- So Esme, thank you so much for joining me
to chat about your brand new book,
your memoir, "Behind the Seams."
It was joy to read.
And there's one thing that comes up on it a lot,
which is parties.
(Holly laughing)
So I wondered to start with, what would you say
is the best thing that has come for you out of a party?
- Dancing.
I just love dancing.
It has to be the right kind of music though.
- What sort of music?
- Well, I love soul music, obviously it's to do with my age.
I love reggae.
'cause in the 70's I went to lots of punk gigs and all that.
And I had friends in bands as well.
So I like music.
I used to poker.
(both laughing)
I remember going to see a group
and I went with my cousin who came from Rhodesia,
and we were all Pokering
and her husband absolutely shocked.
And they went, "Oh my God, we need to get out of here."
(both laughing)
- When was the last time you tried that?
- Pokering? - Yeah.
- Oh, quite a while ago.
(Holly laughing)
- And there's another thing which is constant
which is people referring to you as a little bit of a rebel.
So I wondered if you could say
why you think people over the years
have described you as a little bit of a rebel?
- I have no idea.
I don't know actually, who did call me a rebel?
- There was one of your,
I was gonna say co-conspirators
that's not the right word at all.
One of your fellow teachers at Central St. Martins.
- Oh God, yes, yes.
'Cause I do.
One of them says I have the look
and I give him the look and he goes all quiet.
Doesn't know what to say, I terrify him.
But, is that being a rebel?
- Maybe a little bit.
I feel like you've had a little bit
of a rebellious spirit over the years.
- Well, I've always taken chances.
Maybe, I don't know.
You know, I'll go with it.
You know, whatever.
Let's give it a whirl.
- So what is it about sewing
that continues to kind of draw you in all these years
after you first got into it?
- Well, it's always a challenge
when you're doing something new,
it's turning something TD into 3D.
So you are solving problems, you're visualizing things.
And also you're being creative
and somehow rather you get into your head.
Do you know what I mean?
You get in the zone.
And one thing I find at college teaching the students.
So what we are doing is we are making their vision happen.
So they will do a drawing
and we have to help them to make it happen.
So we learn from them.
We definitely do.
And I think, I personally think,
they learn more from each other
than they do from us actually.
I mean, we'd start them off.
And another thing that's mind boggling to me
is from the first year to the final years,
how much they develop, it's fantastic.
Really, really fantastic.
When I think of them in the first year.
And then so I teach them in the first year
and in the final year
and it's mind boggling how much they've learned.
- Yeah, and another thing that obviously
a lot of people will know you for
is The Great British Sewing Bee.
Which is another kind of avenue
where you use your expertise around sewing and fashion.
So how did you come to be on that show?
- Well, I went to party.
(both laughing)
As I said, I love a party.
Went to the party and I started chatting.
You know like, I had a few drinks.
Started chatting to this woman
and like you do, you go, "Oh, what do you do?"
Anyway, turned out she was a producer
for this sewing program.
So I went, "Oh, that one's interesting."
So she said to me, "Would you be interested?"
I went, "Yeah."
'Cause I had had a few glasses of wine.
And she's, "No, well we've got someone."
(whispers indistinctly) whatever.
But three years later they got in touch with me
and they were interviewing a lot of, I think, 17 people.
But I got it.
- That must be pretty good to have that.
Both kind of your presence and your expertise
recognized in that way.
- Yeah.
I mean, at my age
it's something I never ever imagined would happen.
But it did.
- And what do you enjoy most about being on the show?
- What I enjoy most is the sewers.
I just love how they become a community
and how they learn from each other.
Like me saying about the students
but they definitely learn from each other
and they have WhatsApp groups and they're all friends
and then they're friends with other years.
I mean, it's great, really great.
A really nice atmosphere and the crew's normally the same.
So the same men, the cameramen, the producers.
So it's great.
- [Holly] Yeah, and what are you and Patrick like together
behind the scenes?
- Oh, I trick him up all the time.
(Holly laughs)
No, we get on really well.
And I do think we are quite a funny duo.
He's so tall and I'm so small.
I always say little and large but that's not funny.
(both laughing)
But we get on really well, yeah.
- Yeah, and we've talked about your love for sewing
over the years, but how did it first begin?
How did that all start?
- Well, it started at school.
First so we learned embroidery,
downing crochet, knitting and sewing.
The first garment I sewed was when I was seven
and it was a Catholic skirt.
So, and every Friday night school,
we had to mend our clothes.
So downing and sewing up hems and things,
which we'd then take down on one side to be rebellious.
And then when I was a teenager
I made clothes to go out in.
And also, they were really badly made.
But I also used to go to jumble sales in altered stuff.
Really badly altered.
But at that point it was about going out.
So we didn't care how badly it was altered
or how badly it was made.
- Can you remember what you would consider
your most outrageous outfit that you went out in?
- What, when I was a teenager?
- Yeah.
- Well the thing that I made that was the worst made ever,
was a black and white gingham skirt and waist coat.
And honestly it was so badly made.
Really awful.
In fact, I'm amazed I wore it.
- Through the book, you talk about
both the kind of every day and how your life progressed
but also about those standout moments
like ending up topless on a motorbike.
Tell me how that particular instant occurred.
- Well, I was sun bathing in my boyfriend's garden
on a sunny day and he had some 50 Norton.
Do you know what a Norton is?
- [Holly] I don't.
- Well, it's quite nice motorbike.
And he said, did I want to go for a ride?
I went, "Yeah, sure, why not?"
But I couldn't be bothered to...
So I was sun bathing topless.
I did have my nickers on.
And so I went, "Yeah, why not?
"Let's go."
So I tied a scarf around my chest,
but of course immediately once we were going
a hundred miles an hour, it fell down my waist.
Really dangerous if you think about it.
Anyway, I did have a helmet on.
- And we can't close this interview
without talking about Renee Zellweger
and Bridget Jones and the bunny outfit,
which I'm sure lots of people remember.
I mean, it's iconic.
So how did you go about
putting together that outfit for her, for that scene?
- Well, I measured her and I looked at bunny outfits.
So I made it and then fitted it on her,
her boning and everything,
but she wanted it tighter and tighter and tighter,
'cause her character wasn't meant to be skinny.
So she wanted the cleavage
and it got tighter and tighter and tighter.
So she couldn't sit down in it.
(Holly laughs)
But luckily I think it was only
half a day filming in that outfit.
So luckily-
- She didn't have to squeeze into it for too long.
- Yes, she didn't have to stand up all day.
- (laughing) Yeah, well, Esme,
it has been such a pleasure to chat to you.
- Oh thank you.
- The book is a delightful journey through London,
through fashion, through your life
and I've really enjoyed reading it.
So thank you very much.
- Well, thank you.
I'm really pleased you enjoyed it.
Does that mean someone else will as well? (laughs)
- I think so.
- I hope so.
(Holly laughs)
(bright music)