Exclusive Interview With Fashion Designer Anya Hindmarch

In 1987, Anya, 19, started his own company and followed his handbag dream.

Nowadays, Anya Hindmarch has become a well-known handbag brand in Britain.

From an early maturing girl on the kitchen table of her own kitchen to one of the most popular designers in the fashion industry today, what is the magic weapon of success? Of course, it is inseparable from the heroic heart of her, Mrs. Thatcher.

Whenever we talk about fashion, it is easy to be superficial.

Our eyes rest on the smooth skin, shiny bags and shining shoes of beautiful men and women, but they never get to know the story behind their bright and gorgeous.

For Anya Hindmarch, it may be hard for you to imagine that helping her build up her brand is her political faith.

Today, she runs 54 shops all over the world, and the annual turnover of over 20 million pounds proves her success.

Recently, Anya Hindmarch won the women's Entrepreneur Award for the triumph of champagne.

The trophy was displayed on the side table of the front desk of her company's London headquarters (the building was rebuilt from the barn), and the Anya Hindmarch, the British Fashion Awards in 2001 and 2007, was also photographed in the studio for /Jason Bell, Glamour Magazine Awards and ELLE Fashion Awards.

I have known Anya Hindmarch for more than 10 years, but I have never been to her office before.

It's not big here. The walls are smooth white walls, with a musk in the galvanized flowerpot. The style is simple but full of quiet energy.

The constant knocking of the keyboard was interrupted by the occasional elegant voice.

The first time we met was in 2001, when she launched the "Be A Bag" activity (customers can customize personalized handbags with their private photos), and raised a lot of money for Lavender Trust breast cancer charity.

Since then, "Be A Bag" has benefited 31 charitable organizations worldwide.

Then, in response to world environmental day, she also designed a We Are What We Do with a "I am not a plastic bag" slogan canvas bag.

This handbag has been popular for a long time, not only successfully popularizing environmental awareness to consumers, but also surprisingly expanded its popularity worldwide.

Many people have heard the name of Anya Hindmarch for the first time through this canvas bag.

Anya Hindmarch is the trustee of the Royal College of Art and the London Museum of design, chairman of the British Fashion Council and the British trade ambassador.

Apart from these titles, Anya is the mother of five children. The youngest child is only 9 years old, the oldest 23 years old.

Everything explained in some way the symbol of "panic" behind her desk.

She is a woman of great ability.

But Hindmarch herself is not terrible - she has a pair of quiet blue eyes and an angel like golden hair in Botticelli's paintings.

Though wearing StellaMcCartney's silk shirt and Marni's wedge-shaped shoes, she gives off classical charm.

For the symbols on the wall, she explained, "this is to warn me and the team," business is dangerous, and things need discretion. "

Of course, this also implies the achievement of Anya, founded at the age of 19, after its start in 1987, and the hidden steel and firm heart under her beautiful appearance.

On the edge of the symbol, the letter that was mounted was also very harmonious. This is written by Mrs. Thatcher, who Hindmarch most admired, when she congratulated her on the medal of the British Empire in 2009.

There is a very distinctive feature: she is a staunch conservative.

This identity is rarely seen in fashion designers in the UK.

Apart from her, there are only Katharine Hamnett and VivienneWestwood who have obvious political beliefs. The two are Mrs. Thatcher's opponents.

Anya, on the contrary, once presented to Mrs. Thatcher a custom handbag, which reads, "from a person inspired by you."

Anya admits that this is "a bit old-fashioned".

But it also explains her joint efforts with British Prime Minister Cameron.

Dating back to 2008, when she took part in the donation of the conservative party, the black and white dance organized by her team made an unexpected success, making the image of the conservative party less calm and old-fashioned.

As early as the Cameron era, Anya Hindmarch established its political beliefs.

This is also the core of her identity as an entrepreneur.

In fact, she is "Thatcher's child".

In 1968, Anya Hindmarch was born in Essex, England.

She is the second child in the family.

Her grandfather died when her father was 16 years old. Then his father dropped out and started his own business from scratch.

"I come from a very strong family," she said. "A lucky family.

I witnessed my father working hard, developing his career and feeling all the hardships and hardships.

He does plastic business, and I think he is the one who invented plastic sprinklers.

My mother also helped him a lot.

On the day I was born, she tried to arrange for her father to make a list of deliveries with the intense contractions of her uterus.

Anya Hindmarch also has a preference for handbags from mother.

At the age of 16, her mother gave her a second-hand Gucci handbag.

"It's a small bag made of jacquard fabric and navy blue pigskin."

Anya cherished the Gucci handbag so far.

From this tiny totem, she realized the power of luxury: "a strong sense of ethnicity.

It's like saying, "I am me. This is what I represent."

It is telling people your preferences and can give you confidence. "

Ambitious and ambitious entrepreneurs are everywhere in her family - Anya's sister and brother run their own company, just like her father's sister.

"Life is three, three lives nine," she said with a smile.

If Anya's father has always been her mentor, Mrs Thatcher is a strong example.

"The reason why I am interested in politics, the reason why she is my hero, is because I grew up in 1970s, when there were only three working days a week, everything." she paused for a moment, issued a voice between sighing and complaining, and shrugged her shoulders.

