Actress Kim Cattrall and designer Ashish Gupta return for Designers at Debenhams and talk about their relationship with fashion, shopping trips with Patricia Field and London’s creative scene.

For Kim Cattrall, much like the characters she’s played, fashion has never been just about getting dressed. It’s about pleasure and joy. From wandering vintage shops with legendary stylist and Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field to sitting front row at London Fashion Week, her relationship with clothes is the result of decades of creative friendships and moments on and off screen.

Now, the actress and designer Ashish Gupta reunite for their second campaign together as part of Designers at Debenhams, the retailer’s ongoing series inviting leading designers to create accessible capsule collections for a wider audience. This latest release marks Gupta’s second drop for the platform, and Cattrall’s second time fronting the campaign.

As she steps back into Gupta’s joyful, colour saturated world, Cattrall reflects on the pieces she’s kept in her wardrobe, the ones she’s given away, and the designers she’s watched grow alongside her own career. Together, she and Gupta discuss the effortlessness of their collaboration, the evolution from his first glam collection for the British retailer to this softer, more romantic part two, and why London remains a place where radical artists and creativity are still alive.

Do you think any of your past characters that you’ve played would wear this collection?

Kim Cattrall: Yes, I mean, Samantha Jones is a Leo. So all of these flowers and all of this powerful message of joy and joie de vivre that she represents, she would be definitely drawn to them. And I am too, maybe to some of the subtler things, they have something just so celebratory, but also they’re very well made, and constructed and the workmanship is evident. So it’s an easy yes to this collection and working with it.

I feel like you’ve always had a very strong personal sense of style. How has your relationship with fashion evolved over time?

Kim Cattrall: Well, I’m in this ambivalent position of not just being a fan of so many of these designers, but knowing them and sitting in the row and watching them change and grow. They’re true artists. To be someone who gets to wear those creations, is a thrill really. I think about someone like Isabella Blow, with Alexander McQueen and Philip Tracy, she found them and just nurtured them. And I think that’s how I sort of feel. I feel like I am in an arena with some of these designers, most of the designers that I wear, that I’m privileged to be in because I’ve watched them grow and I’ve watched them mature as I have in my profession. Also, I keep pieces. I’ve had some Vivienne Westwood pieces since I was a kid in drama school.

What would you say is the most precious piece that you have in your collection?

Kim Cattrall: I think the most precious pieces that I have, have to do a lot with my long, long time collaboration with Patricia Field. Everything was always a shopping trip with Pat. So my friendship with her and what we did together I think is probably the most exciting. And it changed my life. That education changed my life and exposed me to not just one designer or two designers for an outfit, like 12 designers. Making that a creative outlet. I am glad and thankful that I met her and worked with her.

What was it like to go on a shopping spree with Patricia Field?

Kim Cattrall: It was fantastic. She would pick you up in her 1970s Pacer, which was like a powder blue colour. And she would always find a parking spot no matter where we were in that area. And we would just go from vintage shop to vintage shop, mostly. And at the beginning I thought… My character doesn’t seem to wear any new clothes or outfits. And I didn’t understand the layering effects, not literal layering, but the difference in each outfit. Those costume fittings, which would take hours, were probably my favourite part of the whole process. That was like being in a factory of some sorts and putting together clothes in a kind of Frankenstein way, these different ideas and then making them all work, or sometimes they didn’t, and we abandoned ship. From the first fitting to the end of the series, I had so much more of an understanding, not just of my body, but of the character that I was playing, based on the work that we had done together.

How did you first get to know about Ashish and his work for Debenhams?

Kim Cattrall: Well, Debenhams is historic, you know. And I’ve always been, even before I did a film called Mannequin, I’ve been a friend of, and a fan of department stores. I love them. To me, a dream day is to go into a fantastic department store and have lunch there and meet friends there. Because it was always a meeting place, know that and also catalogs. I had heard about Ashish, I had known of [Ashish], but I’d never met him. So when we met, it was at the first fitting. And it was effortless.

