Sue Foulston obituary

My old school friend Sue Foulston, who has died aged 68 of cancer, was a fashion designer and a teacher of fashion at Central Saint Martins college of art. Sue was always thrilled at the prospect of refining raw talent, and was one of the instigators, in 1999, of CSM’s highly regarded annual White Show – in which first-year fashion students present looks made entirely from a piece of white fabric.

Sue relished the excitement of teaching; she lived life to the full, and from the day I met her Sue led me and all her friends in her wake, as she surged ahead.

Born in Oldham, to Enid (nee Whitelegg), who worked in a local tobacconist shop, and Ken Foulston, an aircraft research engineer and self-taught musician who played the saxophone and clarinet in dance bands, Sue went as a “scholarship girl” to Manchester high school for girls, where we met. There, Sue was a leader of fashion, who knew the best music, had the best taste, went all-night dancing in The Twisted Wheel, and whose approval was a treasured prize in comparison with academic achievement.

 

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