Style

Label of love

Amanda Byrnes has worked in just about any job in the field of fashion that you can think of. Since leaving school, the lifelong west Londoner has been a shop girl, buyer, merchandiser and model booker. She once had a stall in Portobello Market – the hallmark of many a true fashion insider – and it was here that the eponymous Odie & Amanda womenswear label was born.

“We used to always go for the same vintage prints on a Friday and we’d end up fighting over a pair of 1970s curtains,” Amanda says of Odie Green, who once held the stall next to hers. The pair eventually decided they’d be better off collaborating than wrestling over fabric, and so the Odie & Amanda label was launched seven years ago.

From the start, their goal was to produce “nice, beautifully designed, handmade things that weren’t made in sweatshops.” The philosophy continues today, although Odie left the company last year to get married and Amanda has upgraded considerably from the market stall.

Together with designer Stephen Sherrington, she now runs two independent shops, one in the Oxo Tower and the other in south London’s Grove Lane. Unusually in today’s climate of instant, throwaway attire, all of the label’s garments are designed and manufactured within the capital – even their machinists are in west London. The range is exclusive to the two shops, so they don’t do wholesale and the creations aren’t sold anywhere else.

The operation is not unlike a market stall in that the pair are constantly creating new garments rather than only producing two collections a year. “We do very small runs, so we might make 12 of a dress,” says Amanda. “We change stock quite quickly – we like to keep people interested.”

The pair have maintained a style file that goes back to the label’s beginning, containing every pattern they’ve ever made. Women who want something different or to fit an unusual figure can pick a pattern and take advantage of Stephen’s passion for made-to-measure clothing. A client might specify a certain Liberty fabric, a favourite shade of pink or press-studs rather than covered buttons; in any event a garment takes two or three weeks to complete.

“What’s working really well with the customers at the moment is that [Stephen’s] designs are not seasonal. So new pieces that he’s done will work just as nicely in the summer in summer fabrics as it will in the winter in winter fabrics. We’re not going to get tied into trends and seasons, we’re just going to carry on making really good, basic shapes and getting those perfect.”

Her customers range in age and background, but she says what they have in common is that they are “fashion-conscious, not fashion-driven”. She explains: “All of my customers are after the same thing. They want nice, quality garments that aren’t going to go in and out of fashion.” She spends an increasing part of her workday styling clients and providing wardrobe consultations, and she has a strong following among mums who are returning to work after having children and need a bit of help dressing themselves for appearing in public again. “They’re saying, ‘What do we wear? Help me, help me – we can’t go to work in jeans and a smock top!’”

She’s a real girl’s girl, and has a habit of forming lasting bonds with ladies who wander into the Odie & Amanda shops. Cups of tea and the occasional cake have been known to accompany a session of style advice. “It’s a lovely buzz to help somebody find something nice to wear when they haven’t worn anything for ages. It makes fashion a little bit more substantial doesn’t it?” she observes.

Born in Ealing, Amanda lived a while in Chiswick before settling permanently in Shepherd’s Bush. When asked where she derives her inspiration locally, she’s quick to reply. “I still love Portobello – I quite like Sundays down at Portobello now.” Shopping for ideas and clothes is a pursuit she picked up early. “My mum used to bring us down to Portobello on Saturdays. We’d be buying retro, we’d be buying vintage – for us it’s always been vintage. For as long as I can remember that’s what we’d buy, old stuff!”

“My mum is into fashion, she’s quite stylish,” she continues. “They were real Biba girls, my mum and her friends. I think my earliest memories are of High Street Ken’s big Biba. They had a merry-go-round in the store. Mum used to take us and drop all us kids at the merry-go-round and we’d go around and wear feather boas and bits of jewellery. We’d just spend ages and ages going round and round on these little horses while Mum and her friends all went shopping.”

Though a few hours in her company reveals that Amanda grew up to be equal parts fashionista and workaholic, she does allow herself one day off. After her “little bit of a mosey round Portobello on Sunday morning”, she parks herself at her local to hang out with friends. “We’ve got a fabulous new pub that’s just opened on the Uxbridge Road in Shepherd’s Bush which is called the Queen Victoria, and it’s had the most beautiful refurb. It’s got a wonderful bar, it’s got a great dining room – and it’s also got a garden.”

In spite of these lures, when her roommate recently moved out and left her with a flat that’s much to big for her she considered migrating to be closer to her shops. “I thought that I should move south,” she reveals reluctantly, “but I’m going to dig my heels in and stay.” It seems old habits die hard. Having spent her childhood trawling the market on Saturdays, fighting over fabric there on Fridays as a young adult and lately browsing the wares on Sundays, Amanda – wardrobe mistress that she is – isn’t about to give up her weekly Portobello fix.