Her clothes are loved by Katie Price, Girls Aloud and Hollyoaks stars – and they’re all made in Middlesbrough. Julia Breen meets designer Kate Fearnley.

VINTAGE mirrors adorn the walls of the boutique, and fairy lights hang over the changing rooms. A fairytale frock, with a tiny waist, recently worn by Katie Price and just snapped up by a savvy customer, is draped from a hanger, sequins sparkling in the sunlight.

Behind the shop is a flight of stairs, with rolls of luxurious green and gold fabric on each step. At the top, in a room above the shop, is Kate Fearnley’s factory. Dozens of orders are pinned to the walls, and staff have their heads bent over the whirring sewing machines. Fabric, dresses, and brown paper pattern cut-outs cover every inch of the walls in this workshop.

Kate’s earning herself a bigger celebrity following each week. A folder in her office shows a host of different stars wearing her frocks on the red carpet, at parties, and on nights out. Kate recently met Katie Price, aka glamour model Jordan, who spent hours trying on her elegant designs, before choosing a few to take away. “Katie’s great for me because she always makes sure she mentions that she’s wearing my designs, especially in OK Magazine.

She is really nice and I really admire her as a businesswoman,” says Kate.

Kate just dressed Katie Price for an OK shoot – and even made special matching dresses for Katie’s daughter.

“We’ve had a couple of requests for the baby dresses since,” she says.

“But as a rule we don’t make children’s clothes.” Kate’s designs are generally aimed at 16 to 30 year-olds, but she says they’re versatile enough to be worn by those older or younger.

One of Kate’s first big breaks came when Darlington Pop Idol singer Zoe Birkett started wearing her designs at the time she was starring in the show. Since then, Kate’s designs have graced Conoration Street stars such as Nikki Sanderson, actress Jennifer Ellison, singer Sophie Ellis Bexter and pop group Girls Aloud.

She recently supplied dresses for up and coming girl group The Saturdays to wear on the front cover of FHM in the New Year.

Kate, who is from near Great Ayton, graduated from Northumbria University, worked as a designer for several different fashion houses and by the age of 25, with the help of the Prince’s Trust, had bought machinery from her previous employer to set up her own label.

Now 32, she opened her boutique in Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough three years ago, and the business is a wholesale manufacturing company. One of the things which sets it apart from most labels, however, is that Kate also does made-tomeasure – a popular choice for brides or prom-goers looking for something a bit different.

It’s specialising in the unusual that makes Kate’s brand stand out.

Her signature look is contrasting luxurious fabrics such as taffeta with elastic straps over the shoulders and around the waist – something her clients love as the elastic acts as a support and also pinches in the waist, meaning her designs are flattering to wear. She says: “I love really amazing fabrics. I always get excited when we have good fabrics to work with. I like to contrast harder fabrics with softer fabrics and like to have a bit of a quirky edge to the design, with something a little bit different, be it the colour or the fabric, but still be generally sexy.”

Kate mainly deals in occasionwear, to allow her to provide a different offering from the high street.

“The high street is so good at turnaround now,” she says. “When I first started out something would be on the catwalk and it wouldn’t be in the high street for six months. Now places like Topshop have a copy pretty much straightaway. That’s why I don’t really do casualwear. What I can do better is occasionwear.”

KATE’S happy to be based in the North for now, but she has London and Manchester agents and supplies more and more shops in the South.

She says: “We have agents so where we make it doesn’t really matter, but now the boutique is here and we are doing well, I have to admit my ambitions have grown.”

Next month Kate is doing her first big trade show, Pure London, and is working on her spring collection to show there. Sequins, lace and her signature look of unusual fabric combinations will feature in the collection.

Proms are her main business, with young girls now seeing it as the biggest occasion in their lives before their wedding day. Two years ago Kate took 30 prom orders. Last year it rose to 150 and she is already taking orders for summer 2009.

“Christmas party season is always big, but proms time is huge,” she says. “Last year we had a filing system to make sure that no-one was going to the same prom wearing the same dress. We are fully booked for months with proms, with people starting to come in after the New Year. Seventy-five per cent of them are my designs, but often girls will bring in something they’ve cut out of a magazine and ask me to make it, which I can.”

Dresses start at just £100, and made-to-measure start at about £200 – meaning Kate is more than competitive with her high street rivals.

For now, having constant celebrity endorsement is Kate’s biggest moneyspinner.

“It’s good that celebrities are wearing the brand more and more,” she says. “It raises the brand profile because so many girls want to dress like celebrities.”

■ Kate Fearnley’s shop is at 224 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough TS1 3QW. Call 01642-227355 or visit katefearnleyboutique.co.uk