Margaret Howell CBE, RDI (born 5 September 1946, in Tadworth, Surrey, England) is a British fashion designer.
[2] With Joseph's support a Margaret Howell franchise shop opened on South Molton Street, London in 1976.
[1][3] With her then husband Paul Renshaw as business partner Howell opened her first independent shop in St Christopher's Place, London in 1980.
A profile in French Elle in 1977 noted: “In her precise and meticulous working methods, Margaret Howell is more a craftsman than an industrialist.” Jack Nicholson was a fan[5] and insisted on wearing his own Margaret Howell corduroy jacket for his role in 1980s The Shining, prompting an order for 12 duplicates from Stanley Kubrick.
The MHL clothing line was introduced in 2004, and the first of a series of collaborations to produce a shirt with other designers – Margaret Howell Plus – began in 2010 with Kenneth Grange, followed by Sam Hecht, Dan Pearson and Georgina von Etzdorf.
[11] With their androgynous quality, and sympathetically shot by photographers such as Bruce Weber, Koto Bolofo,[12] and Alasdair McLellan,[13] her clothes have been described as 'marrying traditional styles with modern appeal... [so] all her work... has a stylish timelessness.'