On the Road: Celia Birtwell

On the Road The girl in the picture

Designer Celia Birtwell, 80, remembers posing for David Hockney with her gifted, tormented husband, Ossie Clark. By Louise Flind

Do you travel light? If we go and see David [Hockney] in Normandy, we might go to something rather nice. So I try and itemise things in my head.

What’s your favourite destination? We have this tiny little cottage in Shropshire.

What are your earliest childhood holiday memories? My family lived near Prestwich and we’d go to a farm in North Wales in a rolling landscape with an orchard and an oven in the wall making bread.

How did you and your husband, Ossie Clark (1942-96), divide up your designs? You could just put a piece of fabric on the table. He would draw on the fabric, make a toile and put it on the stand. Then he’d draw on the stand to eliminate darts etc, and get his pattern-cutter to cut it out. I worked from home – so I’d always take the fabrics in and see what he’d done with them. They were very exciting times.

What made Ossie such a good cutter? I think it was instinctive, and he was trained rather well.

Why did London swing so much in the 1960s? I think we were all children born during or after the war and it had been so austere, and the fashion was very stiff. Ossie would make clothes where you didn’t have to wear a bra. The freedom and the music upset everything and gave ordinary young people a buzz which then encapsulated the rest of the ’60s.

Who were your great influences? Léon Bakst, Picasso and Matisse.

What was David Hockney like back then? I remember seeing him in Portobello Road and asking a girlfriend of mine, ‘Who’s that?’ He somehow stood out – I can’t remember if he had dyed blond hair or not. I think I make him laugh and we’ve been friends ever since.

What happened to the famous Hockney of you – Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy (1971)? Do you like it? Did you ever own it? I think it was sold for five or six thousand pounds to the Tate and still lives there. We never owned it. I can’t say whether I like it or not because it’s sort of part of you.

What are your favourite parts of Manchester and Lancashire? Prestwich, because I was 13 when we left there – and I went to Salford Art School at 14. I loved Albert Square in Manchester because there were coffee bars.

What was Lowry like? I remember him because my mother was a huge fan and he would visit the library at my art school.

Why did you and Ossie drift apart? The drugs and his lifestyle. I just couldn’t put up with it really. I was very sorry for him actually because workwise we were brilliant together. We produced lovely boys and we had a lovely career for a short while.

Why did things go wrong for Ossie? He kept running out of money. It was just very sad because you could see this person who’d been so dynamic fall apart, and then the boyfriend he had in the end – whom I never met – was bad news. It was a dark ending. [Clark was tragically killed in 1996 by his former lover Diego Cogolato.]

With Hockney in 2006 in front of Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy (1970)

What was it like living in LA?

I went to stay with David

Hockney for three months when the boys were very small, and modelled for him.

What clothes suit older readers? Long sleeves, for sure. I think Mary Berry looks pretty good – she’s an old girl. I think you want to look quieter but still relevant.

Where did you go on your honeymoon? I didn’t have a honeymoon – I got married in a register office and that was it.

Do you go on holiday? I suppose going to see David was a holiday last summer.

Do you have a daily routine even when you’re away? Always do the Carmen rollers every morning.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten? In Mexico, we ate fried crickets and they were delicious [she cackles].

What’s your favourite food? Rose-and-violet creams from Fortnum’s.

Do you have a go at the local language? No, because I went to art school too early.

What’s your biggest headache on holiday? It’s if I’ve left the curlers in.

Do you like coming home? Love coming home … yeah, yeah, yeah.

Celia Birtwell’s latest Next collection is now available online