Ö÷²¥´óÐã

Radio 1's Gemma Cairney switches station to 6Music to present a documentary about shoe designer Terry de Havilland as part of The Sound of Style season.

You might think that bringing ‘fashion to the radio' might be somewhat tricky – how to bring to life the designs, the colours, the looks? But it’s the kind of challenge I love and hope to achieve with my Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 6 Music documentary, Never Mind the Cobblers, about legendary shoe designer, Terry de Havilland.

People know me today as a presenter, but I actually had a brief stint working in fashion in my early twenties. I mostly worked as an assistant stylist - dragging bags of luxurious clothing around the capital, fixing bow-ties with shaking hands whilst getting screamed at on high fashion campaigns, organising photo shoots and not being able to afford to eat. Fashion proved to be far too cut-throat for my soft core, but it instilled an awe for certain elements and along the way I met some wonderful people. And one of my most revered and loved is Terry. I often found myself in the mesmerising and enchanting grotto of shoe heaven that is his studio.

Clothes, like music, can be as enchanting, as political as much art as it can be vacuous and fickle. The theatricality of fashion, its characters, the extraordinary nuggets in the industry that have influenced culture. Zeitgeists of the old and new are those with the tales and astonishing talent that I hold close. This I've found fun to explore on air. I have fought for live broadcasts backstage at fashion shows and developed a regular style barometer feature on my show before moving to early breakfast at Radio 1. When I heard that 6 Music were collaborating with Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four for The Sound Of Style, a season exploring the intrinsic link between fashion and music, I was compelled to get involved.

Every trailblazer deserves their story told, the glorious detail of their genius marvelled. I have been itching to tell this story for years. The story of a shoemaker called Terry de Havilland. Labelled 'The Rock & Roll Cobbler', Terry's shoes make shoe and rock ‘n’ roll lovers whimper. Not just because of how they look - mostly shiny, swirly, technicolor sexy dreams - but because of how they make you feel, and most importantly the stories that they tell. His name has been imprinted on the soles of designs since the 1960's, long before another shoemaking legend, Christian Louboutin, decided to paint the soles of his red. 

Terry got into 'fashion' accidentally. His father was injured by some machinery in the family's shoe factory in the East End of London when Terry was just a young teenager so he took on the business. This he has done with such a vigour and remarkable energy over the years. During his twenties, living through those heady times, he breathed new life into shoe design. People queued from dawn till dusk to get their hands on a pair of his revolutionary three-tier wedges.

Fifty years on, he continues to make shoes. His cult status remains untouched and has continued to capture the imaginations of some of the world’s most innovative fashion tastemakers. His East End geezer humour, his tales of Kings Road back in the day, his effervescence and relentless belief in collaboration has led him to make shoes which have been seen on the feet of some of the biggest names of the day - David Bowie, Bianca Jagger, Viv Albertine, Marilyn Manson, Amy Winehouse, Depeche Mode, Noel Fielding, Alison Goldfrapp, Kate Moss and so many more over the years. There’s a reason they all want to wear his footwear. They are, quite simply, incredible creations.

I hope my show will illuminate the imaginations of 6 Music listeners on a Sunday afternoon. I’ll be their guide, chatting to Terry de Havilland about his fifty years of stomping and grooving through Britain's most definitive musical eras. He shares his rock ‘n’ roll tales of excess - car racing with Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, attempting to set up a shoe factory in Nigeria with Cream's Ginger Baker, hand-painting Amy Winehouse's Zap Pow shoes for Coachella Festival and making shoes for his muse, Kate Moss. In Never Mind The Cobblers, expect lashings of golden disco dreams, prolific gigs, alluring fashion icons, great music and the ridiculous anecdotes that are always entwined with legends. We’ll hear from his legions of fans including Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, Fred Butler, Viv Albertine, Ana Matronic, Tom Baker and Noel Fielding. It’s my contribution to The Sound of Style season, and also (which can be about the past as much as the future) bringing fashion to life on the radio.

Gemma Cairney is a presenter on Radio 1

• '' will be broadcast on Sunday 21 September on Ö÷²¥´óÐã 6 Music at 1pm.
• Find out more about season on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four and 6 Music and iPlayer.
• An image gallery taken at Terry de Havilland’s studio and accompanying audio clip is availble to see on the .