In the three years since she set up her own label, Madeleine Press has developed a reputation for delivering sharp, modern clothes with a strong, but discrete sex appeal that takes you by surprise. You thought you were just buying a great jacket with subtle detailing - it ends up being the best loved, most frequently complimented piece in your wardrobe and the single item that makes you feel happiest. How did that happen?

Partly because this is a designer obsessed with tailoring. Press is a perfectionist who began sewing when she was five and taught herself to design paper patterns at thirteen. That deceptively simple Madeleine Press jacket might have as many as thirty-five seperate pieces. It is those strategically placed pieces that help create the perfect fit; delivering a very contemporary body consciousness without being clichéd, obvious or overly complicated.