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Lucinda Chambers
Lucinda Chambers is aged 59 and was born in 1959 in Notting Hill, west London, England. (fashion telegraph diigo) She embraces her long grey hair, eccentric style and streetwear look. Her bold style choices and confident persona has made her one of the most respected figures of fashion in the UK. With her refreshing view on fashion photography, trends and style. (ref) Not only is she stylish but she is also known as The Queen of Cosy because of her love for comfort. Her other Nicknames include the Casa Crow or the Crowtel which relate to her marriage name Crow and her comfortable and warm persona.

Chambers attended Hornsey College of Art alongside her mother, Anne Crow. She began her career here selling handmade jewellery on Portobello Market, alongside her studies. Chambers then went on to become Grace Coddingtons assistant at British Vogue, followed by Fashion Director, before leaving British Vogue in 2017. Chambers then went on to consult for Marni and Prada before becoming Co-founder of Colville clothing. Her controversial end at British Vogue has sparked much criticism from members of the fashion industry, deeming her unprofessional. Many other figures have idolised her accepting reaction from being dismissed by Edward Enninful, current editor of British Vogue.

Family
Her mother, Anne Crow was the first person to influence her interest in fashion. As a working-class family, they could not afford designer clothes. Her mother would take inspiration bigger labels and create her own pieces with sewing and fabrics. This encouraged Lucinda to be bold with her clothing choices and led her into the world of fashion.

She has three children with her current husband Simon Crow, Toby Knott, Gabriel Crow and Theo Crow. As well as a sister who is 10 years older than her and a brother, Rourden whom is 18 months older than her.

Early Life
The Chambers didn’t have much money, but Lucinda remembers going to Harrods and trying everything on and her mother would measure all the clothes then go home and make a very similar piece of clothing. Lucinda Chambers was brought up by her mother Anne Crow who was unemployed but used her creativity to get the two by. Lucinda’s childhood with her brother was very creative. They would make clothes for their toys together and make theatres out of cornflakes packets. Lucinda says "My brother loved that as well. He could sew. My brother could do embroideries that were just sensational, like petit point." Lucinda Chambers' mother also did the odd creative jobs for extra income. "Come June she would make all the school uniforms for the local school Flanker house, which has those blue cloaks with Wee Willi Winkie hats," Lucinda remembers fondly. "I would sew on all the buttons and the whole house was covered in blue felt." Anne would also buy houses and redecorate them for a living, which was the only way the family had income. Chambers says that because of this she doesn’t like to move to a new house. As children, her and her siblings moved mainly around Knightsbridge and South Kensington.

Her father was present and was employed in advertising but left by the time Chambers planned to go to university. Lucinda was unable to go to her college of choice as her father was the only family member whom made a continuous income. This led to Chambers going to art school as she would have been able to get a grant. She began her studies in Hornsey College of Art where she realised her interest was with fashion rather than art.

Personal Life
Lucinda has three children; Toby Knott is her eldest child of 31 who she has with her relationship with Kim Knott. Her other two children, were had with her husband Simon Crow who is a Radio Producer. Their names are Theo (19 years of age) and Gabriel (14 years of age). Chambers has taken after her mother by redecorating her flat and selling it on to be able to buy her family home in Shepherds Bush with Simon. (fashion telegraph) Although she does have a home away from home in a very remote area of southwest France where she retreats by relaxing and cooking.

Chambers travels a lot with her brand and claims to be an absent parent. As the Co-founder of Colville, she travels to many fashion hot-spots such as New York, London, Milan, Copenhagen and Paris and claims to shop around with hotels. She enjoys visiting restaurants and has previously dined in Robert et Louise in Paris and The Wolseley in London, where many of her family celebrations take place. Chambers also visits Laylow in Notting Hill if she is looking to dine with friends.

Another hobby of hers is visiting markets, her favourites in the UK being ‘Kempton’, Chiswick Car Boot Sale, Portobello Market, Myriad, Golborne Road. She collects home pieces such as rugs, pottery and lamps to add to her extensive collection in her colourful Shephard Bush home.

