Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top London based Director operating in the Fashion space. If you think a Director is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Priya Souza
Senior Director Global Communications of Adidas
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About Adidas: Adidas is a global sports brand that manufactures apparel, accessories, and footwear for professional athletes involved in various sports.
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Carla Buzasi
Managing Director of WGSN.com
Carla Buzasi was the founding editor of The Huffington Post UK. During her time at the publication, she saw it grow to 24.4 million global unique users per month, and attract more than 10,000 bloggers, including the likes of David Beckham, Cherie Blair and HRH the Prince of Wales. She also held the role of Vice President and Global Editorial Director of Huffington Post Lifestyle. Carla was awarded the Media Innovator of the Year award in 2012 and has won Editor of the Year at the Online Media Awards for the past two years. She was also named as one of the top 50 female Innovators in Digital Journalism in 2013. In the summer of 2014 she left Huffington Post to take on the new role of Global Chief Content Officer at trends and intelligence company WGSN, leading an international team of journalists, trend forecasters and designers. In addition to her day job, she is a regular commentator on the media, appearing on Newsnight, The Andrew Marr Show, Daily Politics, Sky News and Lorraine.
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About WGSN.com: WGSN a B2B, world-wide information source for the design, textile and style industries.
Tom Seymour
Global Sr Creative Director of Nike
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About Nike: Nike designs, develops, and markets footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessory products.
Glen Walker
Co-Founder & Director of Trouva
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About Trouva: Trouva, the online destination for unique products from the best curators around the world
Lucy Ward
Creative Brand Director of Trouva
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About Trouva: Trouva, the online destination for unique products from the best curators around the world
Michael Ward
Managing Director of Harrods
Michael began his career in chartered accountancy, training originally with Ernst and Young in 1980, before taking his first Group Finance Director position at Bassett Foods PLC in 1986 gaining an MBA during this time. In 1989 he transferred his skills to the drinks industry when he was appointed Group Finance Director of H.P. Bulmer Holdings PLC. Retail beckoned, and in 1994 Michael took up the post of Managing Director of Lloyds Chemists PLC, later cementing a talent for the sector with retail roles at Celsio AG and Apax Partnership. It was in 2005 that the opportunity came to take up his current role of Managing Director at Harrods Ltd. Michael has embarked on a programme of significant business development, growing Harrods into the unrivalled successful retail model it is today, while overseeing a smooth transition to new owners in Qatar Holding. Michael was born in 1956 in Kingston upon Hull. He is married with three children, and away from the shop floor is an expert cook, while indulging a passion for collecting art and art deco glass.
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About Harrods: Harrods is an upmarket department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London.
Simon Finch
Director of Distribution of Harrods
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About Harrods: Harrods is an upmarket department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London.
George Livingston
Director of Data Infrastructure of Farfetch
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About Farfetch: Farfetch is an online luxury fashion retail platform.
Henry Graham
Creative Director & Co-Founder of Wolf & Badger
Henry Graham is Creative Director & Co-Founder @ Wolf & Badger.
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About Wolf & Badger: Wolf & Badger is a multi-channel retail platform for the finest independent, ethical and unique brands from around the globe.
Bridget Mills-Powell
Content Director of Lyst
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About Lyst: Lyst is a global fashion search platform that allows users to browse through thousands of online fashion stores.
Stéphane Moracchini
Director of Engineering Retail Checkout / Engineering Manager of Lyst
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About Lyst: Lyst is a global fashion search platform that allows users to browse through thousands of online fashion stores.
Rhodri Evans
Brand Content Director – Europe of Levi Strauss & Co.
Rhodri Evans is a Brand Content Director – Europe at Levi Strauss & Co.
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About Levi Strauss & Co.: Levi Strauss & Co. is a brand-name apparel company designs, markets, and sells jeans, casual and dress pants, jackets, skirts, and more.
Elen Barnes
Marketing & Communications Director of TAG Heuer
Elen Barnes is the Marketing & Communications Director at TAG Heuer.
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About TAG Heuer: TAGHeuer is a manufacturing company that designs and markets luxury watches and related fashion accessories.
James Carter
Finance Director of Thread
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About Thread: Thread operates as an online personal styling platform designed to help men find clothes.
Shaunie Brett
Style Director of Thread
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About Thread: Thread operates as an online personal styling platform designed to help men find clothes.
Christian Woolfenden
Managing Director of Photobox
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About Photobox: PhotoBox is Europe’s leading community for sharing, printing and personal publishing with over 30 million members.
Michael Kraftman
Non Executive Director of My 1st Years
Michael Kraftman is an Executive Director at My 1st Years.
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About My 1st Years: My 1st Years offers personalised gifts for babies and children.
