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Lady Kinvara Balfour
Born (1975-06-30) 30 June 1975 (age 49)[1]
Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, London[1]
NationalityBritish
EducationBA in English, French & Film[2]
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Creative director, producer, writer, host, public speaker
Spouse
Count Riccardo Lanza
​
​
(m. 2009; div. 2011)​
PartnerSudhin Shahani
Children1
Parents
RelativesSir David Frost (uncle)
Lady Marcia Fitzalan-Howard (aunt)
Websitewww.kinvara-balfour.com

Lady Kinvara Clare Rachel Balfour (born 30 June 1975) is an English creative director, producer, writer, and public speaker. She is the second daughter of the 5th Earl of Balfour and Lady Tessa Fitzalan-Howard. Balfour is a niece of the 18th Duke of Norfolk.

Background

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Ancestry

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Balfour's father is the 5th Earl of Balfour (descended from Eustace Balfour, brother of the British cabinet minister Gerard, 2nd Earl of Balfour, and brother of the British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour). Her mother, Tessa, Countess of Balfour, is the eldest daughter of the late 17th Duke of Norfolk and his wife, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk (formerly Anne Constable-Maxwell). The titles of Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel and Earl Marshal of England are the oldest and premier British aristocratic titles after the Royal Family. The Norfolks are direct descendants of King Edward I and they are also the leading Roman Catholic family in Britain.[3][4] The family seat is Arundel Castle in West Sussex and Carlton Towers in Yorkshire.

Balfour is a niece of British broadcaster and TV presenter Sir David Frost and also a niece of television and stage actress Marsha Fitzalan.

Education

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Balfour attended Lady Eden's School in London,[5] followed by St. Mary's Convent School, Ascot,[6] followed by a degree in English, French and Film at Newcastle University. She completed her post-graduate education at Central School of Speech and Drama.

Career

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As playwright

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After drama school, Balfour has devoted herself in writing. Her first and best known play Dazed & Abused premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2004, where it was sold out during its three-week run. It later transferred to London and New York where Diane von Fürstenberg made her studio theatre available for the production. In 2008, Kinvara attended the Royal Court Theatre's Creative Writers Programme after which she conceived her second play, After Invisible.[7]

Balfour has also acted in the Oscar-nominated short film Cashback and the short film Away We Stay. In 2013, she performed in immersive theatre phenomenon You Me Bum Bum Train.

Balfour is an ambassador for London's Royal Court Theatre.

As editor and writer

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At 17, Balfour won the Lloyd's Fashion Challenge, a competition in fashion design, out of 30,000 entries nationwide, as judged by Vivienne Westwood. Balfour went on to assist Westwood in her design studio. Balfour then joined British couturier Tomasz Starzewski, whose clients included Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York.[8] She has also worked for Norman Hartnell, the British couture house which made both the wedding dress and coronation gowns for Queen Elizabeth II.

After university, Kinvara worked as fashion assistant at Conde Nast. Her appointment as Style Editor at the Saturday Telegraph Magazine followed.

In 2004, Balfour was appointed London Editor for US web phenomenon DailyCandy.com by owner, entrepreneur Robert Pittman. She launched the brand internationally to mass acclaim. In 2008, DailyCandy.com was acquired by US media giant Comcast for a reported $125million.[9] In 2012, Balfour launched a digital blog platform for Time Out under new ownership by Peter Dubens. In January 2014, Balfour became Founding Partner of new tech start-up StyleCard,[10] a fashion and lifestyle website 'which features cool, new things and provides exclusive offers on the best of those things'.

As host and public speaker

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Balfour is an interpreter of global cultural trends with a focus on fashion and popular culture. She is often considered a "consultant of cool" and a key influencer for international companies and brands.[11] She speaks at events and conferences around the world for corporations including Jimmy Choo, Procter & Gamble, Richemont, Coutts, UBS and Canon.