Grace Coddingtons assistant
Before becoming Grace Coddingtons assistant, Chambers had the job of printing out petty cash receipts. She got to this stage after a pair of her handmade earrings appeared in Vogue. Chambers then decided she wanted to work at Vogue, which led her to calling them. Shortly after working their she was offered the job of becoming the assistant of Grace Coddington who was the fashion director at the time. Chambers also worked on the beauty pages within Vogue along with Felicity Clark which then introduced her to other opportunities within the industry.

Fashion Director of British Vogue
Chambers was asked to be Fashion Director of British Elle after their first launch. Shortly after this she was made the Fashion Editor of British Vogue alongside Liz Tilberis. This was all before becoming the Fashion Director of Vogue in 1992, when Alexandra Shulman was editor. Their relationship was good and their work together was deemed successful.

At the beginning of her career, Chambers made a trip to Ladakh in northern India along with Cindy Crawford and Patrick Demarchelier. They slept in tents and did not wash for 10 days next to the Himalayas. This was a key point in her career and enabled her promotion onto Fashion Director at British Vogue.

Consultant at Marni: While consulting at Marni, Chambers worked with designer, Paulo Melim Anderson whom she was very fond of. Andersson was described as ‘challenging but highly intelligent’ by Chambers. They worked together for seven years before Paulo was let go by Marni which Chambers found very unfair. Chambers has voiced this in many interviews alongside her other conflicting opinions.

Lucinda Described the company as authentic considering the company did not advertise but only used the catwalk to show their creations. The company prides itself for not sticking to trends and making their pieces timeless and empowering. Marni was a diverse company, tending to different genders and nationalities. Chambers stopped identifying with the company when it was sold to Renzo Rosso who did not keep up the reputation that Marni had gained.

Co-Founder of Colville
After leaving vogue chambers launched her own clothing line Colville, with Kristin Forss and Molly Molloy. They named it after a street in west London that David Hockney often visited in 1970, directly relating to the labels culturally informed aesthetic. “colour texture and longevity”, are the foundations that they build their company on. Colville is described to be the “antithesis of fast fashion”.

Teaching
In 2018 Lucinda collaborated with the Business of Fashion to create an online course. The course focuses on the concept of fashion styling, based on her past career as a Fashion Director. Lucinda took the opportunity to create the course as a way of continuing to impact the fashion Industry in the positive way she wants to. The business of fashion is an online website that strives to inspire young people and those wanting to enter the industry. Lucinda’s course is an extension of this, and it is giving her the ability to reach the future of fashion and guide their skills and passions in the right direction. She is able to show the students that the authenticity of fashion is more about self-expression and being at ease with who you are, this being key in creating successful and capturing imagery.

Metoo
Chambers has shown to be a supporter in recent months for the #metoo movement that arose in 2017. The #metoo movement was founded to support those impacted by sexual assault across the world. A key moment in Fashion was in 2018 when the photographers Mario Testino and Bruce Weber were accused of sexual misconduct allegations. Being a Fashion Director, Lucinda has worked with a variety for photographers and models in the environment the allegations stemmed from. Chambers was actively present in expressing her views on the issue whereby she stated that she believes ‘what happened had to happen’ so that younger aspiring photographers could enter the industry and change the ways within it.

Style
Across the 30 years of her career, a key element that gave Lucinda her unique flare as an individual in the industry is her style. When asked to work with Mario testino as a model in her youth It was her aura and style that caught his eye. He has in the past explained ‘One day I was on the top deck of a bus going down Regent Street when I saw a girl who had quite a particular, almost freaky look with shocking bleached blonde hair. It was a particularly arresting vision’. Her garish and different approach to fashion is what developed her reputation and gave her an understanding of creating creative and unique imagery and shoots for the companies she has worked for.

Lucinda would always look to create eccentric pieces that enhanced her personality and enabled her to be of full expression. Even today, aged 60, her wardrobe is full of rainbow colours of pink, orange, red, yellow, and very little black. Lucinda’s inspiration for her style and work has been able to come from anywhere. She has explained the stories of her shoots come from more of a mood and atmosphere than the fashion pieces themselves. The consistency of her style throughout her life and work highlights how authentic she is as an individual and a member of the industry, it is a key factor in what has brought her to where today and the strong impact she has been able to have on society.