Kaftan queen

Former Bond girl Camilla Franks is happy to be in Dubai. She has visited five times before and with the launch of her Women of the World clothing collection in Harvey Nichols, plans to come more often.

"Middle Eastern women are beautiful. They are so elegant and appealing," she says. "They take effort and pride to make themselves presentable down to every last detail, from nails to hair to makeup and jewellery."

Bohemian chic

Camilla is a woman of elusive style - one that can't be pinned to a fixed trend but which speaks for itself. Wearing her own kaftans she has the air of bohemian chic. Her aim is to design clothes for all women.

"My oldest customer is 96," she says. "She tells me that I make her feel sexy.

"I want to make all women feel beautiful and make clothes for real women. I don't want a woman to have to walk into a changing room with a size large."

It is for this reason that Camilla's designs come in one size to fit all.

"I want women who wear my clothes to feel playful and comfortable," she says.

Popular

In her early years Camilla remembers her mother's great fashion sense. As a stylist, her mother often wore kaftans and looked fabulous in them - a factor that persuaded Camilla to later design kaftans for herself and friends to wear.

"At that time I didn't actually realise the difference between kaftans and other clothes," she says.

"When I worked as an actress I designed my own costumes and everyone seemed to want one."

And her clothes are certainly popular. After the fashion show that launched her Women of the World collection at Harvey Nichols in Dubai, many of the clothes were sold immediately.

What makes Camilla's designs so unique is her refreshing disregard of rigid seasonal style overhauls.

"Last year I was in LA and the fashion experts were saying that over the top fabrics are out and heavily embellished fabrics are also out. This is absolute rubbish," she laughs.

"Every time I walk down the street everyone is like 'oh my God, where did you get that from?'

"It's funny because some buyers may have gone to New York fashion week and are influenced by what other people are saying rather than by actually looking at the woman on the street.

Signature

"I see a lot of designers that don't stay true to the philosophy behind their label. Mine is always about over the top and heavily embellished fabrics. You see a lot of labels that may have started like that but go 'ah well the trend this year is really simple and edgy'. So they completely change their look and lose their label.

"Last year I wanted to do some simple white and brown pieces but they didn't sell as well. This is my signature."
Each Camilla design comes with its own story and her Women of the World collection explores styles from Africa, Australia, the Middle East, South America to the Mediterranean.

Camilla has particularly fond memories of Italy.

"The Italians have got it so right," she says. "It's all about enjoying and celebrating life. Life to me is all about good company, good food and good wine - as well as being comfortable in a Camilla kaftan," she jokes.

On stage

Camilla's acting roots are never far away. She played a James Bond casino girl in The World is Not Enough and feels the catwalk is her new stage.

"I was living in London and happened to stumble across Pierce Brosnan's son who I used to hang out with. I remember getting a phone call asking if I would like to be one of the James Bond casino girls and I said absolutely," said the designer.
With a solid base in theatrical training, Camilla's acting skills have proved useful - especially when it comes to selling new designs."

"To be a designer you've got to be an actress and to be an actress you've got to have some sort of a creative flow," noted Franks.

"With running a label, I'm constantly in front of the cameras so my acting training definitely comes into play. When I'm selling my collections I actually get standing ovations. It's like a full monologue that I do."

"I guess I'm like a frustrated actress now. I still do my acting but just not on stage any more. This is my new stage. The label has created a personality around myself and the brand so I'm actually being offered more acting work now than ever before. It's great but I don't have time to do it," said Franks.

Skinny model row

Camilla comes from a ballet background and after being told to maintain a low weight, knows only too well the complexities surrounding the current skinny model row, which saw the banning of size zero models in several European countries. "It's terrible," she said. "How can you enjoy life without eating? It makes me really angry.

"I don't know why designers support this. Whenever I do my parades back home I use a complete range of women. I use pregnant women and size 28 women as well as size eight women. I use women from ages 16 to 60. "I don't understand how anorexic models can make clothes sell better in the store. When a real woman puts them on, they will look nothing like that. It's a form of false advertising.

"When I did ballet I was very skinny. For years I was pushed into eating less but was miserable because of it. It affects your mental state. You get one life and I don't understand why anyone would want to destroy it just so you can be a great clothes rack. Someone needs to make a stand. A lot of countries are doing so but it needs to be universal. Larger women like Sophia Loren and Monica Bellucci are stunning," said Franks.

The role played by the media does not go unnoticed and Franks feels the press has a lot to answer for. It's disgusting when magazines zoom in on celebrities' cellulite. They are women after all. Your imperfections make you who you are.

"A lot of these celebrities turn into alcoholics and drug addicts. It must be horrific to open up the paper every day and be pulled to pieces because you're not a size eight with no cellulite," she said.