Victoria Rowland (née Sykes; born 4 December 1969), known as Plum Sykes, is an English fashion journalist and novelist.
Early years and antecedents Victoria Sykes was born in London, one of six children including a twin sister, Lucy, and grew up in Sevenoaks, Kent. She was nicknamed 'Plum' (the Victoria plum being a variety of that fruit) as a child. Sykes has described herself as a "painfully shy" child with mousey brown hair and goofy teeth.Plum Sykes (2011) Oxford Girl She went to Ide Hill Church of England Primary School and later to a private secondary school, Walthamstow Hall,Oxford Girl, op.cit. where she was unhappy, and subsequently to Sevenoaks School, an independent boys' school that had begun admitting girls to the sixth form. In 1988 she went up to Worcester College, Oxford, where she graduated in modern history.Worcester College Who's Who, 1998; Jonathan Bate & Jessica Goodman (2014) Worcester: Portrait of an Oxford College She has published a short memoir of her unsettling first term at university (Oxford Girl, 2011).
Sykes' mother Valerie Goad, a dress designer, separated from Sykes' father Mark while Plum was at Oxford. The effects of this left her impecunious for a while and she received assistance from Worcester to remain at the college.Oxford Girl, op.cit Sykes' grandfather, Christopher Sykes (1907–1986), whom she knew as "Fat Grandpa" or "F.G.", was a friend and official biographer (1975) of the novelist Evelyn WaughOxford Girl, op.cit. Sykes thought her grandfather glamorous for eating croissants with unsalted French butter for breakfast, which she has described as "rareties in 1980s England" (ibid.) and son of the diplomat Sir Mark Sykes, sixth baronet (1879–1919), associated with the Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916, by which Britain and France provided for the partition of the Ottoman Empire after the end of the First World War.Martin Evans in History Today, April 2012 An 18th century forebear, the second baronet, Sir Christopher Sykes (1749–1801), was a major figure in the enclosure movement that transformed the agricultural landscape in the 18th century.
Career
Vogue In 1993, Sykes became a fashion assistant at British Vogue.Vogue, December 2006 She was featured that year, with, among others, designer Bella Freud and model Stella Tennant in Babes in London, in a photographic shoot by the American Steven Meisel (responsible in 1992 for the singer Madonna's controversial collection, Sex), which was produced by the rising fashion guru Isabella Blow (1958–2007). Blow also recruited her to model in the early Alexander McQueen show Banshee (Autumn/Winter 1994).
In 1997, Sykes became a contributing editor on fashion for American Vogue, of which Anna Wintour, also British, had been editor-in-chief since 1988. Sykes soon became a familiar figure on the New York social scene, being frequently described as an "It girl".For example, New York Magazine, 5 April 2004; Observer, 16 May 2004
A decade later, at 38, Sykes reflected that "when you hit 30 you lose your edge": invited by the Times to comment on the late-1990s trend for ultra-high heeled shoes, she observed that "these weird space-age shoes look cool and trendy and are a way of getting back to some degree", but that "this type of trend is not a classic version of beauty. Men want women to be sexy. They'd be happy if we were all [the model] Gisele Bündchen, but that's just not fashion".Germaine Greer, 'All Fall Down' in Times Magazine, 13 December 2008
Personal life In 2005, Sykes married British entrepreneur Toby Rowland, son of businessman "Tiny" Rowland and co-creator of King, at Sledmere House, her family's ancestral home (1751)The house was severely damaged by a fire in 1911: see Juliet Nicholson (2006) The Perfect Summer. in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Her dress was designed by Sykes' friend and protégé of Isabella Blow, Alexander McQueen. Sykes was sometimes described as a muse of McQueen; she modelled for some of his earliest catwalk shows, as well as for photoshoots of his designs.Tatler, April 2010 Before her wedding, she wrote an article for Vogue about shopping for suitable lingerie for her wedding night, an article entitled "The $900 bra".Vogue, July 2005
Sykes' twin sister Lucy, who moved to New York in 1996, became fashion director of Marie Claire and later a designer of children's clothes. In the late 1990s the Sykes sisters were sometimes described as the "twin set". Sykes later joked, with reference to the heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton, that "Lucy and I were Paris and Nicky without the sextape"New York Magazine, 5 April 2004 (an allusion to the sex tape featuring Paris Hilton and a former boyfriend that had been posted on the internet in 2003).
Novels Bergdorf Blondes (2004) The Debutante Divorcée (2006) Party Girls Die in Pearls: An Oxford Girl Mystery (2017) Wives Like Us (2024)
References
External links "The Debutante Divorcée" in the New York Times Sunday Book Review Plum Sykes' unveiled advice "Victoria's secret" – Hedley Freeman in the Guardian, 17 April 2004 "My best friends, the ultimate It girls" – Rowan Pelling in the Daily Telegraph, 21 April 2005 "Victoria's secrets" – Gaby Wood in the Observer, 14 May 2006 Anxiety Recovery Retreats – Plum Sykes attended The Anxiety Recovery Retreat, 2011 Plum Sykes talks about her personal style