Camilla Franks opens up about surviving breast cancer and her desire to do good in the world
Fashion designer Camilla Franks says her breast cancer ordeal helped her recalibrate her life. Five years on, with the all-clear, she takes us into her inner sanctuary and reveals how adversity changed her and her plans for the future
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They say you have two lives – the second begins when you realise you have one. For Australian fashion designer Camilla Franks, that realisation came in the deep, dark days of her cancer battle – a journey that started in 2018 when daughter Luna was just a few months old.
Naturally, being told she had stage three breast cancer was a journey blanketed by fear but slowly turned into one of curiosity. It was a time she learned more about herself than ever before.
“I discovered how wonderful our minds are in healing the body – I became the CEO of my body, and there’s so much power in that,” Franks says.
“I really believe that talking about your trials can help you soften them.
“Connection, honesty and sharing my story with others has been one of my greatest sources of strength on this journey, and true connection only comes from vulnerability.
“We tend to want to hide those jagged, messy edges, but that’s where our humanity resides. That’s where we find each other.”
After six months of intense chemotherapy, a preventive double mastectomy, reconstruction and the removal of her fallopian tubes, it was time to heal. Today, Franks has recently had her five-year cancer all-clear. She’s healthy, and happier than she’s ever been. Ever.
“Since my recovery from breast cancer, I have learnt to surrender myself to the universe and whatever life throws at me, because I now know that I can weather the storm,” she says.
“I am strong and I’m a fighter, but I’m also a sensitive soul. My breast cancer battle has helped me to lean into the things that my soul craves and it’s given me the wisdom to know when to draw the line with work and social commitments.
“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.
“I’ve had my five year check-up and while the story is never over, it feels like I’m coming close to the final chapter.
“The aim was to get to the five-year mark, and this beautiful body that I’ve been gifted has worked incredibly hard to achieve this milestone – this is one thing I will be celebrating with my family later this year.
“Sometimes you have to let go of who you were so that you can become the person you need to be. You can’t hang on to trivial things, especially during tough times.
“Acceptance has been one of my greatest tools on this journey … it’s amazing to see where life lands you after going through tough times – you often find that going through trauma can lead you to some of the sweetest moments imaginable.
STRONGER THAN EVER
“It’s like knocking yourself down to rebuildyourself stronger.
“I don’t want to say, ‘It’s always darkest before dawn’ because I think that’s a crock – but I think sometimes you only appreciate dawn when you’ve experienced real darkness.”
Her driving force, her true north, is daughter Luna. The five year old is halfway through kindergarten. She’s chatty, she’s creative, loves to paint with her mum and dad (JP Jones) and probably has more stamps on her passport than most Australian adults.
Jones, a Welsh artist and musician, and Franks met more than 25 years ago at a nightclub in London. The pair reunited and became engaged in 2016 and now split their time between Australia and Wales, where JP’s family and son Blue live.
Franks say Luna is her greatest inspiration.
“Luna is what got me through breast cancer and makes me want to be a better human,” Franks explains. “Motherhood is a tug of love that forever pulls from outside your body.
“To love and be loved – everything else just pales in comparison. You naturally transform when you become a mother, but you have to practise it. It’s easy for me to stop and run to the office but then you find yourself with your little girl, breathing with her, inhaling her – everything seems to wash away.”
She said a mother-daughter bond was sacred, with a “connection that transcends all reason and rhyme”.
“It’s magical,” she says.
“I think every parent hopes they’ll be a strong role model for their child.
“But my greatest wish for Luna is that she embraces exactly who she is – and grows into a wonderfully unique, passionate individual that blazes her own path, and isn’t afraid to go after what she wants and what makes her happy.
“I’m a working mother with a bold, strong daughter and we’re doing it our way. “She comes everywhere with me – her passport has many stamps. As a mother, the most rewarding thing for me is seeing her be herself.
“When she’s kind, or confident, or magically eccentric, I get this rush from seeing that she’s going to be just fine, she’s going to do good in the world, she’s going to grow into this amazing person who’s completely comfortable in her own skin and utterly unafraid to be herself. Because I remind her how safe and loved she is – they are the two simple, magical ingredients.”
The iconic fashion designer launched her famed brand with a kaftan in 2004. Coveted by the likes of Oprah and Beyonce, they soon became a cult item. And the self-built business has weathered another test in Covid – a time that saw her close down two thirds of her boutiques and stockists stores.
“It meant online could sustain us – but honestly, I had so much faith in my team I deep down knew we’d be okay,” she says.
