Designer to the stars

At his elegant home in Brighton's Kemp Town, the doyen of dresses spoke about the famous fans of his designer label, Pearce Fionda, his new collection for Debenhams and his escape from the London party circuit.

In his plain white T-shirt, paint-spattered, fashionably-worn jeans and bare feet, Andrew Fionda is an unlikely-looking designer to the stars.

His shabby attire certainly would not make it down the catwalk yet the 35-year-old has created gowns so glamorous the list of celebrities to have worn them is as long as the fish-tail trail of his latest creations.

Indeed, so many of the world's most beautiful women have worn his stunningly simple dresses to the Oscars, awards ceremonies, weddings and exclusive parties, he has trouble remembering their names.

It is only at the end of this interview, as he is just about to shut the front door, that he remembers one world-famous customer.

He said: "Oh, I almost forgot. Nicole Kidman bought two dresses a couple of years ago. They were very sexy jersey key-hole designs. One in pink and one in black. Then socialite Beverly Bloom bought the same dresses."

This could be seen as extreme forgetfulness but it is more likely a symptom of Andrew's remarkably down-to-earth, unstarry nature.

He and his business partner Reynold Pearce, whose label Pearce Fionda was so beloved of celebrities, are so nonplussed by courting fame they have deserted the label which made their names to concentrate on a collection for Debenhams.

Originally from Middlesbrough, Andrew's interest in dresses, rather than football, wasn't something he shouted about as he was growing up.

While his teenage friends were saving their pocket money to buy the latest record or the odd shifty packet of cigarettes, Andrew was after the latest copy of Vogue.

He said: "At 15 I remember becoming fascinated with fashion. I have three older sisters and I was more interested in where they were going and what they were wearing than in my four brothers.

"I was probably more interested than I should have been, being a lad from the North. I remember going to London on a school trip and spending what little money I had on the September issue of Vogue. I still remember it now. It was a huge magazine with all the new collections in and had Yasmin Le Bon on the cover.

"I was obsessed from then on. Fashion was my first love."

While studying fashion at Nottingham Trent University, Andrew met Reynold.

It was not until shortly after finishing a matser's degree at the Royal College of Art, that he and Pearce formed a design duo, which in 1995 seemed the sensible thing to do. Everybody who was anybody was working in partnership from Dolce and Gabbana to Clements Ribeiro so the old friends followed suit and formed the fashion label Pearce Fionda.

They soon won international acclaim, not to mention awards, including British Apparel Export Awards for best new designer, the New Generation Award and the Glamour Award at the British Fashion Awards.

As the pair became more successful, and their dazzling dresses more in demand, bright young things of the moment were constant visitors to their London design studio.

Andrew said: "Celine Dion bought one of our first dresses. She wore it on a Des O'Connor show or something. Denise Van Outen wore one of our black jersey dresses. It was a backless number, which she wore to an awards ceremony and she was in every newspaper the next day.

"We dressed Francesca Annis for the Oscar ceremonies in a long bias cut evening dress. She was accompanying her partner Ralph Fiennes, who was nominated for The English Patient.

"She had seen the dress in Liberty in black and she phoned to ask if we could make it in a different colour, which we did. She came to our studio a lot and was great. She's a lovely woman.

"We've also dressed Yasmin Le Bon. She is one of the most beautiful women on the planet. I love working with her.

"Zoe Ball has modelled our collections and then bought lots of our clothes. She was good news.

"I don't always like celebrities because they can be a bit difficult and fussy but she was fantastic."

One of Pearce Fionda's biggest jobs was designing the wedding dress of Lili Maltese, the model who married society gent, and best friend of Liz Hurley, Henry Dent-Brocklehurst.

Although no Press photographs of Lili's dress were released, there was more than enough coverage of Liz Hurley's choice of gown, or lack of it.

While Lili was dressed from head-to-toe in virginal white, Liz turned up and somewhat upstaged the bride by flashing leopard print knickers to the waiting paparazzi.

Andrew, who attended the ceremony three years ago, dubbed "the society wedding of the year", said: "It's funny because everybody remembers Lili's wedding because of Liz Hurley wearing those leopard print knickers. I don't think Lili was very pleased.

"Liz and Hugh stood next to me and Reynold at the wedding. It was a bit strange going to such a famous event.

"We used to go to lots of things like that. We went to Elton John's white tie and tiara party and he kissed me on the cheek. How sad am I to remember that?"

The above name-dropping was coaxed out only under duress - on the whole, the celebrity circuit leaves Andrew cold.

He said: "I don't see the point in having someone like Madonna as my muse because I don't know that person.

"My muses are my good friends Kate and Tracy. I design with them in mind because I know them so well."

When he moved to Brighton two years ago, Andrew breathed a huge sigh of relief. Not only had he and Pearce decided to finish working on their Pearce Fionda label, they had also been snapped up by Debenhams Designer collection to create an exclusive Pearce II Fionda range, which focused on Oscar-style dresses at High Street prices.

Andrew said: "When we were doing the main collection we didn't have lifestyles we were happy with.

"People from Hello and OK magazines would come round to ask if their photographer could take pictures of us at home but we were working round the clock and our houses weren't really homes to us. We didn't lead the glamorous lifestyle people imagined.

"We would be working on three collections at the same time but didn't have the resources to employ enough people so we were flat out. We decided to just concentrate on the Debenhams range.

"I moved to Brighton from Islington in 2000 and bought the house of my dreams here. It has five floors and I spend any spare time doing it up. Working with Debenhams has given me the freedom to do that and to travel.

"Now I can go shopping every day and I'm going to start going to life drawing classes in Brighton. It has been good for my mentality living here. I've got a really close circle of gay and straight friends who all have normal jobs."

From Middlesbrough to London to Brighton, via stints in New York and Hong Kong, Andrew's life has had as many ups and downs as the ever-changing hemline.

But now he's found his perfect pad, he is determined to stay put. He has been scouring the city's junk shops finding vintage clothing and furniture to inspire his future collections and to decorate his home with.

Andrew is inspired by everything around him and Brighton's wealth of second-hand shops are fertile hunting grounds.

He said: "I can get inspiration from anyone from you, to the guy who took my photographs for The Argus. I am very interested in vintage fashion and take an element from that but make it relevant for 2002.

"We design clothes with longevity. We're not about doing gipsy-style tops or the latest trends. If the design is elegant, an evening dress will stand the test of time."

He is already designing a collection for autumn/winter 2003, as the Pearce II Fionda range for this autumn already begins to trickle into Debenhams stores nationwide.

And his prediction for the party season after next? Oriental and, of course, glamorous.