But while Lucinda Chambers's wardrobe is a tightly packed rainbow of blues, greens, reds, pinks (and a very little fashion-editor black), it is surprisingly modest. It really is a cupboard, in a corner of her bedroom. There is nothing walk-in about it. Her collection of earrings, for which she says she has a particular weakness, is kept in a basket, all jangled up together. She does, however, have a small en-suite bathroom a few steps down from her bedroom, where she keeps her collection of necklaces, hanging from hooks like strands of boiled sweets. Most of them are by the Italian fashion house Marni, with which Chambers has a long-standing creative relationship. It is not until you go through the door that leads from the sunken bathroom on to a tiny roof-top extension that you realise Chambers's serious passion is textiles. It is here that she keeps a collection of fabrics that has been a lifetime in the making. 'I started collecting fabrics when I was really young, maybe 12 or 13. I was always cutting out, making bags or trousers and stuff for my room,' she recalls. She still buys any fabric that catches her eye, scouring Portobello Market religiously every Friday morning. 'I don't look for anything specific,' she says. 'I don't have things that go together, nothing matches and I'm quite catholic in my tastes. I like ethnic mixed with shabby English with a bit of Scandinavian and kitsch all together.' She sews now and again using