Kim Ludlow
Managing Director of mySupermarket
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About mySupermarket: mySupermarket designs a supermarket shopping and comparison website that helps users to compare prices across different stores.
Alexandra Hoffnung
Creative Director, Social Commerce of Net-a-porter.com
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About Net-a-porter.com: Net-a-porter.com is an online luxury fashion retailer.
Filipa Neto
Co-Founder and Managing Director of Chic by Choice
Filipa Neto is co-founder and CEO of Chic by Choice, Europe’s leading luxury rental marketplace allowing women to rent the world’s best items sourced from brands and e-commerce platforms at a fraction of the retail price. Chic by Choice provides retailers a yield management solution that can help manage excessive stock in a clever way, providing an alternative that can generate up to 5 times more revenue than discounting or outlets. Filipa was able to raise €520k investment for the venture at the age of 23. The success of Chic by Choice later led to another €1.5m of investment to continue to grow the company in the UK and Germany. In July 2015, the company acquired Laremia, a German dress rental competitor, which already represents 20% of the company’s revenue. In little more than a year, Chic by Choice is established as the leading dress rental platform shipping to more than 15 countries in Europe and with outstanding month on month growth. Filipa currently manages a team of 16 with offices in London and Lisbon and she is also part of the Global Shapers community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum a network developed and led by young people who are exceptional in their potential, their achievements and their drive to make a contribution to their communities.
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About Chic by Choice, Farfetch, The World Economic Forum: Hire designer dresses curated by boutiques and department stores.
Tom Singh
Founder & Non-Executive Director of New Look
Tom Singh OBE is the Founder of New Look, a leading UK entrepreneur and active private investor with family interests spanning: retail, technology, real estate, renewable energy sectors and private equity. He currently holds the position of Non-Executive Board Member for New Look with over 900 stores worldwide which he founded in 1969. In addition to his responsibilities at New Look, Tom is a founding member of: the Social Investment Task Force, the Chairman of the UK Advisory Council for the British Asian Trust, and is a Trustee of the Pakhar Foundation. Tom is an active philanthropist and social investor and in recent years, has taken an increasing interest in the world of technology.
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About New Look: New Look is a retail seller of mens and womens clothing.
Riz Smith
Co-Founder and Creative Director of Riz Boardshorts
Riz Smith is the co-founder and creative director at Riz. He is also a design tutor at Central Saint Martins. Riz is a former associate lecturer at London College of Fashion.
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About Riz Boardshorts: Riz Boardshorts designs and produces sustainable boardshorts and swim shorts for men.
Alistair Murrell
Co-Founder and Director of Riz Boardshorts
Alistair Murrell is the co-founder and director at Riz Boardshorts. Prior to co-founding Riz, Alistair worked at Cairn Capital and JP Morgan.
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About Riz Boardshorts: Riz Boardshorts designs and produces sustainable boardshorts and swim shorts for men.
Joanna Przetakiewicz
Founder & Creative Director of La Mania
Joanna Przetakiewicz is a Founder, Creative Director, and Owner at La Mania.
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About La Mania: La Mania is a leading fashion brand in Poland, which is developing towards the European markets of luxury goods.
Cheryl Coucher
Buying Director of navabi
Cheryl Coucher is Buying Director at navabi.
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About navabi: navabi is the premier destination for plus size fashion worldwide.
Kate Jackson
Co-Founder & Director of silkfred
Kate Jackson is a Co-Founder at silkfred.
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About silkfred, TableCrowd, We Are In The Loop: SilkFred is a luxury retail platform that helps independent brands and emerging designers get their products to market.
Stefan Michalak
Founder, Creative Director of Wantfeed
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About Wantfeed: Wantfeed lets you store and curate things from around the web into your own personal wantlist.
Cenk Dumlupinar
Director of Fiver London Ltd
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About Fiver London Ltd: Pure play fast fashion D2C
Susanna MacInnes
Director of BRANDALLEY
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About : BRANDALLEY is an online retair of fashion, home and beauty products
Susanna MacInnes
Director of BRANDALLEY
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About : BRANDALLEY is an online retair of fashion, home and beauty products
Amanda Langford
Founder Director of Blue Badge Style
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About Blue Badge Style: Blue Badge Style provides a retail merchandising system offering style guides for less physically-abled users.
