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Mum's the word for Paris fashion week
From full-time mum to jet-setting fashion designer – and all in a matter of months.
Ethical designer Manda Johnson-Holme only decided it was time to revive her fashion career in March, but this month her work will go on display for the world to see at shows in both Paris and London.
The 36-year-old, who lives in the village of Calder Vale, near Garstang, says she is excited about the shows and told how her career had "snowballed" since joining Lancashire-based company Makepiece.
Inspired by its Pennine base, Makepiece womenswear is an ethical range of knitwear and eco-woven garments, all manufactured in the UK.
Manda and the team, based in Todmorden,East Lancashire, are particularly delighted to have been chosen to display six of their outfits in the catwalk show at the Pret-a-Porter trade exhibition in Paris next week.
And after a busy week across the Channel, their attention will turn to London Fashion Week, taking place from September 16 to 19.
Manda spent over five years creating costumes for travelling theatre companies and working for the BBC before taking a fashion design degree at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, graduating in 1999.
She then set up her own design consultancy business before becoming a full-time mum a few years later.
Makepiece keeps its own sheep and buys yarn from British farms, so they know just where their raw materials have been. All the knitwear is either made locally or at a small factory in Nottingham, using traditional skills and supporting communities.
Manda said: "What drew me to Makepiece is that they have their own wool to make their own garments. It's all done very locally."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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