“Navigating my business through Covid was wild. When it hit, there was a huge sense of uncertainty and fear and vulnerability across the world. But with anything in life, what I’ve learned is that uncertain times are a beautiful opportunity to change and morph into a new way of being.
“I shifted into first gear, held my team tight, and encouraged everyone to fight with the same creative thinking that has sustained us for years. I committed that no one would be made redundant. Without my team, I am nothing, we were in this together and the ideas started flowing.
“As a resort and occasion brand, with travel and eventing off the cards, we needed to redesign – fast – so we shifted into new categories.”
They fast-tracked the creation of activewear and lounge lines, using the brand’s most collectable past prints. It all sold out within 48 hours.
“We doubled down on bed linen, table wear, pet accessories, wallpaper … for everyone nesting at home,” she says. “We embraced social media and content that lightened people’s days, we sent care packs to nurses and people living remotely.
“We put our warehouse sale online for the first time, in 10 days, and doubled the success we’d had before.
“We could now reach people that weren’t able to connect with us before, and we did it in ways that fitted with their new lifestyle, connected with their hearts, and showed we are here to stay.”
Photographed at home with Luna, the pair jump on the bed and snuggle up together. Completely at ease, it is the first time she has been photographed in her bedroom which, especially in winter, is a calm, inviting space.
“I love snuggle season – the nights get darker and colder, and we spend more time in our nests wrapped up in a world of print,” she says.
“Luna and I love a bed party. She melts into me at night and then when we wake we slowly untangle and stretch, before the pace of the day carries us off on a new adventure.”
The love of indoors saw her evolve from kaftans to homewares – the wonderful world of wallpaper, bed linen and tea cups.
“I’ll always be grateful for the Kaftan Queen moniker – it honours my roots and those heady beginnings of this Bondi-birthed brand,” she says. “But I’ve also evolved in almost 20 years as a designer galloping across the globe telling stories through print.”
Camilla is in 65 countries now, so the 47 year old is designing for the nuances of a truly global audience.
“Homewares were a natural next step … our homes are our most sacred space,” she says. “They are a reflection of who we are and how we live.
“Waking up in luxury linens in a print that sings to your soul begins the day most magically. I don’t have a lot of time for sitting back and reflecting, but I sure do sit forward and ride these epic waves with gratitude.
“The last 18 months has barrelled me in the best way, highlight after highlight, but with little time to catch my breath in between.”
And there have been many highlights in that time. Among them, the opening show of Miami Swim Week, a “rocking” Robbie Williams collaboration, unveiling an eyewear range, dancing with Jennifer Coolidge in White Lotus, painting Sydney rainbow for Sydney World Pride and creating custom performance pieces for Nicole Scherzinger.
But the biggest has been a recent collaboration with Disney – a Disney-inspired clothing collection with free-flowing dress silhouettes, cheeky minis and classic kaftans, all in fun, free, Disney-esque prints. The magic of a creative childhood is what brought Camilla to this “pinch me” moment, when her whimsy collection was brought to life.
“It’s the kind of thing you dream about but don’t truly expect to happen,” she says.
“Disney was my first introduction to storytelling – a world where magic is real and anything is possible.
“I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve sat up in bed and watched Beauty and the Beast or the Little Mermaid with my daughter. We know every scene, every song and every line.
“It’s – of course – the same beginning and the same ending every time. But that’s not the point though, is it?
“The point is being together with someone you love and experiencing magic unfold before your eyes – even if it’s the third time that week.
“For my daughter Luna it’s like entering a fantasy realm – her eyes wide, her grin wide and heart bursting with fairy tales, magic and happily ever afters.”
Franks, who described herself as a “tomboy in a tutu” growing up, says she’s always loved Disney, a force which encouraged her future career path, with storytelling at the heart of what her iconic fashion label does. With many of the pieces selling out in one day, it’s been her most successful collection to date.
“These stories encouraged me to believe in magic and follow my dreams,” she says.
“Each one was a call to adventure, a promise that anything was possible.
“In many ways, they planted the seed for the future fairytale world of Camilla I’m so fortunate to now play in every day.
“This collaboration is a reminder to believe in yourself, believe in your dreams and take a moment every now and then to reconnect with a childlike sense of possibility and wonder.
“Luna is creative, that’s for sure – she loves to draw and paint with Mum and Dad, and she always offers her own critique of whatever I am working on.
“Naturally she was so excited to help with my Disney collaboration, and honestly provided the perfect litmus test for all of the magic we were creating. We’re both free spirits.