James Scott
Marketing Director of Koy Clothing
KOY Clothing is run by two brothers, Alastair & Jimmy Scott. We were raised in Africa and now have an ambition to help support the deprived communities of Kenya through luxury fashion. Growing up in East Africa and going to school in the UK put us in a unique position to incorporate both worlds and help support the country we grew up in and love so much. Surrounded by beautiful landscapes, fascinating cultures and the stunning fabrics used by the Kenyan people, put together with the UK’s quintessential fashions and lifestyles, inspired us to combine authentic African fabric with luxury lifestyle, and give back to Kenya in the process. Since the official launch of KOY Clothing in December 2016, we have learned so much, and with greater knowledge, comes greater responsibility. The more we learned about cultural influences in fashion, we realised that many brands around the world use cultural inspirations within their designs. Sadly, not all of those brands give recognition to the cultures which inspired them. This was a chance for us to try and change this mindset and demonstrate to others the value of cultural inspiration. We do this by giving 5% of every purchase to projects within the communities of Kenya that our products are inspired by.
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About Koy Clothing: Koy is an African inspired clothing brand.
Katie Baron
Director of Brand Engagement (Trends, Insights & Innovation) of Stylus Media
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About British Fashion Council, Forbes, Laurence King Publishing, Luxure Magazine, Stylus Media: Stylus is a trends intelligence service. We deliver insights that businesses need to make transformative business decisions.
Tessa Weale
Creative Director of Archie Foal
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About Archie Foal: Archie Foal is a British luxury brand which sells clothing and accessories.
Karen Ng
Co-Founder and Director of Carnaby Fair
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About Carnaby Fair: Carnaby Fair produces exclusive hat wear collections.
Dumi Oburota
Founder & Director of Disturbing London
Founder and Managing Director of Disturbing London an entertainment and lifestyle company, which in addition to artist management, has a record label and fashion brand of the same name.
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About Disturbing London: Disturbing London is an entertainment company.
Sean Dixon
Managing Director/Founder of Richard James Savile Row
Sean Dixon is MD of the high-end menswear retailer Richard James which he co-founded with his business partner Richard James in 1992. The business started with the aim to bring more modern styles to Savile Row and attract younger customers. The firm does make traditional sharply tailored suits, but is also known for its ready to wear collection, bolder prints and modern colours. www.richard-james.com
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About Richard James Savile Row: Richard James Savile Row is a contemporary Savile Row house that pushes the boundaries of menswear through colour, cut and design.
Clara Mercer
Communications Director of British Fashion Council
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About British Fashion Council, British Fashion Council: The British Fashion Council (BFC) is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to further the interests of the British fashion industry.
Matt Brown
Founder and Creative Director of Double Visión
Creative Director and Entrepreneur
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About Double Visión: Fashion brand
Emma Brannan
Managing Director of Jojo Maman Bebe
Emma Brannan is a marketing director at JoJo Maman Bebe. She is a former marketing manager at Grolier UK.
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About Jojo Maman Bebe: Jojo Maman Bebe is an independent multi-channel retailer of maternity wear, babywear, and nursery products.
Max Leese
Director and Co-Founder of Frescobol Carioca
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About Frescobol Carioca: Luxury mens swimwear.
Harry Brantly
Director of Frescobol Carioca
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About Frescobol Carioca: Luxury mens swimwear.
Will Chapman
Creative Director and Co-Founder of Roarsome
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About Roarsome: Animal-themed kids clothing for epic outdoor adventures, whatever the weather.
Bhavin Patel
Group Omnichannel Director – Ecommerce, CRM and Digital Marketing of Kanmo Retail Group
Bhavin Patel is Group Omnichannel Director at Kanmo Retail Group. His responsibility is to help inject innovation and digital strategy into the business leading Ecommerce, Omnichannel, Digital Marketing and CRM.
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About Kanmo Retail Group: The Group’s has interests across Asia in industry, trading, real estate and financial markets.
Sophia Webster
Founder & Creative Director of Sophia Webster
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About Sophia Webster: Sophia Webster is a British accessories designer and Flamingo enthusiast.
Ian Thompson
Operations Director of Blue Studio Trading
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About Blue Studio Trading: Blue Studio Trading is a supplier of mannequins, bust forms, and visual merchandising displays for fashion designers and retailers.
Natasha Kelly
Director, Co-Founder of Tiosk
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About Tiosk: Tiosk is a contemporary tea brand specialising in premium tea-based drinks.
Olivia Cantillon
Co-Founder & Creative Director of Own The Look
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About Own The Look: It is an online global womenswear store focusing on outfit dressing for the everyday woman.
Elena Corchero
Founder & Director of Lost Values
Elena is a former Research Associate on wearables at MIT MLE and Alumni of the Material Futures MA at Central Saint Martins in London. Her work brings science closer to people through the development of lifestyle consumer products using smart materials. “I use every day products as a vehicle to influence and empower smart consumerism. We are surrounded by intelligent devices yet being smart must also reflect being socially and environmentally committed. Innovation should not only be measured by the quality of our means but most importantly the real meaning behind what we create and consume” She presented her research at the MIT Technology Review Emerging Technologies Conference last October and became UK’s top 3 innovators of the year women in tech as well as 2n’d most disruptive business by Prince Andrew initiative Pitch@Palace. She has also recently been appointed as Director of Design Research at Room One Labs to define and explore the intersections between connected objects and virtual environments.
