Susannah Constantine


Susannah Caroline Constantine is an English former TV fashion journalist, writer, style advisor, television presenter, author and clothes designer. Her second book, What Not to Wear, co-written with her fashion partner Trinny Woodall, won her a British Book Award and sold 670,000 copies.
Constantine was born into a wealthy family; her father was successful in property and shipping sectors. She was privately educated as a child and went on to date David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley, during the 1980s. Constantine has been involved in fashion for a long period, originally working in America for Giorgio Armani and then John Galliano in London. She met Trinny Woodall in 1994, with whom she proceeded to co-write a weekly fashion column, Ready to Wear. They founded Ready2shop.com, a dot-com fashion advice business, and wrote their first fashion advice book in 2000, Ready 2 Dress, both of which failed. From there they were commissioned to BBC Two to host the style series, What Not to Wear, from 2001 to 2005. She made regular appearances as a style advisor on The Oprah Winfrey Show and following her success on the shows, she went on to co-host Trinny & Susannah Undress... on ITV in 2006 and Undress the Nation in 2007.
She has co-written fashion advice books with Woodall, some of which have become best-sellers in the United Kingdom and United States. It is estimated that her various style advice books have sold 2.5 million copies in Britain and the United States. Constantine and Woodall have designed their own clothing range for Littlewoods which made its debut in 2007, followed by the release of their latest fashion advice book, The Body Shape Bible.

Early life

Constantine was born at Hammersmith, and raised at Knipton, a small village in Leicestershire. Her father, Joseph Constantine, was an Old Etonian who served as an officer in the Coldstream Guards. He was of a Yorkshire landed gentry family that traces itself back to the 1100s. Through her paternal grandmother, Marie Leonie Francoise, she is descended from Dutch prince William the Silent.

Education

Constantine was educated at boarding schools including Queen's Gate School in South Kensington, London and St Mary's School in Wantage, Oxfordshire which was run by Anglican nuns. She was first sent to boarding school at the age of 11 years, and recalls her first night away from home: "I sobbed uncontrollably into my pillow."
In mid-2007, Constantine spoke about how she received a letter from St Mary's School, inviting her to come back to the school to talk about her career and success to current pupils. Constantine immediately declined the offer and wrote "No fucking way" on the letter she had received.

Early career

Constantine originally did a year of Montessori training after she had left school but she then moved onto other projects such as studying sculpture in Brussels. She later said of this time that she "lost virginity, went a bit mad." Constantine had taught children for three years, and also worked as a shop girl for Harrods. She wrote a book about present giving, which prompted The Daily Telegraph to write an article implying she had never done a day's work in her life, something which deeply upset her. She has stated "I've always worked."
She worked as a shop girl in America for Giorgio Armani. She later came back to London working for designers Richard James, Patrick Cox, Alistair Blair and John Galliano which gained her an understanding of fashion. She then started working with the British Brain and Spine Foundation and consequently met the sports editor of The Daily Telegraph. Whilst doing a piece for GMTV, he asked Constantine to report the women's World Cup Final in cricket. She proceeded to write about cars and then fashion.
In 1994, she first met Trinny Woodall at a party hosted by David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley. The two women wrote Ready to Wear, a weekly style guide for The Daily Telegraph for seven years. The column promoted affordable high-street fashion and they used themselves to illustrate which clothing suited which figure. Constantine and Woodall became the co-founders of Ready2shop.com, but the business venture failed, and investors lost a reputed £10 million.
Constantine made her television debut when Granada Sky Broadcasting signed her and Woodall to present a daytime shopping show called Ready to Wear, and they released their first fashion advice book, Ready 2 Dress in 2000. The book was unsuccessful and resulted in the pulping of 13,000 copies. Soon after the start of their television career, they secured a frequent makeover slot on the show Richard & Judy. It ensured that they had further exposure in television and gained attention from Jane Root, controller of BBC Two, who signed them up after their book venture and their internet business had failed badly.

