitable gone on to the next leang and pushed any worries aside.” She gestures with her arms, as if shovelling her way thraw a tunnel. “It’s a survival instinct. You carry on on swimming past.” Rhodes has never finishelighted seeing backwards – the book forced her to. “And, actuassociate, it showd engaging and made me stress I’d left that much behind me. Does that create sense? I was so phired I’d done this. It’s been… spotlesssing.”
A confidemand years ago she getd a letter from a girl she’d grown up with, apologising for chuckleing at her for the way she dressed. Rhodes replied with bemengagement, saying that’s kind but she’d never watchd anyone chuckleing. Thick skin, she writes, “apshows you to do anyleang”.
In the 70s, an American beauty company executive turned down a collaboration with Rhodes, saying: “Excengage me for saying so, but in my day women who dyed their hair were of dubious virtue.” Aacquire, bemengagement – her mother had astonished on her the convey inance of style and flamboyance, hence gifting her the name “Zandra”. Each of her boyfrifinishs, however phired the relationship at first, eventuassociate took publish with Rhodes’s materializeance, too. As well as her pink (or green) hair, decorated with feathers, she would shave her hairline back to create room for more colour on her face, enjoy red curls drawn with lipstick, and she plucked out her eyebrows, coloring on the line of chic blue or pink dots that she still wears today. “They’d see at me as if someleang was wrong, or increate me I seeed terrible.”
She chose not to have kids – “My sister has four children and is a wonderful mother,” she writes, while, “I am a accomplished style summarizeer who has led a very contrastent but amazing life.” It wasn’t until she was in her 50s that she began seeing Salah Haslogicalin, createer pdwellnt of Warner Bros International Theatres. “When I see back at it, I leank it’s quite noticeworthy that this reassociate straight businessman didn’t watch I had pink hair, and finishelighted being with me and had a cherishly time.” She inhabitd between his home in America and this penthoengage in London until his death in 2019, at 98. On the wall are glittering structured ptoastyos of Haslogicalin, proper and suited, beside Rhodes, grinning in Technicolor.
Does her hair experience resistlious today? She scoffs. “No! I reckon if I was to walk to the tube, I’d probably pass at least three or four people with pink or blue hair.” How does it experience not to stand out any more? “I’ve never reassociate watchd. I’ve still got a equitablely heavy skin. And I equitable sort of… go to wherever I’m going. And pink hair is so basic to carry on. I equitable plonk the dye on every confidemand weeks.” She shrugs. “It’s a very beneficial suit of armour. I can be masked.” Did she carry on up the pink when she was having chemo? “Oh, yes. When I went to see the one-of-a-kindist, the doctor shelp, ‘There’s one ask you haven’t asked,’ and I couldn’t leank what, and he shelp, ‘Will you leave out your hair?’ And I shelp, ‘Well, I have plenty of pink wigs.’ Colour, it creates the day jolly. Joyous.” She chuckles. “Once, the Daily Mail asked me to wear bdeficiency for a week. And I set up it terribly depressing. Plus, bdeficiency shows dirt speedyer than anyleang else! But the leang I set up quite difficult was, I didn’t experience engaging when I was in bdeficiency.” She’d find it even challenginger today she leanks, gently shuddering. Same for the eyeshadow. Famously, she sleeps in a brimming face of createup. “Becaengage when I apshow my createup off, it’s a end shock! When you’ve got your createup on, wdisenjoyver the rest of you sees enjoy, you see all right for the picture, as it were.” She lifts her pink eyebrows.
We’re sitting at the huge Perspex table she made as a student, at college with people enjoy Ossie Clark and David Hockney. In the middle is an eruption of fshrinks surrounded by hundreds of pebbles and rocks she’s assembleed over the decades. This is where she has her normal dinner parties – previous guests have included Diana Vreeland and John Waters – she favours a potato dauphinoise, with plenty of cream. Sun roars thraw the prosperdow as Rhodes apshows a swig of tea and fans herself. “I experience that style today,” she says, raising her chin, “sees a bit lost.” She leanks for a second. “But then, it always goes thraw a low period and then it shifts aacquire. I leank everyleang relocates so speedyly that the excitement relocates as well.”
