As my husband is wont to point out, my boys have had a peculiar fashion education. Aged 5 and 7, they appeared more than once on the fashion pages of magazines; aged 10 and 12, they attended a fashion shoot with me involving a world-class photographer, a flighty model and two even more nervous racehorses. Routinely, when we passed along London's Bond Street or 57th Street in New York, I would ask, "Boys, what is the house of the twin Cs?" (Answer, in unison: "Chanel!")

I don't want you to think my boys were overly influenced by me; with a former semiprofessional soccer player for a dad, their main focus was and is Manchester United and Chelsea. Even so, I was unaware of how much trouble lay ahead.