Daisy Knatchbull – My Music: ‘I think, like music, clothes are a real vehicle to understanding oneself’

Music plays a massive part in my life. I’m that person that always has music playing in my AirPods when on the tube, or on my computer, in the shop, at home. I’m that person that always has to connect to a Sonos system or speaker. I love music, I love the way it makes me feel – I have a deep sensory connection to it, a deep memory connection, it’s something that I’ve been surrounded by for my whole life.

My father had one of those CD players where the glass would open and close – it was very high-tech at the time. I remember as a child poring over his CDs, music was just always playing. When with my grandmother in the car, Classic FM was consistently on – she is a massive classical music enthusiast, and would always teach me about the rhythms, and what the story was. And now my boyfriend was an opera singer and has worked in classical music for a long time, and so he has a big influence.

There are some pieces that have me completely goosebumped and crying my eyes out

Music is so powerful. I don’t cry often, but with music, particularly classical music – and when I work I only listen to classical music – there are some pieces that have me completely goosebumped and crying my eyes out, because it might remind me of something very sad for no particular reason, but that same piece of music can also make me feel so overjoyed and incredibly elated. And music really is the only thing that has that ability to pull my emotions in that way.

Piano music is one area that I’m really drawn to. I was brought up having piano lessons and taking piano quite seriously. I’m that person that plays every time I enter a house and there’s a piano – the same six pieces. ‘Mad World’ by Tears for Fears is one of them, and Für Elise and a couple of other classical pieces too. I think in another life I would like to be able to be amazing at the piano. I love dissecting what I’m hearing and imagining playing it.

There’s an amazing thing called Sofar Sounds, where they do these mini concerts in secret places – it might be in an amazing house in London, or it might be in a WeWork building, and they don’t tell you until you go. And you might have a rapper, but you might also have the most amazing harp player, and a guitarist, and a classical opera singer, maybe three, four acts in one night. You sit on the floor and you bring your own wine, and you listen to these incredible people.

I was head chorister at my school, I took it very, very seriously from prep school until I was about 11, and had the opportunity to sing in some amazing places – I sang a solo in Notre Dame that was televised to something like a million people, also at the Royal Albert Hall, and in Vienna – I still have my little head chorister medallion that we wore over our white angelic robes! And then, the honest truth is that I moved into the next phase of my life and at my secondary school didn’t do it as much. And then I smoked and it got rid of my voice. My granny was so proud at the time that I could sing so high and beautifully – and I now have a very deep voice. But I remember at the time realising it was a pretty special thing. Often the places we were singing in were churches and whilst I’m not a deeply religious person, I think that there’s such peace and beauty in hearing people sing within churches. Occasionally now, when I’m in church or at a wedding and I remember the descant of a certain hymn, I’ll sing it. I always sing hymns very loudly; I love it. If I hear ‘I vow to thee my country’, it makes me weep when that last verse comes in, so loud and so incredible – it’s that feeling of collective singing, it gives me shivers!

We work with a lot of amazing musicians on clothes. I think, like music, clothes are a real vehicle to understanding oneself. We have a very strong emotional relationship, particularly women, with the clothes that we wear. That’s what I love about it. And particularly for musicians – they’re on stage, and they need to get up, get down, move their arms, and if they’re holding an instrument there needs to be that functionality. It’s about thinking through all this and making sure that the suit or the garment is working for the artist, because that’s all part and parcel of the bespoke journey. Selecting fabrics that have great resistance and breathability. Not only are our clothes very beautiful, but they’re very functional, and whether adding in secret pockets or printing pieces of music in the linings of the jackets, we’ve done some amazing personal things.

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