Christine Fisher-Lathwell – Johnny and Colin’s Boutique

Simon: So, do you think they maybe saw that and thought ‘oh there’s a trend happening here, there’s an opportunity.’

Christine: I think so. I think Mrs Connett would have had her eyes open to Johnny and Colin because they were really astute business men and the casualness … I mean they were really the first Boutique we had in Ryde because Miss Pack was there after them, and I don’t remember any other Boutique in Ryde, so I would imagine that probably Mrs Connett used to send somebody down to look and see what John and Colin had, because even amongst the ‘70s the trends changed. You know people would go from flared jeans to kaftans, you know to all sorts of different looks, you know. There were things like string bikinis if I remember rightly.

Yes I do think that she was influenced. Whether or not she and Mrs Barrow bought together I don’t know, or whether they went shopping together but bought separately for different stores ‘cos Mrs Barrow had an awful lot to buy for. But I do know that Mrs Connett was always up on the latest trends so I think most of the clothes that Pack’s put in the Carnival would have been from Miss Pack ‘cos it looked to me as if all the sort of things like little Boucle suits with little short jackets and a tight skirt. They eventually did end up down … I think Mrs Barrow may have bought Chanel because it was a fashion copied from Chanel and then Aquascutum and what is it chav’s adopted?

Simon: Burberry.

Christine Yes, they adopted the Burberry look, yes. There was just so many different fashions happened during those times I was there. And when I say I remember it as clear as day, there are lots of things I didn’t remember but I just remember the things I found lots of fun, like the change of fashion, could I get used to it?