Renowed British fashion designer and TV star Julien MacDonald has just launched his latest collection for Debenhams for autumn/winter 2012. He stars in a brand new TV campaign alongside fellow Debenhams designers Henry Holland and Jasper Conran. We caught up with Julien to get the lowdown on his latest collection, his trend predictions for the coming season and to find out about the current series of Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model.
Sarah McIntyre: Debenhams is launching the next instalment of its Life Made Fabulous TV campaign with Henry Holland and Jasper Conran, can you tell us a bit about making the adverts?
Julien MacDonald: Basically it’s where Debenhams gets to show off its top designers in a glossy TV ad which all the designers were really happy to do. It’s nice for our customers and the public to actually see us and see us in a working, positive environment. A lot of people ask me so many questions about Debenhams, how long do I go in there, how many times a week, what do you do. So it’s lovely for the customers and our families and our friends to see us on the TV. Everybody wants to be on TV!
Do you love seeing your designs brought to life on models and real people?
I do, there’s nothing better than actually reaching out and talking to and seeing people in your clothes. I think for any designer it’s a true sign of satisfaction and success. And wherever I go in the world there’s always going to be somebody coming on to me saying ‘I’m wearing one of your dresses, I want one of your dresses, got one of your bags. So it’s always great, and then they ask you all the other questions. ‘What should I wear with it, what do you think I should do with my hair?’ there’s always a million questions!
You’re also in the campaign with Henry Holland and Jasper Conran is there any healthy competition between the designers?
No, at the end of the day, the brilliant thing about all the designers at Debenhams is that we all do different things. Henry hits all the young kids, I’m there bringing glamour to the highstreet, and then Jasper is always clean, chic and very sophisticated. So we all have different customers who buy our clothes, we’re not in competition with each other.
When you’re designing your collection for Debenhams, who is the woman you have in mind?
It’s a woman that we all want to be, rich, fabulous and gorgeous. It’s the women you see on the Hollywood screen. The women you see in the movies, I’ve always loved Jessica Rabbit. I love glamourous women, whether it be Marilyn Monroe, down to Madonna, Kylie Minogue. It’s women who are real women and are always challenging fashion and style.
What is the process like of designing your collections for Debenhams?
It takes a long time, I go there at least three times a week. I’m always working with the Debenhams design team, we all sit there and come up with all the ideas, look at all the trends of the moment, predicting trends, and you know it’s real hard work – it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. I see every single button, every single fabric, every single colour! It drives me mad because there’s so much of it, but I keep my eye on the ball. We always try to offer the customers what they want.
What’s your hero piece for autumn/winter?
Well there’s a few actually, there’s a fabulous military coat which is bang on trend in Debenhams, we’ve got a selection of gorgeous, sumptuous body-hugging dresses which my customer always loves. We’ve got some fabulous prints as well, especially animal prints. The Star by Julian Macdonald woman loves a dangerous animal print, dangerous leopard, dangerous tiger. She wants to have fun, she wants to show off and she wants to forget about her problems and go out and hit the town.
What are your top trends for the forthcoming season?
There’s a lot of trends going on at the moment. Tjhere’s a geometric trend which is very graphic, bold and striking, obviously purple, red and blue are the fashion colours of the season. There’s lots of metallics, there’s lots of embroidery. There’s a bit of a selection for everybody. There’s a baroque-and-roll, a regal tendency which I’ve highlighted with my purple and black lace dress which features in the advert. So we’re bang on trend on the high street as well.
How are you enjoying Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model this time round?
Oh I hate it! No it’s been great, this has been the best season yet. We’ve got some fabulous judges this season. We’ve got the delicious, the gorgeous, the edible Tyson Beckford, the world’s biggest supermodel, the woman who has all Elle Macpherson and a fabulous young girl from the Sunshine state of California, Miss LA Whitney Port. So I think we’ve got a fabulous selection of A or even triple A-list judges on the show to rock the Britain and Ireland public.
Have you got any more plans to do more TV?
Well you might see my popping up in a few places. I’m always asked to do lots of little TV things. It’s nice for people like me, I can share my humour with the rest of Britain and Ireland and you know it’s fun. So you might see me popping up in a few unexpected places!
Diamond by Julien Macdonald Peplum Dress €186
Star by Julien Macdonald Military Coat €194
Star by Julien Macdonald Patent Tote €85