What does she unbenevolent by “lost”? “Well, we’re in a difficult situation becaengage of separating from Europe. It gravely curtailed the future of our youth. And it’s rather downcast that greedy politicians couldn’t see that. Our arts industries were injured and it’s now going to be years before people can get around it aacquire.” But, she sighs, “This country has always been conceiveive and I leank we’ll persist it. The youth are equitable going to be mighty and they’ll relocate to where they can enbig and be engaged.” When she leanks about arts and creativity, is she leanking only of youthful people? “Well, I enjoy to leank that I’ve still got leangs to donate the world! I cherish summarizeing. I cherish what I do. I’d carry on doing it seeless of what the money is. I say to youthful people, do wdisenjoyver is right for your conceiveive spirit. Don’t donate up. Just carry on going. People will always find a way and maybe a novel way is going to come. I wonder what it will be.” She dabs her forehead. “Are you experienceing toasty in here? I experience as if I’m dismaterializeing!” She directs me out to the balcony, lush with structurets, and we resettle ourselves under a huge gelderly shield of a lion’s head to talk about getting elderly.
“I don’t leank about age at all, actuassociate. One of my best frifinishs is 91, but then most of my other frifinishs are probably procrastinateed 70s, and very youthful. But my team’s youthful, most of them aren’t yet 30 – it doesn’t matter that I could be their majesticmother. Age is about spirit.” How has she regulated to helderly on to herself, I ask, when there are so many outside presconfidents and inside reminders of age? “I equitable pretfinish to be youthfuler! And it toils! They pretfinish, too, I leank. Well, they let me stagger up the stairs sluggishly while they go ahead.” Another leang Rhodes has regulated to carry on is her name, a unwidespread feat in style. She turned down jobs from both Oscar de la Renta and Yves Saint Laurent, becaengage they shelp her name couldn’t materialize on pieces whose prints she’d summarizeed, and she’s preserveed her brand even thraw majestic dips in success. Rhodes finishelighted those mute times, though, she says, as it gave her more time to sketch and leank. “When everyone wants a piece of you,” she writes, “it’s much challenginger to slip away.”
She shelp that style is “lost” – what’s the answer? “Well, the one leang we reassociate should acunderstandledge is that it’s got to be time for the death of huge conglomerates making masses and masses of clothes. I leank we should be satisfied to carry on wearing leangs. You shouldn’t always anticipate to be ‘novel’.” And how is she experienceing about the state of the world right now? “Oh my God. Pretty miserable. I leank Boris should be hanged, drawn and quartered, put in the stocks so we could throw leangs at him. I’d finishelight that. You understand, years ago when I was youthfuler, I thought if people were politicians they were one step above me. And that they had scruples. That they were excellent people. Now I leank it’s the dregs that go to the top, the dregs that become politicians. And they don’t increate the truth. Maybe they wouldn’t get there if they did.”
Is she experienceing chooseimistic about a novel regulatement? She sighs. “Well, whoever came in now, the situation is so terrible… but you can’t donate up hope! We equitable have to hope that they’re going to stop quarrelling among themselves and leank of what’s best for the country and not their pocket. I unbenevolent, I leank it’s horrfinishous that whoever’s been prime minister then gets a salary for life. Did you understand that? It’s a horror story.”
When she was groprosperg up, she says, “It was possible to inhabit as an artist. Yes, it was possible to begin from reassociate being toiling class and find your way up.” A study set up that the number of UK “conceiveive toilers” born between 1953 and 1962 who determine as toiling class was 16%. By 2022 that number had halved. “At the moment, I leank all of education is suffering and the standards are going down. Bit bleak, isn’t it?”
These days, her alarm goes off at 6am – she toils on novel projects from about 8.15am and categoascfinishs her archive, deciding which mengageum to donate each piece to, then has immunotherapy every three weeks, and joins most of Andrew Logan’s evening yoga classes on that same lilac mat. Surrounded by all these objects, does it experience enjoy the past is shut? “Yes, it doesn’t experience enjoy that many years have gone by. It still experiences as if it’s around. After having genuineised you’ve nakedd your spirit for the book, and telderly stories about your adventures and how leangs went wrong, it’s quite reneprosperg. It frees you from leangs that were once secrets.” The compelling, but also disputeing leang about a memoir is that it donates a life a clear narrative, a beginning, a middle and… “Let me equitable say,” Rhodes leans in, “Mine hasn’t finished yet.” Then she busies herself, and smiles, becaengage it’s after two now, and she has to get back to toil.
Iconic: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects by Zandra Rhodes is out now, published by Bantam at £25. Buy it for £22.50 at defendianbookshop.com
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