The first thing that strikes you on entering Jacques Azagury’s elegant atelier is what an oasis of calm it is, despite its location on London’s busy Knightsbridge.
There is the sense that not much has changed since the days when Princess Diana would drop in for a dress fitting and insist that the designer treat her like any other customer.
“She was terribly informal,” says Jacques, who has presided over this exclusive shopping hood since 1987. “In fact, sometimes when she was in the shop and other customers would come in, she would say ‘Oh Jacques, go and look after the customers’. People [in the boutique] were just in awe, almost to the point of being dumbstruck. She never asked for a lock-down when she turned up.”
Bearing testimony to the designer’s close working relationship with the late princess is a frame on the wall featuring photographs of her wearing three Azagury designs. A handwritten note from her reads: “Dearest Jacques, Lots of love from Diana x.”
It was her last gift to him, sent the day she left on that fateful trip to France in the summer of 1997.
Diana may have been his most famous client but Jacques has been dressing the great and the good of international society for more than 35 years, an enduring presence in an ever-changing fashion landscape. He attributes his longevity to his insistence on remaining true to his signature look of glamorous cocktail and special occasion wear and by retaining full control of his business, which he runs with his sister Solange. He has also been careful to keep it relatively small and niche. “I didn’t want to get into the huge wholesale market, even though we did sell to the top stores around the world for many years,” he explains. “I decided I was happier with just having my own store and doing the occasional charity show and that’s worked well for us. It’s given me complete control. The thing about wholesale is you do the collection, then have a catwalk show to sell it and stores only pay you when they get it six months later, if they haven’t gone bust. By that time, you’re on to the next collection.