document: The Saturday interview : Pearl and Daisy Lowe Pearl Lowe spent the mid-90s in a whirl of endless parties that led to addiction and depression . But she and her daughter Daisy are now a major force in fashion , writes Amy Raphael Last September a # 35 vintage black polyester dress with a cream lace trim caused the kind of fuss in the fashion world usually reserved for Kate Moss 's collections for Topshop . Designed by Pearl Lowe , once a minor Britpop star , the dress sold out in two hours . Peacocks , a budget retailer that managed to be around for over a century without generating much fuss , had to set up a waiting list for the first time in its history . Courtney Love tweeted a message to Lowe asking for a dress to be couriered to her New York hotel . Natalie Imbruglia and Sharleen Spiteri managed to get hold of one . And , after waiting for a few weeks , television presenter Holly Willoughby wore hers on This Morning . Lowe 's new collection for Peacocks - a black dress with lace bows , a simple floral dress , a polka-dot dress - was launched this week . Fashion writers blogged and tweeted about the vintage-style dresses for weeks in advance . The collections sell so well because they are easy to wear and hugely flattering , with sleeves and nipped-in waists ; they come in sizes 8 to 18 and manage to look unique , like great flea-market finds . The fact Lowe is so well connected helps , too . Before moving to a big house in Somerset with her family - she is married to Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey - she was part of the mid-90s Primrose Hill set that included Kate Moss , Sadie Frost , Sienna Miller , Jude Law and Rhys Ifans . It helps , too , that Lowe 's daughter Daisy is a supermodel who has modelled her last two Peacocks collections . Daisy is equally well connected : her friend Alexa Chung bought the black polyester dress , and she is a regular on the catwalks of Vivienne Westwood and Chanel shows . Daisy has been modelling since she was signed by Select at 15 and , at 22 , is the height of cool . Pearl Lowe reinvented herself a decade ago , when she started designing lace curtains and cushions ; since 2006 she has been making handmade dresses , first for Liberty 's and then for small London boutiques . She has always been a gifted self-publicist , inviting endless magazines and newspapers into her country house and appearing on the front of Hello ! with Daisy when she married Goffey in late 2008 . The press , both tabloids and broadsheets , has in turn been infatuated with Pearl for more than a decade . There has been a kind of car-crash fascination with Pearl 's endless public discussion of her addiction to cocaine and heroin . Harriet Quick , fashion features director of Vogue , says that '' `` the raw material of Pearl and Daisy 's story is not great ; it 's not as though Pearl married Keith Richards . '' '' But , she adds , '' `` in the last five years , fashion has opened up and it 's become easier for people to think , '' `` I can do a line . '' '' We are following on from America , where everyone wants to make a buck out of fashion . And the fact that Pearl also has a '' `` back from hell '' '' story obviously touches people . '' '' When I meet Pearl for lunch at Babington House , a private members ' club near her Somerset home , she has been talking for less than 10 minutes before suddenly announcing : '' `` I 've been six years sober ! Six years ! '' '' There 's no one around to overhear such a declaration . Perhaps Pearl , 40 , is not so much telling the world as herself : as a recovering addict , she needs to keep celebrating her sobriety . She certainly looks great , with those big , generous eyes , a long bob and a dog walker 's lithe body . She sips orange juice and texts Daisy , who is in her room with her boyfriend , Matt Smith , taking a nap . Pearl and Daisy are a unique mother-daughter act : Pearl is married to a rock star -LRB- albeit the drummer of a band that no longer exists -RRB- , while Daisy is dating the incumbent Doctor Who , Matt Smith . Yet the reality of their relationship is not cool at all : as Daisy was growing up , Pearl was regularly taking drugs . It defines each of them to a degree ; it makes you wonder if Daisy is angry . And yet here she is , drifting through the restaurant in a pretty dress , tights , black boots and a battered , expensive-looking leather jacket . She kisses her mum , hugs her tight and steals her orange juice . When dressed up for fashion shoots , Daisy is often overtly sexual and provocative ; today she is virtually free of makeup , and ridiculously beautiful . They chat for a while as though alone . Pearl : '' `` Did you hang out in the bar last night ? '' '' Daisy : '' `` No , we had dinner and went to bed . We were supposed to watch the Banksy film and Black Swan and go for a night walk . But we just fell asleep . I woke up at 5.30 am and all the lights were on , the curtains were open ... '' '' She gasps . '' `` Ohmigod , we found two frogs in our room , one on top of the other . I think it was a baby frog and a mother frog . They were really cute but we had to pick them up and take them outside . Well , Matt had to . '' '' She catches herself , glances at me : it 's clear that Smith is out of bounds . Pearl , oblivious , keeps on chatting . '' `` I 'm so happy Daisy is n't like I used to be ; I do n't just mean not going to the bar last night , but her general lack of interest in big nights out . '' '' Daisy smiles . '' `` I 'm always calling mum and saying , '' `` I do n't want to go to this party , do I have to go ? '' '' Do n't get me wrong , I like to have a good party sometimes . But I really like having my friends over , cooking for them , dancing and then doing some painting . It 's a really good night in ... '' '' It does n't sound very rock 'n' roll . '' `` If you 're talking about drugs , they do n't agree with me ; I 'm too sensitive for them . '' '' It seems that Daisy rebelled against her mum and Danny , whom Pearl met when Daisy was six , by deciding to be resolutely straight . Pearl has three children with Goffey - Alfie , 14 ; Frankie , 11 , and Betty , 5 - and has been sober only since conceiving Betty . NME used to make nasty jokes about her giving birth to Alfie in the toilets of the Dublin Castle pub in Camden . For many years , taking drugs with a host of other north London celebrities was part of Pearl 's life . She insists , however , that her kids were oblivious to the drugs . '' `` People used to be round at ours all night and then Danny would start ordering cabs while I opened the windows , lit the Diptyque candles and got the Hoover out . At 6am I 'd finally go to bed and then get up and take the kids to school . '' '' I ask Daisy what this was like for her . '' `` I was aware there were lots of cool people in the house . I had no idea mum was doing drugs . '' '' Pearl continues : '' `` When Daisy was 16 she asked me if I 'd ever smoked spliff ... '' '' Daisy smiles and pokes at her green minestrone soup . It has been suggested in other interviews that Pearl was often so out of it that Daisy had to look after Alfie and then Frankie , changing their nappies and feeding them . Daisy , laid back until now , sits up straight and almost shouts . '' `` No , no , no . I 've always talked about having a strong maternal instinct ... when Mum was pregnant with Alfie , everyone kept saying that I was going to be really jealous of the baby . I took it upon myself to go against what everyone expected and look after him . I would always wake up early - as young kids do - and give him formula , watch Rugrats with him . '' '' Pearl : '' `` Bearing in mind I 'd have done the night feeds with him . '' '' Daisy , shrugging : '' `` I was just trying to be a nice daughter . '' '' If this is well-rehearsed PR banter , it does n't feel like it . Possibly because , as the conversation continues , it becomes clear that it has taken hard work for Pearl and Daisy to be so close . Pearl has always struggled with depression ; when Frankie was five she sought help in a clinic . '' `` It was n't easy . Danny was away on tour with Supergrass so much , and looking after the kids was down to me . I was dreadfully unhappy . '' '' Eventually , she began to realise that she had to leave London , the drugs , the social life , the madness . She found a house to rent in Hampshire and was all set to leave when Daisy , then 15 , announced she was n't coming . '' `` It was the worst period of my entire life , '' '' says Pearl . '' `` I can seriously say that I felt like ending it all . I did n't want to split my family up . I knew that if I stayed in London I would n't survive . '' '' Daisy edges first towards her mother and then to the other end of the table , where she spears broccoli as she talks . '' `` But I did n't understand that ; I was only 15 . I was a pain in the arse , but I did n't want you to go . I did n't want you to leave London . We had to keep talking and talking , but it was ... '' '' She drifts off . '' `` Let 's just say there 's been a lot of healing since then . '' '' Daisy moved in with her maternal grandmother , got a Saturday job at Agent Provocateur and signed to Select Models . To the outside world it looked as though Daisy 's life was charmed . The reality was much more complicated . For years she had wanted to know who her biological dad was ; Pearl had assumed it was Bronner Handwerger , a holistic doctor now based in San Diego with whom she had a short relationship . But Daisy worked out that , because of their respective blood groups , he could n't be . Pearl puts her hand on Daisy 's arm and says softly : '' `` In a way I was too scared to find out . I kept thinking it was too late , but it 's never too late . '' '' Pearl suspected it might be Gavin Rossdale , a British rock star now living in LA who was once her best friend . '' `` I kept looking at Daisy 's eyes and nose and thinking I could n't live a lie any more . '' '' So , when Daisy was 15 , Rossdale took a paternity test and discovered he was her father . Pearl says Rossdale has refused to talk to her since finding out - '' `` I lost a best friend , but found the truth '' '' - while Daisy is in regular contact with him . She looks at her mum . '' `` I hate the fact that you two do n't get on . It would make life a lot easier and brighter if you did . '' '' I ask Daisy if she too suffers from depression . '' `` I 've definitely got it in me . I 'm better than I 've ever been . I 've given myself a hard time in the past : you 've got a lovely family , a great boyfriend , great friends , a great job - it 's so out of order for you to feel this way . As soon as I stood up and stared it in the face , I accepted it . It flies away a lot faster . '' '' Out of the window I spot Smith striding up and down the lawn , learning his lines for the next series of Doctor Who . Daisy stares out of the window and smiles . '' `` Aaaah , bless him ! '' '' We all three gaze at him for a moment . Daisy pulls herself away first . '' `` Mum and Danny did everything they could for us , sending us to the best schools , making lovely family dinners , letting us have friends round , encouraging us to be open . Granted , my childhood was n't conventional , but it was full of love . '' `` If ever I 'm in trouble I ring my mum . She knows me better than anyone and has great life experience . There is no one else that can fix problems like she does . '' '' In 2007 , Pearl wrote a memoir of addiction , All That Glitters , about the years in London that almost killed her . She still grimaces when talking about those hazy years and how she was n't '' `` the best mother I could be '' '' . With anyone else , this might be maddening , but with Pearl the sentiment is so heartfelt it 's hard to feel angry , although you do wonder if she will ever be at peace with herself . A little later , I see Pearl , Daisy and Smith huddled together at one end of a bench in the garden . It 's the first warm day of the year and there 's no reason for them all to be sitting so close together , and they have no idea I can see them . Whatever Pearl may have done wrong , she also did something right .
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