Television

2001–03

Constantine began co-hosting What Not to Wear with Trinny Woodall in 2001, in which they criticised participants' appearances and fashion style. Constantine and Woodall hosted What Not to Wear until 2005 and became renowned for their behaviour with the participants, direct advice, and frequently referring to breasts as tits. A notorious moment arose when Constantine spontaneously pulled a female candidate's underwear down during filming as her knicker line was visible. Critics of What Not to Wear argued that the duo were too patronising to their subjects, a claim which they strongly disagree with. Constantine insists that their subjects "see we have a genuine love of women. We love women and they can see that. Women just know." She also stated "Ultimately, what we're doing is giving people confidence. We're probably the only people who have an opinion, who care how ordinary people dress. No one at Vogue magazine gives a shit. They work with the designers, it's more creative and artistic – they are creating something beautiful. But they don't care about how their readers end up looking – whereas we do!" The show made Constantine and Woodall household names and they are now known together as Trinny and Susannah. One reporter has simply referred to Constantine as "the one with 'big tits'."
Constantine has the belief that "anyone can achieve style. It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from." She also says that she finds dressing other women easy, but finds it difficult when dressing herself. Constantine and Woodall share the belief that dressing to flatter body shape is vital, stating "For us, it's all about shape, and how that is going to cure a bodily defect. We're like clothing doctors."
During her time co-hosting What Not to Wear, she and Woodall won a Royal Television Society Award in 2002 for being the best factual presenters. In 2002, Constantine advised Jeremy Clarkson on a celebrity version of What Not to Wear. After Clarkson appeared on the show, Nasir Khan stated "I'd rather eat my own hair than shop with these two again". The show was nominated for the Features Award at the BAFTAS in both 2002 and 2003. On the show Big Impression, impressionist Ronni Ancona took to spoofing Constantine's presenting techniques on What Not to Wear.
For charity, in 2002 during the BBC's Children in Need programme, both Constantine and Woodall performed their own version of Madonna's hit single "Vogue". They became the faces of Nescafé in 2003 and featured in television advertisements promoting the brand of coffee. As part of their contract, Constantine and Woodall gave a Nescafé competition winner a £10,000 makeover.

2004–05

Following its ratings success, What Not to Wear was promoted from BBC Two to BBC One in 2004. The format was changed slightly, to a 60-minute show with two makeovers instead of a 30-minute show with only one makeover and also saw Constantine spending a day as one of her subjects. What Not to Wear was also aired in countries such as Spain and Portugal as well as in the American continent.
Constantine appeared on Children in Need in 2004, which included a special segment in which she gave the fictional EastEnders characters Little Mo and Mo Harris a makeover in the style of What Not to Wear, commenting on them with her usual "no nonsense" approach. In 2005, Constantine voiced a robot version of herself in the science fiction series, Doctor Who.
The Oprah Winfrey Show has also seen Constantine and Woodall appearing twice as makeover and style experts. They also did an "Oprah bra and swimsuit intervention". Reflecting on differences in women's style and willingness to submit to makeovers between the UK and America, she stated that although there is not much difference, "The Americans are slightly less adventurous," and that "American women are more open to change and slightly more receptive victims."

2006–present

In 2006, Constantine and Woodall moved from the BBC to ITV to start a new show, Trinny & Susannah Undress..., on 3 October. The second series of Trinny & Susannah Undress... was transmitted in June 2007, and it maintained the format of series one which saw Constantine and Woodall advising couples who were finding problems within their marriage. Constantine stated in an interview that filming the show was very emotionally draining, and as a result, she often went home crying. The programme did not come without its critics who questioned the depth at which Constantine and Woodall could deal with serious issues raised during the programme. On 16 October 2006, they both appeared on NBC's The Today Show and performed makeovers on three women especially for the show.
The new series on ITV saw a change in format. In one episode exploring the theme of age, Constantine was transformed into a seventy-year-old with the use of prosthetics and makeup. She stated that it took her four days to get over the sight of herself aged so drastically, and compared the feeling to having an "electric shock". Broadcasting was scheduled for 7 November 2007 and the programme is newly entitled Trinny & Susannah Undress The Nation. On 5 November and 28 December 2007 Constantine and Woodall appeared on Good Morning America and performed makeovers on three women for the show and gave style advice according to the women's shapes. They also reported on the fashion at the 80th Academy Awards especially for the show in 2008. Constantine and Woodall have dressed over 5,000 women as of 2007.
In 2015, Constantine took part in the fifteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She was the first campmate to be eliminated from the show.
On 21 August 2018, it was announced that Constantine would be a contestant on the sixteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. Her professional dance partner was Anton du Beke. She and du Beke were the first couple to be eliminated from the competition after scoring the lowest scoring Samba and Foxtrot in the show's history, both which scored just 12 points from the judges.