‘A bespoke suit can last 200 years’. Old school style is back in fashion, says Susan Bender Whitfield.
As a Creative Director and Stylist, Susan’s client list is as long as a length of fabric, but it was her very first job – a shoot for Harper’s Bazaar in Paris – that gave Susan her extraordinary start in the industry. ‘I spoke French and was known at my drama school for fashion, shopping and everything vintage’, she says breezily, as if this explains the remarkable overachievement. When others her age would have been making cups of tea, Susan was borrowing couture looks from all the big houses and slipping them on and off models in record time, to be returned within the tiny window they were signed off for. ‘It was a military operation’, she says. And successful too. ‘My agent said you have to choose whether you’re an actress, or you want to work in fashion’, and she hasn’t looked back.
Despite being ‘the only creative, crazy one in the family’, she credits her parents with cultivating her artistic flair. ‘My father would take us out every weekend. We lived in Willesden Green at the time, and he'd make us walk to the Natural History Museum or the V&A. He’d just give us free rein and say, ‘go and discover’, and when we’d ask him about things he would say, ‘well read what it says’. So he gave us a desire to learn, a desire for knowledge, but it was very much creative’. Her mother, meanwhile, was a cinephile. ‘With her, I woke up very early in the morning and watched all the black and white movies that used to be on. So that’s where I think I got my eye for mise-en-scène.’
I ask Susan about career highlights and she takes a long pause. I love the way she really considers her answers, not as a mask for self-editing, but because she wants to choose the right word that perfectly fits the narrative. It’s all in the details. ‘One was designing a dress for Baroness Amos, when she was appointed to the Order of the Garter by the Queen. That for me was seminal, because she’s the first black person to be invited. It’s a moment that will go down in history. For me, it was a real career ‘wow’ moment.’
It seems that Susan’s CV is peppered with ‘wow’ moments. But what I am most interested in is her dogged determination to turn a notoriously un-environmentally friendly industry into a more sustainable version of itself.
‘I actually think sustainable isn’t the right word to use, because there’s a lot of greenwashing going on. Most brands now use the term ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance. It’s a more in-depth way of looking at sustainability and I think if you’re a brand, starting now, you should be circular. And if you’re not, I doubt I’ll ever work with you.’
I wonder if this ‘going beyond sustainability’ model is possible, and she reminds me how fashion started in the first place. ‘Bespoke tailoring is one of the most sustainable business models out there. They only use small runs of fabric from small mills, they only create that one suit or piece or coat for you. When a piece is made for you, I think it suits you differently and subconsciously, you’re more invested in it. You’ve invested a lot of money, number one, and number two,it’s not a throwaway item so you’ll wear it time and time again. A bespoke suit can last 200 years. From the quality of the fabrics to the way they’re looked after. I have many friends that are wearing their great-grandparents’ clothing that’s been repaired by the same tailor, or the same house that made that original suit or coat. And that’s the model we should be using. It’s where fashion was 100 years ago’.
Susan herself is paying it forward, and has been busy launching an online platform for young trailblazers. ‘We want to help them work with bigger brands. It’s all about the cross-pollination of my knowledge and their creativity.’ With a packed out schedule which includes designing the costumes for an upcoming film and TV series, along with a script of her own to finish (‘it’s about fashion, that’s all I can say’), 2024 is set to be a big year for the irrepressible creative.
January, 2024
