I’ve been in luxury clothing design/fashion for almost 3 years.
And I am 50 years old.
Nigel Cabourn has been in fashion for 51 years and he is (about) 69 now.
I watched Nigel for years. I love his single mindedness.
His focus.
And his expertise.
I first saw him in the flesh as he was served a noisy meal in a little cafe on Gosforth High Street in 2017.
The meal was noisy because it was one of those sizzling Chinese things.
I didn’t approach him. I’d have stuttered. I’m like that with my heroes.
And anyhow, he was eating.
London.
I saw Nigel talk in London, too.
Again, I didn’t speak to him one-on-one but I did ask him a question.
So that counts as ‘talking to him’ in my book.
PioNEers
In 2018 I had an idea for a photoshoot of people I considered to be pioneers in the North East of England.
Nigel is one of them, so I asked and he agreed.
The Always Wear Red team spent a couple of hours in his Jesmond studio.
Learning.
Listening.
Photographing.
Playing table tennis.
Design Network North
And just last week I went to a talk where Nigel was chatting to business people in the North East.
He shook me by the hand and we chatted away for 5 minutes or so before we went in.
Heroes
Meet your heroes.
Nigel is someone I’d admired for years.
And now I learn from him.
Not because he mentors me. Simply by being around him.
Listening.
Learning.
Watching.
Meet your heroes.
