BLACKBURN-raised fashion designer Wayne Hemingway has thrown his weight behind a town dress agency.

Sisters-in-law Carol Kenyon, 59, and Brenda Buck, 58, transformed their Simply Snacks sandwich shop in King Street into a high-end dress agency, after Blackburn with Darwen Council reversed the flow of traffic on the road outsider.

Blackburn wallpaper company Graham and Brown donated Hemingway-designed ‘Deco Diamond’ paper to decorate the 1930s-built shop.

After hearing the news, Wayne said: “It’s great to see Graham and Brown donate some of the Vintage by Hemingway wallpaper to No 46 Dress Agency.

“I grew up in Blackburn scouring jumble sales and charity shops for cool second-hand clothes, and loved trawling through Tommy Balls for old 50s and 60s “dead stock”, and developed my thrifty and sustainable outlook that way.

“Making and mending, re-using and up cycling, principles that my family instilled in me, are rightly back in vogue and long may it stay that way.

“I wish all the best to No 46.”

For more information on No 46, which also takes in clothing repairs and alterations, visit: www.no46dress agency.co.uk.