That is so interesting. You’re still quite involved with emergent designers, of course like Ashish, and you recently attended London Fashion Week. What is it that excites you about London Fashion Week or just fashion in general?

Kim Cattrall: It’s London, I love being there. I feel very stimulated there. I love going to concerts, or play readings that my friends are doing. I like to think of myself as a creative person and drawn to other creative people. There’s just so many young, new, young designers that I’m discovering. Conner [Ives], being one of them, I’m a big fan of Conner. It’s funny to be in this position, you know, at this age. I think for a lot of people, as they get older, fashion is less important, it’s more important to me. It gives me such pleasure to wear something that has been beautifully crafted and designed. It feels differently on my body. And it’s not just for a costume fitting, it’s for me.

Would you say fashion gives you more pleasure now than it did when you were younger?

Kim Cattrall: Yes, well, I’m a lot richer than I was when I was younger.

Of course.

Kim Cattrall: My wardrobe expresses who I am. But, I’m not a hoarder. I like to let go of things. I was recently asked if I wanted to take some of my costumes from different films that I’d done on tour for auctioning. I don’t have them. I gave them away. I gave them away to people, fans of the show, or for charity. I just thought, you know, I wore this. I loved it. I wore it many times. Or I only wore it once, but it was glorious. Time to pass it on.

That’s a great mindset. Can I please be the next in line, next time you give something away?

Kim Cattrall: Of course. I have a girlfriend who’s a documentary filmmaker. She never has two pennies to rub together. She comes over every couple of years and I just say, take this, take this, take this, take this.

I’d love to know what it is about Ashish and his work that made you want to collaborate with him, and return for his second collection for Debenhams?

Kim Cattrall: First of all, having him listen to me say this is a little embarrassing. He’s such a warm, gentle soul. Even today, the look he’s wearing. Makes me… It’s colorful, it’s joyful.

The first time I saw the collection, it was like, who else would put these colours together, and these themes together? I know this sounds kind of space-agey in a California kind of way, but it’s really a joy to work with him, and his creations are joyful to wear, and very comfortable. So I’m a big fan.

Was it any different the second time around? What did you like about the campaign and the day on set?

Kim Cattrall: There’s a comfortableness. The first campaign was really effortless and to come back to do it again was just a real pleasure for me. A real pleasure to work with him, and be in his company, and wear his designs and just play. That’s the thing that you forget to do in the busy world that we have, to play. And those photoshoots, in both of them, I didn’t know what I was going to do next. Didn’t know what the music was going to be.

And the outfits just kind of informed that in such a natural, aggressive way. So it was an easy yes to go back.

Now Ashish, why Kim Cattrall? What made her perfect for the campaign?

Ashish Gupta: Well, Kim is a child of a sparkle as we know. She’s worn so many iconic things. I guess she is one of my absolute style icons. I’d say she is the style icon of my generation. I grew up watching Kim Catrall, not just in Sex and the City but even on the iconic film set of Mannequin for example.

So when we were thinking about who, it was kind of a no brainer, I just thought she would be this perfect encapsulation, because also for the first season the mood was ‘Hello, my name is fabulous’. And who better to encapsulate that than Kim?

Years and years ago, on my first ever trip to New York I met up with this editor who said ‘I think Patricia Field would love to see you’. So she rang up Patricia Field, and I went to her studio the next day. I met Patricia, and she was so lovely to me. She looked at my stuff and she was like, I love what you’re doing. I think this would be so great for Kim’s character. Patricia and I actually kept in touch, because every time I go to New York, I would go to see her, and so this feels very full circle, I can’t think of anyone more fabulous.

Completely. You mentioned the first drop was more glam, and this second collection feels a bit softer and more romantic. Why did the mood change?