The impact on Anya seems to have started in 1979. When the former came into power and promoted the spirit of success, "she was a pro businessman, and she gave everyone a chance.

I remember that when students went to lunch time to buy British Gas shares, the society advocated privatization, people scrambled to buy their own houses, owned your own shares, built their own lives, no longer cling to the annoying systems that control you, you belong to yourself - it's a very exciting, symbolic message of freedom.

At the age of 18, Anya finished high school and left school.

She suffers from dyslexia, and she has no enthusiasm for going to college or pursuing academic studies.

She chose to travel to Florence to study Italian and explore leather manufacturing.

There is something worth noticing in her: she set her goals in her youth.

At that time, she heard a speech by a woman who was engaged in brand management.

"I went back to my seat and drew a shop full of handbags. My name was on the sign.

I remember vividly that scene. I know what I want.

She said.

When I first arrived in Florence, Anya did not speak Italian.

While studying language, she toured the local leather market and found a leather backpack that she thought could be sold in the United Kingdom.

At the age of 20, she persuaded the famous British fashion magazine "Harpers&Queen" to put the bag in the reader's recommendation column, and managed to find a factory to take orders, earning a profit of 7000 pounds for her start-up handbag company.

"From 1987 to 1993, I was doing business on my own.

I worked on the kitchen table, and I had a very difficult time.

A friend and I live near Fulham street in London. It's hard to break the status quo.

Today, I see many people in the same stage as I was then, but most of them lost themselves at this point.

Later, I commissioned the factory in Italy to produce my design in batches and sell it at Harvey Nichols.

At the beginning, we could not grasp the exact number of production, but only 50 of this style, and 50 of that style.

Finally, I moved the production chain back to England to work with a group of handcraftsmen.

Some of them are still working for me.

She recalls.

If Thatcher doctrine is the support point of Anya Hindmarch's ambition, then the enthusiasm of the opponent's craft is also crucial.

These two points seem to be irrelevant (not everyone thinks Mrs. Thatcher is the Savior of the British manufacturing industry), but Hindmarch's long established custom business has proved her faith alive.

When it comes to those jewellers, bags, carpenters, and other highly skilled craftsmen who work for her, she is especially happy.

"To be honest, I would rather spend the whole night with master chef than fashion people at any time.

They are smart and modest, and you are amazed by their skills.

There is no doubt that celebrity endorsements also bring a lot of benefits to the brand. Claudia Schiffer is the advocate of the early Hindmarch brand, and of course Princess Diana. "She will suddenly appear in our first store on Wharton street and not a bodyguard.

She is very cute and low-key.

She used to take "the Anya Clutch" when she went out shopping, because it was good for her to maintain a modest image after getting off the bus.

Anya said.

The light of celebrities can not replace hard working attitude, which is also the key to brand success.

In the early days of Anya, the process of starting her own business was, in her own words, "the baptism of fire".

This is very important for her to understand every aspect of business.

"I take orders, do research, develop products, from delivery, production, public relations to packaging, all by my own hands.

To be honest, the process is very difficult.

Now I pack and pack faster than anyone else in this office. "

In the chaotic days of the year, Anya, 25, was pushed into another family -- she met James Seymour, a man who worked for 12 years and a single father with three children under 4 years old.

"I knew he was going to marry him when I saw him," she said.

Anya and Seymour work together but still maintain harmony.

Since his wife's first son, Seymour has assumed the position of chief financial officer of the company.

"We spent the whole night together in bed, driving to work every day, sitting in the same office all day.

Maybe I move upstairs and it's a relief for him. "

Anya laughed.

Last year, the company reorganized its brand. Anya appointed James Mcarthur as chief executive in the capacity of brand chairman and creative director. Mcarthur worked in Balenciaga and promoted the rapid development of the brand.

He is very optimistic about the future of the company.

He said: "Anya is an outstanding talent in the fashion circle with excellent creative talents and keen business sense.

With this ability, she has maintained high returns over the past 25 years.

Companies do not need to undergo painful reforms.

You are faced with an unquestionable winner. "

His remarks were endorsed by others in the industry.

Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet has witnessed the increasing sales of Hindmarch handbags on its online shopping website. She claims that Anya's design is always on the list of women's favorite hot items.

AlexandraShulman, editor of the British edition of Vogue, said: "Hindmarch can have a highly loyal customer base because, first, the brand has very distinct characteristics. Second, they agree with Anya themselves."

As a practical school, Anya still has mixed feelings for the future.

Surviving in several storms of recession, and relying on durable design to promote sales, she has gradually learned to strike a delicate balance between the eye catching novelty and the classic style.

Perhaps because of this, when I assume that she was invited to prime minister Cameron's family dinner, she quickly replied, "no, never.

If you ask me if I know them, I have seen them, yes.

But I am not on the list of dinner guests, nor am I at the core.

If you ask me if they are doing a good thing, yes, I totally agree, although no government is perfect. If I am annoyed about something and I am not satisfied with the labor law, I will give it up.

This is my duty as a trade ambassador: to give honest feedback to the government.

Her voice suddenly became firm.

She said, "so let's go back to the topic of handbags."

Does she look scary? No, but she doesn't beat around the bush.