- Born
- Maria Grachvogel was born on July 11, 1969 in London, England, UK.
- Right now, anything restricting around my waist feels wrong. I've always had quite a flat stomach but it all happened pretty quickly - the loss of waist, this belly. Suddenly I had a new body shape - I'd never worn a bra before. And I didn't know how to dress. What I've learned about myself, though, is I'm not one of those people who like to show off their bump. Some people do - and it looks fabulous. Which reinforces what I've always believed as a designer - it's not about the clothes, it's the woman. You have to feel comfortable.
- I went through a major growth spurt as a teen and loathed my broad shoulders and awful triangular hips that I wanted to chop off. I was gangly, weighed about eight stone at 16, and people would say: "She's anorexic!" I ate what I wanted but it did make me quite body-conscious. It took me until I was 25 to get above nine stone. I've never been on a diet - I think that comes from having a mum who spent her life on one. I always need a lot of physical activity to keep me sane, but as you get older, clubbing until 9am isn't practical.
- [at seven months pregnant] It's amazing, I have breasts for the first time ever. Your body just changes. It's a honeymoon baby. [laughs] We only got married in July. We thought: "Oh well, guess we'll have a go", and it happened straight away.
- [walking to work at seven months pregnant] It's two and a half miles each way from my home in Marylebone. I find the walk home a great way of changing my whole day into downtime.
- I find women intuitively know which parts of their body they love and which they prefer to hide. We highlight styles from the collection which suit different body shapes - whether you want to emphasise your waist, show off your shoulders and back or minimise your stomach. To be honest, most women inhabit so many different characters in their life: sometimes we want to be flirty and coquettish, other times we want to dress for comfort. I think I got through a lot of battles with my body way before I got pregnant.
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