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About Lost Values: LOST VALUES is a Research Studio based in London.
Ruth Nicholls
Director Of Operations of Churchill Gowns
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About Churchill Gowns: Churchill Gowns is a supplier and a manufacturer of graduation products in universities.
Simon Calvert
Trading Director of Bonmarche
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About Bonmarche: Bon Marche is a nationwide retailer specializing in value-for-money clothing for women aged 45 and over.
Catarina Pinto Castro
Founder and Director of Benedita
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About Benedita: Benedita is a luxury kids fashion brand.
Oliver Proudlock
Creative/Managing Director of Serge DeNimes
Oliver Proudlock has had a strong creative instinct from a very young age. Focusing on Art and Fashion, creativity is something that is incorporated into his everyday life, and has become part of the fabric that intertwines his projects together. Oliver founded the unisex fashion label Serge DeNimes in 2011. It is a design-led brand providing exclusive seasonal collections of urban apparel and accessories, which embody urban culture and artistic flair. Their innovative designs appeal to the young creative culture, the street savvy and the fashion inspired around the world. Alongside growing his own label, Oliver launched his own style blog called Proudlock Style. His blog gives readers an insight into his own personal style and his favourite brands, whilst working alongside other stylists and influential men with a strong sense of fashion. Whilst developing his relationship with fashion brands across the world, Oliver also has a keen interest in fitness and travel, which play a key role in his day to day life.
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About Serge DeNimes: Serge DeNimes is a contemporary, relevant and multi-faceted Brand, comprising a high-quality, urban, on-trend fashion label.
Nadia Alam
Director of Showcase Group
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About Showcase Group: Showcase Group is a fashion and apparel company that offers access to discounted designer items to its members.
Stacy Chan
Founder & Creative Director of Stacy Chan London
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About Stacy Chan London: Founded in 2013, the Stacy Chan brand takes unique, minimalist construction as a starting point for luxury fashion.
Jill Little
Director of Houseology
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About : Houseology.com – the UKs premier online interior design store
Jill Little
Director of Houseology
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About : Houseology.com – the UKs premier online interior design store
Holly Fulton
Director of Holly Fulton
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About Holly Fulton: Holly Fulton is a contemporary high end womenswear label, focused on presenting a total look to consumers and buyers.
Holly Fulton
Director of Holly Fulton
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About Holly Fulton: Holly Fulton is a contemporary high end womenswear label, focused on presenting a total look to consumers and buyers.
Samantha Cameron
Creative Director and Founder of Cefinn
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About Cefinn: Cefinn is Contemporary designer womenswear by Samantha Cameron
Rob Wilks
Founder & Director of The Talent Base
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About The Talent Base: Online Curated Talent Marketplace – Consumer Goods Industry
Sadie Clayton
Founder & Creative Director of Sadie Clayton
Sadie Clayton is a luxury sculptural womenswear label launched in 2015. Sadie graduated from Kingston University in 2013 and has shown on the catwalk in London and Berlin, and exhibited as part of the Nick Waplington / Alexander McQueen: Working Process exhibition at Tate Britain, demonstrated her work on several occasions at Tate Modern most recently as part of Late at the Tate’ in October 2016 when 600 people tried on Sadie’s sculptural pieces, presented as part of Artisanal Intelligence at AltaRoma January 2016, showcased at Art Basel Miami December 2016 and exhibited at the Museum of Art and Design as part of Singapore Design Week 2017. Sadie Clayton’s works are inspired by headspace and the concept of time. Finding your headspace, the creativity and enhanced benefits of life in this creative mental environment and holding on to Time which is hard to keep. Sadie believes strongly in collaborations working with many artists and photographers including cult British artist Andrew Logan, Mark Lebon, Ki Price and Darren Gerrish. Sadie also believes in pushing the boundaries with art and technology. For her S/S 2017 collection she worked with MHD Hologram to push the concept of time and headspace by presenting her collection as holographic videos at the Royal Academy of Arts and this season she presented at M&C Saatchi translating the process of creating her copper sculptures into an augmented reality experience. She continues her collaboration with Nixon watches creating a small bespoke range and at her A/W 2017 presentation unveiled the first of an ongoing relationship with Underground shoes. Sadie has also presented at the Café Royal, Royal Academy of Arts, and the Sanctum.
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About Sadie Clayton: Sadie Clayton has become a renouned figure in Londons emerging fashion industry since graduating from Kingston University
