About
I’ve always been different! I was 6ft2 at the age of 18 and at that time there was hardly anything in vogue for tall people. I knew what I wanted to wear but I couldn’t find the clothes in the shops, so I
started designing my own ideas, unwittingly starting my Smart brand, creating designs and clothes for people who didn’t fit the size 8 model “norm”.
MAKING IT A REALITY
In 1992, I opened my first design studio in France making clothes for real women. My business has grown ever since, always keeping to the same guidelines - to make clothes to fit and flatter real women.
EXPANSION
I now offer an ethical jewellery range to adorn those clothes. I love supporting social enterprises and sustainability that make up my unique range of jewellery. And for those same reasons I have also
expanded into ethical homeware. Each year I sit with local South African women (and occasionally a few men) and watch them create their baskets.
I love to learn something new. I relish being taught their basket weaving skills that have been in their tribes for years, just like my mother and grandmother taught me their own fashion and embroidery skills. I feel the pain of their blisters. I understand their passion to continue their craft. My business isn’t all about
me … it’s about them too.