Lucinda Chambers
Living Life In Colour...
Living life in colour, embracing ageing and being unafraid of change. No wonder Lucinda Chambers is both a mentor and muse to women of all generations.
After 35 years working at British Vogue, largely as the title's Fashion Director, Lucinda faced the abrupt end to her Condé Nast career with grace and gusto. Enter a colourful new chapter with Collagerie and Colville - an exciting era of democratic fashion, curating without constraint and mixing high and low with a signature splash of colour, print and whimsical fun.
Known and loved for some of the most iconic fashion shoots of all time and for working with (and often discovering) the photographers, supermodels and celebrities of the day, Lucinda remains unaffected and true to the creative curiosity that is part of her DNA.
Arriving at British Vogue after art school (and a lot of creative crafting during her London upbringing with her industrious and inspiring mother), Lucinda knew nobody. A chance phone call with the head of HR made way for a role as secretary and a heady rise to one of the most influential voices in fashion globally. But in perhaps her biggest move yet, Lucinda becomes an entrepreneur in the fashion and tech worlds in her 50s.
"Leaving a job you love is never easy" reflects Lucinda. "And yet it has given me the incredible opportunity to start new things. Which can be very frightening, I understand that. But I never was. When you have ideas you just want to do them, you put one foot in front of the other and weirdly things happen."
Here we chat with Lucinda about careers, crossroads and change; about her compulsion to create and to collect; how she unwinds, her glorious gardens in London and France, and why she's happier in her early 60s than ever before...
Lucinda Chambers and The Art Shop at Collagerie.
Please tell us a little about your upbringing and early aspirations - where you lived, what you loved and what you wanted to be...
I grew up in London, we moved 17 times before I was 18, but only around page 58 of the A to Z! Walking distance to Harrods and The Brompton Oratory. My mother was brilliant at doing flats and houses up, wallpapering and painting herself, building walls etc. As soon as it was finished we moved on. We used to go to Harrods to have a look and try on all the clothes, my mother always had a tape measure in her pocket (I have adopted that habit) and we would measure up, buy some fabric and copy them at home. I still have my sewing machine and I love painting and decorating so I think that was from very early childhood, the passion of transformation. And the love of decoration.
Tell us about your first job at Vogue, how old were you and how did it come about?
I was about 18 when I applied to Vogue for a job. I had been to art college and was making jewellery out of Perspex from my bedroom when a pair of earrings found their way into a magazine. I couldn’t believe it. I felt it was magical, that something I had held was now on a model. It felt impossible. So from then on I was determined to find out what that process was and if I could be a part of it. I did various jobs, working in Topshop, and making clothes for a theatre company and then one day I thought I would just call Vogue. I was lucky, my call was picked up by head of HR, her assistant was ill that day. I started as a secretary and worked my way up…it took a while!
What are some of your career highlights from your incredible tenure at Vogue and consulting with fashion brands like Marni?
I think every shoot I have ever done and do has a highlight. It’s about the people and collaboration and when you put a shoot together with people you really admire and like, something happens. It’s magical. And the energy of being around creatives, taking your idea and making it a reality and often something better, something unexpected, it’s something I never take for granted, even though it's something like over 4,000 shoots, each one stands out and counts. I think when something stands out it's probably about the people…and also the place. Travelling is an incredible privilege and one used to travel for a lot longer and to very inaccessible places, it was all part of the adventure. Ladakh in India, with Cindy Crawford, staying in tents for two weeks and driving through the Himalayas was pretty fantastic! But also shooting Taylor Swift who came with one person who then left, who let us transform her into quite a toughie, she was incredibly trusting and easy, a beautiful person inside and out. Pharrell Williams was like that too. Just supremely intelligent and in his own skin.
Lucinda Chambers at home in West London. Rachael Smith
“The best advice I can think of (when navigating a big change) is if you think of it as a huge and daunting idea, it’s overwhelming. But if you just think of the next right step, things will come together, and the steps can be small, as small as anything…but they will add up...”
When you left Vogue abruptly in 2017 it made many of us reel as your name was synonymous with Vogue so we can only imagine how that felt for you?
