Bruce Oldfield believes Britain is "not interested" in fashion

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Bruce Oldfield is one of Britain's best-known fashion designers, and he has dressed some of the world's most beautiful women.

But his high-fashion life belies his humble beginnings -- he was a Barnardo's baby, brought up in a foster home, a boy who loved sewing dolls' dresses and dreamed of becoming a star.

A "rootless boy"

Bruce was the result of a fling between a young married Irish woman and a Jamaican boxer.

His mother struggled with epilepsy and was, by the standards of the time, "unstable". By the time Bruce was six months old, he had been entrusted to a Barnardo's home.

He was fostered to a woman called Violet Masters -- she had adopted two other mixed-race boys and, later, a little girl.

The family lived pretty close to poverty -- Bruce describes it as "a bit like Angela's Ashes except ten years on in County Durham."

It's far more important to get your dresses on the back of a famous person. Charlotte Rampling in Bruce Oldfield. That sells. Bruce Oldfield

Violet was a seamstress, and Bruce loved to watch her sew, copying her embroidery onto scrap pieces of cloth. At eight years old he was making clothes for his sister's dolls.

"I think I was loved .. we were disciplined but there were always these threats, 'if you don't behave you'll go back in the home.'"

A rising star

Bruce told Gavin Esler that he was determined to be a star at something -- he said he wanted more from life than what Barnardos had marked out for him.

He applied to art school and his student fashion shows were so impressive that he was chosen to design a capsule collection for the New York department store, Henri Bendel.

Although this arrangement only lasted a season and he was soon back in London, it was clear that a star had been born.

Even then, it was important for fashion designers to have famous and beautiful women wearing their clothes.

Lady Diana Spencer was a kind of awkward little Sloane Ranger .. she got gorgeous later on Bruce Oldfield

Charlotte Rampling was Bruce's ticket to the A-list -- the pair struck up a friendship when Rampling asked him to design clothes for an upcoming film.

"I was getting a lot of editorial, as in lots of pages in Vogue, but it's far more important to get your dresses on the back of a famous person. Charlotte Rampling in Bruce Oldfield. That sells."

Dressing a Princess

But his most famous client was yet to come -- he was asked to help dress the then Lady Diana Spencer, who was about to marry Prince Charles.

At the time, Bruce said, "she was a kind of awkward little Sloane Ranger .. she got gorgeous later on."

These days Bruce runs a small but thriving boutique and still caters to glamorous women: "We're into Nicole Kidmans, rather than the young girl who just got married in a tracksuit (Britney Spears)". He said he likes keeping his business very contained and small.

British fashion industry: "mass market"?

Bruce said he believes that British people don't care about fashion, and that Britain doesn't celebrate and nurture its creative talents in the same way that other countries do.

He said the British fashion industry is mass market: "It doesn't do a great deal for the designers .. it brings it down to this kind of high-street mentality which is not really fashion, or it certainly is not creativity."

He points to France and Italy, where people spend a lot more on clothes and quality manufacturing is prized.

He also thinks that it's hard to build a business in Britain: "We're just not very good entrepreneurs, it would seem."

HARDtalk Extra can be seen on Fridays on BBC World at 04:30 GMT, 11:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 19:30 GMT and 00:30 GMT.