Susannah Caroline Constantine (born 3 June 1962) is an English fashion guru, journalist, artist, advisor, television presenter, author, and designer and actress. Her second book, What Not to Wear, co-written with her fashion partner Trinny Woodall, won her a British Book Award and sold 670,000 copies.Constantine was born into a wealthy family; her father was successful in property and shipping sectors. She was privately educated as a child and went on to date British royalty, David, Viscount Linley, during the 1980s. Constantine has been involved in fashion for a long period, originally working in America for Giorgio Armaniand then John Galliano in London. She met Trinny Woodall in 1994, with whom she both proceeded to write a weekly fashion column, Ready to Wear. Constantine was privately educated at boarding schools including Queen's Gate School in South Kensington, London and the £20,000-per-year St Mary's School in Wantage, Oxfordshire which was run by Anglican nuns. She was first sent to boarding school at the age of 11 years, and recalls her first night away from home: "I sobbed uncontrollably into my pillow."

Experience

Constantine originally did a year of Montessoritraining after she had left school but she then moved onto other projects such as studying sculpture in Brussels. She later said of this time that she "lost [her] virginity, went a bit mad." Constantine had taught children for three years, and also worked as a shop girl for Harrods. She wrote a book about present giving, which prompted The Daily Telegraph to write an article implying she had never done a day's work in her life, something which deeply upset her. She has stated "I've always worked." She worked as a shop girl in America for Giorgio Armani. She later came back to London working for designers such as Richard James, Patrick Cox, Alistair Blair and John Galliano which gained her an understanding of fashion. She then started working with the British Brain and Spine Foundation and consequently met the sports editor of The Daily Telegraph. Whilst doing a piece for GMTV, he asked Constantine to report the women's World Cup Final in cricket. She proceeded to write about cars and then fashion. In 1994, she first met Trinny Woodall at a party hosted by David, Viscount Linley. The two women wrote Ready to Wear, a weekly style guide for The Daily Telegraph for seven years. The column promoted affordable high-street fashion and they used themselves to illustrate which clothing suited which figure. Constantine and Woodall became the co-founders of Ready2shop.com, a dot-com, but the business venture failed, and investors lost a reputed £10 million.