Ashish Gupta: I guess the first collection was ‘make an entrance’ and then the second one was ‘stay a little longer’. That’s how I would put it, but I wanted to do something a little bit softer this time, a little bit cleaner. It’s very nice when you do collaborations like this where you can step out of your usual practice and try other things that you might want to try and you don’t necessarily get to do in your own practice. I always had this soft spot for knit work, and it felt like a nice moment to do something with that, tapping into all the prints and patterns and colour of Ashish, but using a different vehicle, so to speak.

For sure. Where did the collection begin for you? What were the initial influences or references or what were you looking at?

Ashish Gupta: I’d been looking at this book by the photographer Tina Barney, whose work I really love. I was really into all the chimpsy interiors, I was inspired by that. I wanted to make it quite British, so then I started looking at things like shelter curtains, or British seaside deck chairs. I put together a little mood board and I went in for my meeting for job 2, and the minute I walked into the office, somebody had a diary on the desk that said, “Flowers for spring? Groundbreaking.” I was like, okay, it’s a sign: we’re doing flowers.

Your work for your own brand is bold and colourful, they’re often highly crafted pieces. What’s interesting about translating your own work into something for a wider audience?

Ashish Gupta: I always think that it’s very important for fashion to feel quite democratic, and I think that there should be a lot of joy in fashion. Fashion should be accessible, and sometimes it does feel like fashion is becoming more and more inaccessible. That’s one of the main reasons why I loved doing this with Debenhams, it’s really nice when you can kind of pivot something and make it accessible and bring it to a new audience, a wider audience. 

There’s also been some really interesting things we’ve developed in the course of this collaboration. For example, the big multi-coloured faux fur coat we did in Drop One, we actually developed a new technique of printing for that, which is kind of like an airbrush graffiti effect. You learn so many new things along the way, it’s so nice to be able to actually do that, to be able to take your aesthetic, use it, and do something that you want with it.

Of course. And you can always learn things that you’ll then explore on your own brand as well.

Ashish Gupta: Absolutely.

What did you and Kim Cattrall understand about each other this second time around? How did it feel to be back for a second collaboration?

Ashish Gupta: Well, I think that, the first time obviously, I was on my best behavior. I think Kim is just so lovely to work with. She’s so warm and just her energy is so incredible. It’s just very easy actually, you know, it’s really kind of effortless and I don’t say that lightly. You know, I think she knows exactly what she likes, what she wants. It was just very fun, she brings such great energy. She has such a great sense of humor. I think that’s so important. You know, she’s just really a very, very warm, funny person. She’s an artist. It’s such a revelation to be watching her work, it’s kind of incredible.

How do you see British fashion evolving right now? Do you think London still leads when it comes to pioneering creativity and independent brands?

Ashish Gupta: What London has always been very good at and continues to be very good at is producing exceptionally creative people who think very differently, and who think outside the box. I do think that London is becoming increasingly difficult to work from as an independent designer, but I just think that’s the world we’re living in now. It is increasingly hard to be independent. And I hope that that changes. But I love London and I think that it will always have that incredible creative energy, and the place that comes up with the most radical ideas. It’s definitely the city where you can do what you want to do without compromise. And you can have that vision, and you can be super creative and radical.

But I do think that it’s getting harder for young people, I think. So I think it would be good for that to start changing things a little bit.

For sure. And what do you think we have to change for the situation to improve?

Ashish Gupta: I’m not sure, but I definitely think that maybe there needs to be more conversations around the business side of the infrastructure around fashion. The more you can do is be hopeful. But I also think that, what is the saying? ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’. In hard times, sometimes you come up with the most beautiful, amazing things because you have to, maybe that’s one of the greatest things we have in London, I think we have to be really positive.

What’s next for you for the year ahead?

Ashish Gupta: What’s next? I don’t know. I haven’t started working on next season yet. I think I’m going to take a little bit of a break because I am desperately looking for a holiday. So I think that’s probably what I’m going to look forward to next. I’ll go back to the drawing board after that.