You own a pair of Vitas. What about them caught your eye?

I met Caren for lunch one day and clocked her fabulous glasses as soon as she walked in. I ordered a pair there and then. I just fell in love with how unusual the shape was and how much her ByOculars stood out, even from across the room.

Your development of cotton/Lycra with DuPont was a perfect meeting of fashion and function. When designing or buying something, what do you tend to favour?

Definitely function! I always start with fabric and fit because it’s most important that the clothing suits a woman’s shape. For example, years ago, we noticed that our girls were wearing their leotards in their everyday; to make them more functional, we added poppers in the gusset and that’s how the ‘body’ came to be. Working with DuPont was so exciting. At the time, they were using lycra in corsetry and girdles but were on the hunt for another material to use it in. They were thrilled when I got in touch with them. We went on to make a woven cotton/Lycra and a linen/Lycra mix together and now it’s used in men’s suiting. Lycra has become such a diverse fabric thanks to our initial experiment.

You were the first woman to float your company on the London Stock Exchange. While that's obviously amazing, it's also pretty crazy that you were still the first in 1982! How have attitudes to women in the workplace changed since you started Pineapple Dance Studios?

I know, it’s pretty incredible that it took a model from Manchester, who left school at fifteen with no qualifications and owned a dance studio to be the first woman to go public. When I started out, I used to go to these women’s business meetings and everyone was so severe. I’d show up in this little rara skirt and stick out like a sore thumb. I guess I became an icon because I was such an unlikely businesswoman. I gave those women a wide berth, whereas I think nowadays, women’s attitudes have changed and they’re much more supportive of one another, working together with a common aim. I published a book in 1989 called ‘When a Woman Means Business’ because I used to get letters from women seeking advice on working and gaining approval from their husbands to do so. I’d tell them if they stayed at home baking cakes, their husbands would most likely leave them for the secretary and if they went out to work, their husbands would still most likely leave them for the secretary so better to be doing something they enjoy!

What do you know now that you wish you'd known then?

Less! When you’re young, you’re so naive that you don’t fully comprehend the risks you’re taking. You’re just fighting to stay alive. With age comes experience and I think sometimes you can lose confidence in your ability because you’re so much more aware of the potential dangers. Really, we’ve got to live and unlearn if we want to continue to be successful.