A biography for Dawn O'Porterhasn’t been written yet.
“If I buy anything for personal use or for BOB that has even the slightest hint of moth damage, I put it straight into the freezer for a few days. This might sound odd, but its the best and most efficient way to kill moth eggs.”
“I've always had this 'carve out your own existence' attitude and I'm always encouraging other people to do this, if they can. Of course not everyone has the choice. I've been lucky.”
“A lot of sites offer free postage over a certain amount and are pretty cool with you sending stuff back, if you do it within a particular time frame. However, occasionally some sites don't accept returns on vintage items, so make sure you know that before you spend your cash.”
“I live in 50s/60s/70s sundresses with cardigans.”
“I used to hide behind doors pretending to be a mouse listening to the grown up's conversations. I always wanted to hear them plotting peoples deaths so I could dob them in to the police. unfortunately there were no murderers in my family.”
“I think that's what vintage offers people - there's no point in trying to follow fashion if you're trying to do vintage.”
“There's a lot of criticism of brands getting involved with political messages, people sometimes don't like that, but I think it's really important. They have massive audiences and they have a huge reach.”
“I love designers sketches, they're like poetry. A vision of an idea intended to make someone feel wonderful.”
“I guess I want men to understand how hard it is to be a woman.”
“When you're writing in first person, like I do, you can't give a fluffy version of someone's thoughts because even the most prudish woman in her head will go to dark places, whether she says it out loud, you can still have these kind of thoughts.”
“I love the charm of fashion from the past, I love how the clothes were revolutionary and how they changed the way that women lived their lives.”
“The older I get, the less I care, but when I was a teenager and throughout my 20s being liked was very important - exhaustingly so.”
“I do think a lot of brands shy away from politics, and that's a shame. I want BOB to be political, despite us being a small independent company.”
“We exist in a media that's obsessed with feminism, but as soon as there's an opportunity to bring down a woman at the top, we'll do it.”
“Selecting what gets sold in smaller shops and online is a long and artful process, it takes precision and care. The people who stock the successful vintage shops are great buyers, and you pay for their skill as well as the quality level at which they sell their clothes.”
“I write well in LA, because the pressure is off and I'm surrounded by ambitious people who are really encouraging.”
“I recently discovered that Karl Lagerfeld sketches every single design in the Chanel collections. This made me so happy. I know it seems obvious, that the head of a fashion house such as Chanel would do this, but it isn't always the way.”
“Chuck away all of those unsightly wire hangers that damage your clothes, and invest in some thicker wooden ones and some padded fabric ones for your more delicate pieces.”
“It's amazing to think that every item of clothing we wear began as an idea in somebodies head. Whether it's a designer dress or a cheap remake, someone somewhere had an idea and brought it to life.”
“When you lose your parents when you're a kid, you kind of get this freedom and sense of independence way younger. And obviously I wish my mum had never died but I like the way my life turned out because of who that turned me into.”