LESLEY MANVILLE

MY LIFE IN PICTURES

MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS 2022

Manville’s widowed cleaner Ada Harris covets a couture Dior dress in 1950s London…

You need to believe we’re in ’50s London, you need to believe in Ada’s little flat, her clothes, and the people that she works for. But the story is quite fantastical. I think that adds to the charm of the whole thing. And she manages to get this dream dress – it’s slightly fairytale-ish.

Because of Phantom Thread, I came to this knowing quite a lot about ’50s couture fashion, but the ‘wow’ moment for me was all of those photographs from the ’50s of the models wearing the Dior gowns, especially that look that was called ‘The New Look’. And to suddenly be sitting there, playing Ada Harris, and to see that Jenny Bevan, the costume designer, had replicated those very costumes that I’d seen the real pictures and photographs of… It was a bit of a moment.

I’ve always loved clothes. As a teenager, I was a bit bohemian in my look. I grew up in Brighton. I