Designer Banks launches dinner ladies' collection

Move aside, Victoria Wood and her gingham pinafore, tomorrow's dinner ladies are set to become style icons after getting a workwear makeover from fashion designer Jeff Banks.

Delegates at the 2000 Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA) annual conference in Blackpool were given a catwalk fashion show of 36 different outfits designed by Banks, who was approached by LACA to revamp their uniforms as he has successfully done for the Guide movement.

Banks said he wanted to create an image of a professional group of people who had workwear that was not just practical, but was modern and smart. Introducing his Dinner Lady Collection, modelled by real dinner ladies, he added that he wanted the range to offer mix-and-match in skirts, trousers, tunics and hats with bright colours and a choice of look from modern bistro to fast food.

Elsewhere in the conference programme, LACA chairman Ian Wasson told delegates the next few years are likely to see a reduction in the number of in-house caterers, as schools increasingly switched to buying in the service from a specialist provider.