“She comes into the office with me – sometimes, when I’m working on a big project she’ll just sit quietly making clothes from offcuts. Because that’s just the way it is, and she loves it.
“She tells me, ‘One day I want to paint clothes like you, Mummy.’”
Franks has also sold 25 per cent of her brand to Australian investors who believe in creativity.
“And somewhere in there I became a working school mum,” she says.
“It’s not overwhelming, it’s exhilarating.
“My favourite is just to be in each other’s company. Luna does yoga with me, she loves meditating together, we’re always dancing around the house.
“We love to play MasterChef and use every pot and pan in the place, and our most recent activity is ice bathing – she loves it. I’ve got a feeling she might be like me at school.
“While she loves school, her energy and focus is definitely in the world of creativity.”
Franks is currently in Italy for her upcoming Italy-inspired collection – her next – and possibly favourite – print baby.
“It’s my first venture back into travel as the basis for printspiration,” she says.
“After three years of having our wings clipped, it was amazing to be able to travel again. Galloping across the world, print hunting.
“When discovering a new country, I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
“From Japan to Brazil, Africa, Tibet and Italy, I wake up in worlds where we often don’t speak the same tongue, but connect through the language of art, fabrics, textiles, colours, patterns, music and movement.”
Through her experience with Mike White’s acclaimed White Lotus series, shot in Sicily, she says connecting with Jennifer Coolidge, who is in Sydney for Vivid, was “amazeballs”.
“She’s exactly what you’d expect – quirky, kooky and utterly fabulous,” she says.
“She’s a comic legend, which only comes from razor sharp intellect, but put that together with devilish mischievousness and it’s a potent mix. “I’m devastated that I will be out of the country for work while she’s here. The White Lotus is the brain baby of genius writers, directors, actors, set and costume creators – what an honour to be a part of it.
“The artist in me has always been fascinated by costume designers who craft vivid characters through fashion.
“So to collaborate with Alex Bovaird (costume designer for The White Lotus) on her vision for this new ensemble of iconic characters was a dream come true.
“For season two, Alex wanted to flip the switch and focus on menswear so I curated a capsule especially for the series set in Sicily, Italy, with a shift in focus to Hotel Franks.
“From the moment Didier (Bruno Gouery of Emily in Paris fame) made his grand entrance wearing a matching Hotel Franks ensemble, menswear was in high vis.
“The show has introduced a global audience to Camilla resort dressing.”
Right now, Franks says life is like one big “beautiful, colourful circus”.
“You learn to play Tetris, making all the facets of the life you love, fit,” she says.
“I like to try and find the perfect balance between work and play, stillness and pace, and nurturing family and friendships.
“But also having the freedom to spontaneously go off-piste.
“Sometimes perfect is in the unplanned.
“I’m always grateful.
“Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing because everything I’ve been through has led me to where I am today.
“Through trials we morph into a new way of being, and it’s in these moments of adversity that growth happens.
“My purpose has always been to make people feel empowered, to make people feel beautiful, and to spread joy.
“I want every person to feel their most beautiful, empowered, authentic self.
“The bigger my business grows; the bigger my capacity is for doing good in the world. As long as my purpose stays burning inside me, I’ll always stay driven.”
She describes community, connection “and love” as the backbone of Camilla, so every online order includes a donation to either The Hunger Project, Women’s Community Shelters or the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
And following the success of last month’s Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, she says Australian fashion is exploding internationally because it is a reflection of our personality and lifestyle. “And it’s a lifestyle that the rest of the world aspires to,” she says.
“We have to be proud about what’s so unique about Australia and why we dress the way that we do. We live in a holiday destination, we’re so fortunate.
“Bondi Beach is five minutes from my house – you’re never far away from somewhere really incredible.”
And Franks has the fondest memories of growing up in Australia. “When I was a girl, my family and I used to travel to northern Australia and go on the most incredible adventures – we’d camp, then wake up at four or five in the morning to go fishing for the day,” she says.
“In our four-wheel drive, my mum and dad would take us to places like Fraser Island, a natural beauty spot where you’re surrounded by rainforests, sand dunes and endless beaches.
“It was a time when there was no chaos in my life; a very simple way of life where you ate what you caught, woke up with the sun, and slept under the stars.
“We were touched by the beauty of Mother Nature.
“These are some of the happiest memories.
“My absolute favourite place though, is home.
“Bondi Beach. Where it all began.”
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Originally published as Camilla Franks opens up about surviving breast cancer and her desire to do good in the world
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