Arabella Pollen (born 22 June 1961) is an English fashion designer and, as Bella Pollen, journalist and author of five novels published between 1997 and 2011.

Early life

Arabella Rosalind Hungerford Pollen, known as Bella Pollen, is the daughter of Peregrine Michael Hungerford Pollen, a former chairman of

Sotheby Parke-Bernet Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

auction house, and Patricia Helen Barry. Born in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, she was raised in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Fashion career

In 1981, Pollen founded the eponymous design company Arabella Pollen, described by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' as: "designer of crisp, colourful clothes for the young social set". Among her private clients were

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

Margaux Hemingway Margaux Louise Hemingway (born Margot Louise Hemingway; February 16, 1954 – July 1, 1996) was an American fashion model and actress. She gained success as a supermodel in the mid-1970s, appearing on the covers of magazines including ''Cosmopo ...

and Marianne Faithfull. Between 1981 and 1994, the company was nominated for eleven major fashion awards. In 1984, Arabella Pollen won the contract to design staff uniforms for the newly launched Virgin Atlantic Airways and created suits in the 'Virgin Red' that is still the airline's signature colour. In 1990,

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtaulds ...

acquired a minority share in the company, later increasing this to a majority stake. Arabella Pollen closed in 1994, following Courtaulds' withdrawal. Pollen continued to advise the textile giant as a design consultant.

Writing career

In 1995, Pollen became a writer, working as Bella Pollen. Her third book, ''Hunting Unicorns'', became a best seller in 2004. ''Midnight Cactus'' (2007) was sold to

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. ''Summer of the Bear'' (2011) was an Oprah summer pick and a Richard and Judy best summer read. Pollen has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers including ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'',

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

, ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' and ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''.

Personal life

Pollen's first marriage was to art dealer Giacomo Dante Algranti in 1985, with whom she had two children, Jesse and Samuel. In 1995, she married David Macmillan, the grandson of former Prime Minister

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

, and director of the book publisher,

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

. The couple have two children, Finn and Mabel.

Bibliography

* ''Meet Me in the In-Between'' (2018) * ''The Summer of the Bear'' (2011) * ''Midnight Cactus'' (2007) * ''Hunting Unicorns'' (2004) * ''B Movies, Blue Love'' (1999) * ''All about Men'' (1997)

References

External sources

Short profile

Author website
1961 births 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 21st-century English women writers English fashion designers English women journalists English women novelists Living people English women non-fiction writers British women fashion designers

Arabella ''Arabella'', Op. 79, is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. Performance history It was first performed on 1 July 1933 at the Dr ...

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