Most successful fashion designers start off approachable and normal, becoming neurotic and difficult as the skeins of the industry wind more tightly around them. With McCartney, it seems to have been the other way around, a spiky relationship with the media gradually mellowing. “It wasn’t easy navigating publicity, when I started, because I grew up with ‘being famous’ and I’m just not into it, and I guess defensiveness gets read into that. And I didn’t get an easy ride at the beginning. But I think people have now accepted that I genuinely am a fashion designer, that I have only ever worked, and so I feel more comfortable.” Her designs for Team GB, while initially met with some scepticism, ended up casting the happy, patriotic Olympian glow over the McCartney name, drawing her closer to the British public. She is still awed by the experience. “Having the chance to be any small part of that historic moment was pretty life-changing.”