The Queen of British Fashion, Mrs Burstein CBE, is 100.
This Interview is by Tamara Cincik, who has known Mrs Burstein since she was a teenager.
The first time I met Mrs Burstein was at a lunch at her daughter Caroline’s house in Belsize Park. Her granddaughter Jessica, is a close friend of mine, and their house was where we would all congregate around the huge kitchen table at the weekend, while Caroline and her then husband Harvey (who died earlier this year and is much missed), would escape to Mott’s Hall, where they had built their botanic based beauty brand Molton Brown. Leaving the teenagers the run of the house. Harvey worked in hairdressing under the name Michael, worked for Vidal Sassoon, and in his own salon trained Sam McKnight. I credit Harvey who invented the Molton Browner, which permed hair in a more natural, fluid curl than standard perm rollers, with why women now wear their hair long, loose and natural. He literally changed how we see hair and how we celebrate our individuality. A world away from the prescriptive hairdressing he trained in at Vidal, where everyone got the haircut of the year. Whether it suited them, or not.
At the time I had a nose ring that Mr. Burstein seemed to find fascinating, and was wearing my favourite 1950’s black and silver lace ball gown, held together as much by safety pins as willpower. I had come via Camden where I picked up a secondhand record of Swan Lake. I was reading English at UCL, and was known to do all-nighters at their house to finish (make that write) an essay. Honestly, I am not sure what they made of me, other than I was as eccentric as I was bookish.
The Bursteins were clearly good at business, building Browns into the sensation it was to become. It was the combination of Mrs. Burstein’s gut instinct about a designer, whether it was launching international brands into the UK such as Sonia Rykiel, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Comme des Garcons, or Romeo, Gigli, or seeking out new talents such as Hussein Chalayan, John Galliano and Meadham Kirchoff, combined with Mr. Burstein’s business acumen, which made them a strong partnership. He would be the investor behind her creativity. More partnerships should be based upon this, such as YSL had with Pierre Berge, or Rei Kawakubo with Adrian Joffe. Not only does it play to each person’s talents, it also enables a business to be precisely that. A business.
They are also a family who have always placed healthy living as central to their thinking. In many ways this is where my thinking and theirs’ really align. Family legend has it that when Mr. Burstein was courting Mrs. Burstein, he broke an apple in half to share with her, with his bare hands! Aside from the intergenerational chicken soup in every family fridge I ever opened(!), there was also a passion for organic cooking (Browns even had its own staff restaurant where tasty and wholesome food was cooked each day), healthy eating, exercise and wellbeing. When Caroline and Harvey launched Molton Brown they consciously - and against the standards of the time - did not test on animals. I always liked this about the family. Jessica now owns a beautiful yoga school in Brooklyn, while her daughter is a keen soccer player, and all the family have a keen interest in health and wellbeing.
The Interview
1) Mrs Burstein, Happy 100th Birthday!!! I cannot believe it is a decade ago since we danced the night away at your incredible party at Claridge’s. Indeed, that is how I always think of you, surrounded by family and your incredible smile, and dancing us under the table! Reaching 100 is an extraordinary milestone. When you reflect on the decades you’ve lived through, what moments feel the most defining both personally and professionally?
Mrs Burstein at her 90’s Birthday Party in Claridge’s. Ph: Tamara Cincik
Business: Starting Browns. Personal: Meeting the Queen and receiving my CBE from her.
2) You’ve witnessed and indeed been key to creating enormous cultural and creative shifts over the century. What changes in fashion and creativity have excited you the most?
Every part of it excited me.
Tamara, with Mrs. Burstein’s granddaughter Jessica and great-granddaughter Kaia at Mrs. Burstein’s 90th birthday. Ph: Tamara Cincik
3) Having known me since I was a teenager, what struck me always was your curiosity in people. What qualities do you believe are essential in young people who want to succeed in fashion and the wider creative industries today?
Focus, tenacity, determination, and passion.
Mrs Burstein with Ralph Lauren, whose first UK store she opened
4) You’ve always had an instinct for spotting talent before the rest of the world catches on. Thinking of all the brands you brought to London and your support for both UK and international talent at Browns. What do you look for in someone that tells you they have true potential?
Same as Question 3, but also visible talent.
5) Is talent something you feel immediately, and if so, how can it be nurtured to retain both excitement and commercial success?
Talent is something that is impossible to ignore. It is best nurtured if they have as a partner a person with good business sense.
Mr and Mrs Burstein when she received her CBE. Mr Burstein was famously “a person with good business sense.”
6) Mrs Burstein, you remain curious and engaged. What still excites you in fashion, in people, or in life in 2026?
Originality always gets me excited.
Mrs. Burstein’s grandchildren and great grandchildren at her 90th Birthday Party. Ph: Tamara Cincik
7) On this propitious birthday, if you could give one piece of advice to the next generation of fashion creatives and entrepreneurs, what would it be and what should they be alert to?
Take care of themselves. Keep healthy- health is the only true wealth.