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Who is Cath Kidston?
British fashion designer, author and businesswoman Catherine Isabel Audrey ‘Cath’ Kidston was born in Marylebone, London, England, on 6 November 1958, making Scorpio her zodiac sign. She’s probably known best for her company Cath Kidston Limited, which sells home furnishings on the internet, and Cath’s work can be easily recognized by her ‘nostalgic floral patterns’. Cath’s also a successful author having published over 30 books, including her sewing tutorials.
Education and early life
Cath was raised alongside her sister Janie Kidston and two other siblings in Marylebone, by their mother Suzie and father Archie Kidston; Cath’s paternal grandfather was the late British aviator and motor racing driver George Pearson Glen Kidston who drove for Bentley in the 1920s, and her maternal second cousins are TV presenters Sofie Allsopp and Kirstie Allsopp.
Cath studied at a local high school in London, and became passionate about several activities during her teenage years, as she enjoyed appearing in school plays, took dancing lessons, and eventually became a cheerleader.
She matriculated in 1977, and even though Cath’s yet to speak about her further education, it’s believed that she attended college from which she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1981.
Cath’s career
Cath worked a number of jobs prior to launching her career in the fashion industry in 1993, but it remains unknown what she did for a living for those 12 years.
What marked the year 1993 for her was the opening of her first store in Holland Park in London, which sold renovated furniture and hand-embroidered tea-towels. The store quickly became popular, and in the following 20 years, Cath opened 135 outlets, including four stores in China, and her flagship store in Piccadilly, London.
She spoke about her stores and style in an interview on BBC, and stated that people either love or hate her furniture, and that there’s rarely anyone feeling in-between.
Cath sold the majority stake of her company to TA Associates in 2010, but she still owns a minority stake, and is the company’s Creative Director; member of the British royal family Prince George of Wales once wore one of her outfits.
Cath’s collaborated with a number of companies, as she designed tents together with Milletts, mobile phones with Nokia, and radios with Roberts; she and the company Tesco collaborated on creating shopping bags from recycled plastic bottles, which were then sold and all the money (close to £500,000) donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care.
YouTube channel
Cath’s YouTube channel “Cath Kidston” was launched on 1 July 2010 and today numbers over 3,400 subscribers, while all her 115 videos combined have been watched more than a million times. Most serve to promote Cath’s merchandise, while others teach her fans how to create various things at home; we’re going to cover three of the most popular videos on Cath’s YouTube channel.
Her #1 video “Make your own Cath Kidston lampshade” was uploaded on 11 April 2013 and has been watched close to 300,000 times; it provides easy instructions on how one can make a lampshade at home.
Cath’s second most popular video “Freston by Cath Kidston” was uploaded on 2 September 2019, has been watched almost 120,000 times, and is a promotion of Cath’s clothes collection ‘Freston’.
Her #3 most viewed video “Back to School | Cath Kidston Autumn 22 collection” was uploaded on 15 August 2022 and has since been watched over 100,000 times; it serves to promote Cath’s new kids’ clothes collection.
Presence on the internet
Cath’s popular on various social media networks, and over 550,000 people are following her on Instagram today, while she’s uploaded close to 4,500 pictures and videos onto the network, most of which aim to promote her clothes.
She created her Twitter account in June 2009, and there are today over 100,000 people following her; she’s tweeted nearly 30,000 times, most of which are also about her merchandise.
Her Facebook page is today followed by close to a million people, and Cath’s most recent update was on 28 March 2023.
Even though Cath isn’t active on TikTok, she’s still quite popular on the network, as various users have uploaded videos featuring her merchandise, and all of these combined have been watched close to six million times.
Love life and relationships
Cath rarely speaks about her love life in public, which is perhaps why there’s only a single man whom she’s been with, that we know about.
Her long-term partner is British music producer Hugh Padgham, and he’s probably known best for having worked on the 1983 music video “The Police: Every Breath You Take”, the 1983 music video “The Police: Wrapped Around Your Finger”, and the 1986 music video “Genesis: Invisible Touch”. The two have a daughter Jessica Padgham together, but the date of her birth remains undisclosed, as well as the details regarding her education and profession.
Cath and Hugh have bought two homes together, and they’re today residing in London.
Cath’s in a long-term relationship with Hugh Padgham as of August 2023, and they have a daughter together.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Cath’s a huge lover of animals and has two pet dogs: a Lakeland terrier Stanley and a Sealyham terrier Billie; both can be seen featured in a number of Cath’s Instagram pictures and videos.
The outfit which Prince George wore quickly sold out.
Cath’s been involved with a number of charity organizations for the past a couple of years, and she’s mostly into donating to cancer research and underprivileged children.
Her career’s taken her all around the world, and travelling has become one of her favorite hobbies; Cath’s been to visit every continent at least once, with the exception of the Antarctic.
Bill Murray’s one of her favorite actors, and some of her favorite movies include “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”, “Broken Flowers” and “Groundhog Day”.
Height, eyes and wealth
Cath’s age is 64. She has brown eyes and hair, is 5ft 7ins (1.69m) tall and weighs around 165lbs (75kgs).
Cath’s net worth’s been estimated at over $46 million, as of August 2023.