As of February 2014, Balfour hosts Fashion in Conversation for Apple,[12] a series of interviews in the UK and US with influential names in the industry like Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour,[13] blogger Scott Schuman aka The Sartorialist, fashion designers Zac Posen, Marchesa, Proenza Schouler, Mary Katrantzou, Anya Hindmarch, Manolo Blahnik,[14] "Queen of the Green Carpet" Livia Firth and Academy Award winning costume designer Sandy Powell among others.[15] On 7 April 2014, designer Tom Ford announced his marriage to Richard Buckley during a Fashion in Conversation interview with Balfour.[15][16][17][18][19][20] The series is available worldwide on iTunes.[21][22]

In September 2014, Balfour acted as guest host for The AOL BUILD Speaker Series[23] in New York, interviewing fashion designer Zac Posen,[24][25] Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School,[26] and Jens Grede, Co-Founder of Industrie Magazine, Saturday Group and FRAME Denim.[27]

Balfour has lectured at London's Victoria & Albert Museum.[28]

As producer and creative director

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As of 2014, Balfour is working on a fashion-based documentary series about industry visionaries called Fashion Week for US and UK television.[29][30][31][32]

Balfour was Executive Producer on McQueen (2018) - a documentary film about the late British designer Alexander McQueen - Directed by Ian Bonhôte and scripted by Peter Ettedgui.[33]

Personal life

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In 2009, Balfour married Italian Count Riccardo Lanza at Arundel Castle, West Sussex. They divorced in 2011.[30] Balfour and her partner, Surf Air chief executive Sudhin Shahani, have a son born in October 2018.[34][35][36]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Births". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 1 July 1975. p. 24.
  2. ^ "Kinvara Balfour". Doollee - The Playwrights Database. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  3. ^ Conti, Samantha (1 December 2007). "London's New Poor". W Magazine. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Kinvara Balfour". Specialist Speakers. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Kinvara Balfour on Instagram: "In the Cotswolds with Clairey ❤we have been friends since the day we started Lady Eden's in London aged 4"".
  6. ^ "No Ordinary Lady - Town & Country Magazine UK". www.townandcountrymag.co.uk. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Kinvara Balfour". United Agents. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Kinvara Balfour". Get The Gloss. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Comcast Buys DailyCandy, New York". Business Insider. 5 August 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. ^ "Fashion, beauty, restaurants & more; StyleCard saves you money". StyleCard. 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  11. ^ "Kinvara Balfour". London Speaker Bureau. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Fashion in Conversation, Events at the Apple Store". iTunes. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  13. ^ Won, Nancy (6 February 2014). "Up close and personal with Anna Wintour (kinda): The 5 best nuggets from her talk at the Apple store in Soho". FASHION Magazine. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  14. ^ Katrantzou, Mary. "The wonderful Kinvara Balfour channels her inner Carrie Bradshaw wearing Mary Katrantzou Resort 2014 for her 'Fashion In Conversation' series with the legendary Manolo Blahnik at the Apple Store in New York yesterday". Mary's World. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  15. ^ a b Balfour, Kinvara (3 December 2013). "In conversation with costume designer Sandy Powell". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  16. ^ Carvell, Nick (8 April 2014). "Twelve things we learnt from Tom Ford's talk at the Apple Store". GQ. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  17. ^ Kilcooley-O'Halloran, Scarlett (8 April 2014). "Tom Ford Ties The Knot". Vogue UK. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  18. ^ Marfil, Lorelei (8 April 2014). "Tom Ford Talks Marriage, Movies and More in London". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  19. ^ Sieczkowski, Cavan (8 April 2014). "Tom Ford Marries Longtime Partner Richard Buckley". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  20. ^ "Tom Ford Marries Richard Buckley". Vogue. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  21. ^ "Kinvara Balfour Fashion Talks". Tatler. 18 September 2013. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  22. ^ Elegant Ethics: Fashion in Conversation Archived 8 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Budzyna, Michelle (12 September 2014). "BUILD Presents New York Fashion Week Series". aol.com. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  24. ^ "AOL Build". AOL On. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  25. ^ Mulshine, Molly (3 September 2014). "Pre-NYFW, Zac Posen Dishes on Cooking, Couture and Lena's Emmy Dress". The Observer. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  26. ^ "AOL Build". AOL On. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  27. ^ "FRAME Denim - The Swedish Powerhouse". AOL On. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  28. ^ "The New Fashion Superstars". Victoria and Albert Museum. 13 June 2014. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  29. ^ "Lady Kinvara Balfour: Telling Tales with Clothes". Guise Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  30. ^ a b Tyzack, Anna (1 February 2014). "Lessons from the Stylish: Kinvara Balfour, creative director". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  31. ^ "Kinvara Balfour". European Speakers. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  32. ^ "Mary Katrantzou in Conversation with Kinvara Balfour". iTunes. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  33. ^ McQueen (2018) - IMDb, retrieved 8 April 2019
  34. ^ "A little boy, Marlowe Balfour Shahani, arrived into our lives". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021.
  35. ^ "babydaddy". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021.
  36. ^ "Surf Air faces lawsuit, tax liens". Los Angeles Times. 23 June 2018.
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