launch as a ‘pre-Fashion Week event’, to generate potential interest from fashion scene watchers?

C: Total coincidence! I’m so insulated — or should that be ‘isolated’? — from mainstream fashion, I had no idea! But I like to think I kicked off London Fashion Week well.

T: Before the show, you gave me the nod that it would not just be limited to Prong items. And when I saw that everyone was wearing latex with your pieces, I understood exactly what you meant.

C: Yep – it’s not just jewellery now! Most of what was worn was the models’ own clothing, I borrowed from the fabulous Ectomorph and Libidex for only two, but then there were a few more Libidex pieces there anyway! Classics always work after all.

T: And of course you do have ‘family connections’ with Libidex, and other latex businesses.

C: Libidex are great friends of mine, and also I’ve worked freelance for them for years, both making latex and with website work these days. Ectomorph are close friends too, and that’s what’s great about the scene — working with each other.

T: And as for your fashion show models, people might have noticed that these included scene legends Marnie Scarlet, Morrigan Hel, Kataxenna Kova and Cynth Icorn. And that onstage alongside them were Loz Za (and her Spanish greyhound Sponge Bob aka Spongey) and your three male models Antique Aquarius, Tauren and Gleymourpuss.

C: I’d met all the models through the fetish scene and worked with them before — I knew for the first Prong Jewellery show that I needed the big names! I was so, so happy and humbled when they all agreed to join in. Wow, what a line up! Prong perfection!

T: I heard this was also Morrigan’s fashion show debut, so it would be interesting to hear how she was persuaded to step outside her comfort zone — if indeed that was the case!

Original model Morrigan in Tiered Spike Necklace

‘I’m thrilled Morrigan decided to take part; she’s what you might call an original Prong model, so she simply had to be there!’

C: Ahh, Morrigan had walked for House of Harlot before! She’s no stranger to the catwalk but hadn’t done it for years. I’m thrilled she decided to take part; she’s what you might call an original Prong model, so she simply had to be there! [Editor’s note: Morrigan is featured in that very role above and in this article’s gallery of Prong Classics!]

T: Let’s remind people of — or introduce them to — your extensive background as a fetish fashion creative. I know some parts of your story — starting Prong in 2001 as a side-hustle while full-time at House of Harlot, then going part-time for House of Harlot and freelancing for Libidex and Miss Katie, before eventually dedicating yourself fulltime to Prong.

Can we expand on that timeline? Also, given your BA in tailoring, were your freelance gigs mainly or exclusively to do with garment design/construction or did they also include some jewellery work?

C: I’ve always made things. Things, clothes, models… my Dad had a shed with tools and all sorts, and would always DIY what needed doing, like putting in a new kitchen, or simply changing a light fitting. He also made radio-controlled model airplanes, so I grew up around ‘stuff’. My mum had the sewing machine so I learnt how to use that from an early age too.

I made so many clothes, it was only natural that I would eventually go to college and train professionally.

I started making latex around 1995 for Skin Two Clothing [soon after Robin Archer had started running it] and that’s where I met Robin and the team. I actually went there on work experience from Southend College! Turns out I was good at it, so we kept in touch after my two-week stint had finished.

In ’96 I went to London College of Fashion to study tailoring and would still do freelance with Skin Two, and then on to House of Harlot in Borough — where I actually joined the team full-time when I graduated. Miss Katie was also part of the team; Kelly The Cutter and later Florence, now of Torture Garden Latex, were there too.

I stayed with Harlot for around 13 years I think, though I did go to part-time when Prong started to do really well.

‘Don’t tell anyone’: Claire on Sunday Slick stage

‘Don’t tell anyone this but I don’t actually even know how to solder. I just use my soldering iron to melt holes, haha’

T: You said in an online interview with Lady Amaranth circa 2017 that, while you’d always been creative, you’d had “zero training” in jewellery manufacture. So it would be interesting to understand how you acquired the skills you clearly now have, that enabled you to move into that field.

C: Yes, it’s true: I had no formal training in jewellery-making. Don’t tell anyone this [she jokes] but I don’t actually even know how to solder. I just use my soldering iron to melt holes, haha, but that’s between us…

T: Seriously though, did you have opportunities to watch jewellers at work? Did you start by reverse-engineering pieces to see how they were put together? How and where did you learn about the ‘non-garment’ materials, adhesives, moulding and other skills that you presumably had to acquire along the way?

C: Funnily enough, before I went to fashion college in Southend, I worked at a wedding dress factory. I was the maker of the accessories — all the headdresses and veils. So: sewing machines and glue gun!