Imtaz is cutting it as a material girl

Imtaz, from Little Horton, was showcasing menswear at a fashion show and her design was described as ‘a casual outfit in black elephant cord with white canvas and wool trim, and ankle-length trousers fastened down the side’.

Asked if this was a bit ‘advanced’ for the average Yorkshireman, Imtaz replied: “Men tend to buy a new thing and wear it to death. They don’t care enough. I think younger men are more interested in fashion now though. Women know what makes a man look good,” she added.

Imtaz started sewing as a child, stitching outfits for her dolls. Aged 12, she was making clothes for her mum and sisters. A pupil at Priestman and Marshfield schools, then the former Buttershaw Upper School, she developed her dressmaking skills in the classroom.

Today Imtaz, 44, is one of the country’s top female bespoke tailors, with Michelle Pfeiffer and singer Dina Carroll among her clients. Last year she designed weathergirl Sian Lloyd’s wedding dress, which made the cover of Hello! magazine, and she tailors hand-made, hand-finished suits for actresses, models and business highfliers. She has appeared in The Times Top 20 Muslim Women Power List, and been profiled on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and in The Face, Tatler and Cosmopolitan magazines. Her collections have been in fashion shows from London to Dubai.

An in-demand authority on fashion, Imtaz is in talks to promote fashion businesses with the Government, something she has discussed over lunch with Prince Andrew.

Through her work on the Government’s Design In Education advisory board, and with Skillfast, the Skills Council for fashion and textiles, she helps young designers.

“I was encouraged at school, but a lot of young people don’t have that opportunity now,” says Imtaz. “Dressmaking isn’t passed from mother to daughter so much, and needlework isn’t taught like it was a generation or so ago. It’s important that schools recognise it can lead to a career.”

Based in London, Imtaz returns to Bradford to visit her family. The mother of two young children, she credits her parents – who came to Bradford from Pakistan in the 1950s – with nurturing her early ambition.

“Dad worked in textile mills, then set up a launderette business,” says Imtaz. “He had incredible drive and business sense; he never sat down. Both my parents are strong role models. I inherited their work ethic.

“I started sewing when I was ten. It was that Asian family tradition of making clothes,” she says. Her father’s style inspired her to specialise in tailored suits. “He was a dashing figure in cream suits,” recalls Imtaz. “I loved 1940s films where everyone wore tailored suits. I wanted to create good quality clothes.” The current recession has brought her full circle. “It was exactly like this when I started, in 1991, during the last recession. People went for quality, rather than quantity, and that’s the case now. In recession, people have one suit – but it’s a quality suit.”

After school, Imtaz did a BTec in clothing technology at Jacob Kramer College, Leeds. Her work caught the eye of Coronation Street’s Pat Phoenix.

“I exhibited menswear at Harrogate Fashion Fair and she ordered some for her husband, Tony Booth,” says Imtaz. “Years later I met Cherie Blair, Tony Booth’s daughter, at the Women of Achievement awards and told her the story.”

Imtaz ran a tailors business on Manchester Road in Bradford before going to the London College of Fashion. “I moved to London to raise my profile, but I built my skills in Bradford,” she says.

She worked as a personal shopper at Harrods for, among others, George Michael – “I made him tea,” she smiles – then started promoting her own collection.

Her break came when she was invited to design a suit for Michelle Pfeiffer to wear on Terry Wogan’s TV chat show. “I was in my early twenties and thought that kind of thing happened to everyone!” laughs Imtaz.

The suit was sold to a Sunday Times fashion editor who found Imtaz’s business card in one of the pockets. Imtaz ended up in a Sunday Times ‘Next Big Thing’ feature.

“Everything took off after that. I moved to Bond Street and was running my business, teaching at the London College of Fashion and studying for a degree in marketing and business.”

Now Imtaz is based in Islington, in premises owned by a tailor in the 1950s. “My parents’ home in Bradford was also owned by a tailor,” she says. Recognised for trailblazing designs, she’s an inspiration, particularly to young women. She gives talks at venues around the country, including the University of Bradford.

“Girls have told me they went into tailoring because of me,” she says. “I broke the mould of what’s traditionally expected of an Asian woman, setting up a successful creative business in a male-dominated business “I try to show what you can achieve through determination and hard work. I’m not an overnight sensation, I got here through hard slog. I’ve never allowed myself to be limited by people’s perceptions.”

For more about Imtaz’s work, visit imtaz.com