DESIGN: INTERVIEW
LAP OF LUXURY: Howell in her flagship store in Tokyo.
FORTY YEARS AGO, Margaret Howell opened her first eponymous boutique on South Molton Street in London. For the millions of men and women who have since turned her men’s and women’s ready-to-wear lines into a thriving global business, it will come as no surprise that the event was low-key. Howell is hazy on the festivities; all she remembers is the excitement of designing the clean-lined, unadorned interior, an antidote to what she describes as the “high-end, shiny look” of the day.