A passion for fashion

Now however, she uses her knowledge of couture to help raise money for charity, as a volunteer for the British Red Cross where she helps to organise the annual vintage clothing stall at the charity’s Christmas fair.

“I don’t know when it was exactly that I became interested in fashion, but I do remember I was not happy wearing the silk Chanel number my mother used to dress me in,” Amynta said. “I longed instead to dress like my friends, who all wore lots of frills, smocks and sashes.”

Amynta’s love for clothes blossomed when she was a teenager however, and she was no stranger to waiting in line outside the sample sales, which sometimes reached the end of the road, for the latest BiBA or Jean Mule.

“I thought Katharine Hamnett clothes were the most desirable things on earth,” Amynta said. “I think I still have them tucked away in a wardrobe somewhere, along with all the other clothes which are older than my son.”

Throughout her teenage years, Amynta’s own style began to develop, and at 17 she enrolled in one of the leading fashion colleges in the world, Central Saint Martins design school in London, where she read a degree in fashion.

“I was surrounded by young people who were all equally as enthusiastic and determined as myself to make a career in fashion,” she said, “but we were all unaware until we’d graduated just how competitive and sparse of jobs the industry in Britain was.”

Still determined to pursue her passion, Amynta travelled across the ocean to the fashion capital of the world - Paris - where she joined the flood of enthusiastic young fashionistas, all eager to make French connections with designers.

“I worked under a designer called Jaques Esterel, who was known as being Bridgette Bardot's favourite designer.

"I was in my element, surrounded by beautiful clothes, and a lot of other young designers as eager as myself. But while I was there, I became very thin, and very ill, and felt it was best to fly back home,” said Amynta.

Once back on home soil, Amynta worked in various fashion-based jobs, including owning and running a fashion retailor called Jamieson and Gush along with her good friend and fellow Saint Martins graduate Linda Jamieson.

Life however brought her back to Saint Martins, this time as a lecturer, where she worked alongside the esteemed designers who had once taught her for four years.

“In a nutshell, I was teaching young people the ins and outs of fashion,” Amynta said, “discussing what designs worked, what designs didn’t and what trends might work in the future, as well as holding one to one tutorials with students, where you could offer them personal guidance and support.”

It was when Amynta met her husband, who was native to Northumberland, that she decided to leave London behind, swapping stilettos for wellies in their move to Healey.

“At first I found it rural life quite isolating,” Amynta said “I was hundreds of miles away from the fashion world, but it felt like it was millions.

“To stop me kicking my heels, I began to design and create garments for my children, inspired by the countryside and the Edwardian house we were living in, which was filled with original Edwardian furniture.

“I wanted the designs to look as though they’d stepped off the pages of The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables, capturing the simple, yet elegant, style of children’s clothes of that period.”

From there, Amynta set to work developing her own brand of children’s clothing called Tulip and Nettle, named after her two beloved dogs.

A local business through and through, every item of the clothing line was made and produced in Northumberland, found success around the world, gracing the pages of international magazines everywhere.

Amynta’s name has long been associated with the British Red Cross’s annual Christmas fair, which for 22 years has run a popular vintage clothing stall with a reputation across the county as one of the best bargain venues around.

Over two decades, the fair has raised thousands of pounds for charity and put a smile on many customer's faces.

“It’s a treasure trove of vintage couture.” Amynta said. “We could fill a room with the amount of donations we’ve received over the years, with big names such as Chanel, Dior, Gucci and Armani being just a few that have sold at the stall.”

Asked why vintage clothing is making a comeback, Amynta said she feels there is something 'romantic' about the fashion styles and life styles of people in the past.

“Many of the items donated to us reflect the glamorous life led by individuals in the 1940s and 1950s.

“Life was more formal then. You couldn’t throw on a pair of jeans for a lunch date, and some of the women would change four or five times a day, having a different outfit for every activity.

One of these glamorous women, who knew her way around a Chanel store, was Amynta’s mother, an interior designer and fashionista.

“She had an incredible eye for detail,” Amynta said, “and she brought style to everything.”

Her absolute favourite outfit in her wardrobe is, in fact, a 1960’s designer coat-dress that once belonged to her mother.

Over the two decades that Amynta has helped run the Red Cross Stall, she’s learnt that it represents much more than just fashion.

“It can sometimes be quite moving handling certain items,” Amynta said, “particularly if there is a story behind them.

“These were once people’s wedding dresses, children’s clothes, their best wear and precious jewellery. It represents someone's life.

“That’s why it can be really special to see these clothes go people who will treasure them for the future, because they aren’t just abandoned. Instead, they go to people who have fallen in love with them all over again, and most importantly, every penny of the sale goes to charity.”