Caryn Franklin met Jane Galpin in the mid 80s she was the fashion editor of international style bible i-D magazine and Jane was a producer for a fashion programme for the BBC.
It was while working on The Clothes Show that both discovered a shared passion around empowering women to feel good about their image. Both have their own practice but collaborating over decades, as Brilliant Productions, these two fashion experts have profiled selected projects here.
For more than three decades Caryn has explored the politics of image in fashion. She has engaged with refugees in battle zones, women in sweat shops, mental health experts, retailers, MPs and Government Ministers and of course consumers on a one-to-one basis, famously championing the needs of ordinary women. As a fashion journalist and broadcaster, she has interviewed all leading design talent, amongst them Georgio Armani, Yves St Laurent, Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and many more and written for many national newspapers as well as producing books and documentaries. She has also worked tirelessly with emerging designers and image-makers at university level to promote body image and diversity awareness and as education ambassador at Clothes Show; she works with many school children and their teachers to promote skills needed for fashion entry. In 2013 she received an MBE. In 2015 Caryn completed an MSc in applied psychology. She has many educational posts, including visiting Professor of Diverse Selfhood at Kingston School of Art.
After her 12 years producing the nation’s top fashion programme, the BBC Clothes Show and later BBC Style Challenge Jane went on to producing the hugely successful How to Look Good Naked and 10 Years Younger for Channel 4, she also runs the company Brilliant Productions. As business partners of many years, Caryn and Jane deliver a variety of services from consulting to creating live events and performing on stage for clients like Lloyds, Marks and Spencer, Evans, Next, National Wedding Show, Platinum Guild, Royal Mint and many others. Veterans of creating interactive road shows up and down the country. Jane says: 'Being able to demystify fashion for anyone - corporate or ordinary consumer is really important to us and the letters of thanks we receive bring a huge smile to our faces!'