Betty Jackson

Betty Jackson was born in Bacup, Lancashire on 24 June 1949. Her father, Arthur Jackson, owned a shoe factory, and her mother, Phyllis Gertrude (Rains), shopped 'for the season' at Kendal Milne in Manchester.[3] Her leg was amputated at the age of six as it failed to grow following a dislocation during her birth. A car accident caused further complications and she has walked with a stick ever since.[4]

She was educated at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School. She studied fashion at the Birmingham College of Art under Zandra Rhodes, and started her fashion career as a fashion illustrator during her senior year (1971) at college. She learned her trade in the later 1970s as a designer for the Quorum line of Ossie Clark.[5]

In 1973, Jackson joined Wendy Dagworthy as her design assistant. She moved to further positions at Quorum, then Coopers, before setting up her own design company.[5]

She introduced Betty Jackson for Men collection, 1986, and opened her flagship shop in the Brompton Road, London, 1991. In 2000, she launched the Autograph collection for Marks & Spencer and now works on the Betty Jackson Black label for Debenhams.[5]

As a member of an advisory panel to the British Fashion Council's Model Health Inquiry, Jackson has been involved in the 'size zero' debate. After the death in 2006 of two models suffering from eating disorders, media attention was drawn to the health and size of the girls. Jackson agreed to join the panel.[6]

In 2008, Jackson worked as design consultant alongside a panel of judges, designing new gowns for High Court and Court of Appeal judges.[7]

She has volunteered for Smart Works, a non-profit organisation which gives free clothes and advice about job interviews to women who are unemployed.[8]

In August 2014, Jackson was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[9]

In 1981, she met her husband David Cohen, and they set up their company, Betty Jackson Ltd. They have worked together ever since. David is from an Egyptian Jewish family that moved to France.[3] They have two children including actor and model Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

• Woman Magazine Separates Designer of the Year award, London, 1981, 1983;
• Cotton Institute Cotton Designer of the Year award, 1983;
• Bath Museum of Costume Dress of the Year award, 1984;
• British Designer of the Year award, 1985;
• Harvey Nichols award, 1985;
• International Linen Council Fil d'Or award, 1985, 1989; Viyella award, 1987;
• MBE, 1987;
• Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Art, London, 1989
• Fellow, Birmingham Polytechnic, 1989;
• Honorary Fellow, University of Central Lancashire, 1992
• Designer of the Year, 1999[10]
• CBE, 2007
• Honorary Doctor, University of Huddersfield, 2011[11]
• Honorary Doctorate, Norwich University of the Arts, 2017

• Betty Jackson at FMD