I'm thrilled to announce that this season's sponsor, Ruby, is
a personal favorite of mine. It is the premium at home beauty
and Wellness services platform. Ruby works with an incredible
network of expert professional beauty and Wellness therapist
that can be booked directly to your home to deliver a host of
treatments from blow dries to manicures, makeup and massages.
Ruby vets all of their therapists and I cannot fault
the quality. I've been using the services for
many years and I've always had a five star experience.
In a world where we're so busy with limited time available to
have our much needed treatments, Ruby allows you to get your time
back in the luxury of your own home.
Whether it's a 7:00 AM pre work blow dry, a relaxing evening
facial, a last minute spray tan, even IV drips which you can book
up to 60 minutes in advance in London, Manchester, Liverpool
and now Zurich too. Since launch, Ruby has firmly
positioned itself as the leading luxury on demand beauty services
app and has fans including Rosie Huntington, Whiteley, Robbie and
Ida Williams and Abby Clancy and has been approved by the most
discerning of beauty editors. The Ruby app is available on the
App Store and Play Store. You can also book your
treatments online via their website.
It is super simple to use and when you book, use the code
style DNA for £20 off your first treatment.
Today I'm going on a style journey with the founder, global
Editor in chief and publisher of 10 Magazine.
The woman who, in my opinion, is truly the most passionate editor
in fashion, The inimitable and fabulously energetic Sepia
Nafiti Apostolu. Finally, we've made this.
I know. I mean, we've been in each
other's universe. For God, so long, so long.
Just trying to remember when we first started.
Working together, it was the late naughties and we worked
together on my lookbook shows. I and I, I loved it.
I mean, talking shows. Yeah.
You're just back from the circus that is New York, Milan, Paris.
London. London, yeah.
I mean, during COVID, we all really believed it.
We're going to be different. We were all going to have these
virtual experiences be sent goggles at home and watch them
on our We had this belief it was going to nothing change.
I mean, if anything with the crew shows now it's even more
intense. And the thing that you suffer
really badly from is the experiences are amazing, but you
just feel like you're never off the plane because you're going
from 1:00 amazing cruise event to the next so.
Would you say the cruise events have almost become more dramatic
and important than the couture shows?
You know, they become something honestly that create a world
that you're immersed in by that designer.
And it's so much richer than going to six shows a day in the
rain, trawling, trying to get there, being pushed and shoved.
It's so much more enriching as an experience.
So you really do want to have that experience.
I mean, it's impossible for designers, all designers to do
this, but the ones that can and that do it well, I mean,
famously, and you know, the ones that started this were Chanel
and Karl Eichfeld. You know, that's so many that he
created. It leaves an imprint in your
memory that you don't have with everything else you experience.
I mean, maybe with a John Galliano show because that's
also immersive, even if it's during that show week, you know,
and some designers do give you that, you know, Ray Kakuba, you
know, John always had done. But, you know, shows become
harder and harder for designers. They're so expensive, so
expensive. And if you're not getting a
return on that, you're, you're hemorrhaging money from your
world that's necessary for production, for distribution,
for sales. It's just, you know, so, so the
money men are quite rightly make a decision, make a choice.
Why do you think it was that the cruise shows in particular
became the thing? Because the social media imprint
of a takeover 3 days of a group of journalists, there's not many
of us are on there, you know, from each region, 10, maximum 12
people. But you're creating content
that's dedicated to that brand. You become a sort of a
communication for the brand, for the designer about that moment
for three full days. But why was it cruise in
particular, rather than spring sulay or autumn winter?
It's slow the season. It gives people more time.
It's about how long it's going to live on the shop.
Yeah, Floor 4. I mean, it's quite practical.
Yeah, the reasoning behind it is very practical.
Those collections live on the shop floor longer than the main
line. Yeah.
It's where they make their most profit, so it makes sense.
Invest the money in the right places and they'll get the
return and I think that's what designers have experienced.
Because they are extraordinary events.
So many beautiful experiences. There's some designers that do
it so well, you know, Carl. Always.
Who else do you think is? Doing, I mean, my most beautiful
and actually inspired us interviewing this composer was
Kim Jones taking us to Egypt to see his menswear collection with
the pyramids in the background and this amazing laser show with
Max Richter playing. Oh, when the bar out is such a
memory. And you know, because you have
music, you have the, the, the pyramids, I mean as a backdrop.
I feel sad when people don't capitalise on where they've
taken you because sometimes you go to place and you think, have
you taken us to this? We could have done this
anywhere, I mean. You're just like from spring,
summer 25. How many shows did you see this
season? You know, I in my old age, in my
long experience of life in fashion, it's middle you.
Yeah, middle youth. Middle youth.
I'm going to live to be an hundred.
I've learnt to be more selective.
Obviously people that support me, I'd love to support back.
So you do attend, you know, make sure you have to go to those,
but also forage for new designers.
You do. You're like, oh, who's new?
What should we go and see? What should we do?
Who should we meet? So even in the the gaps in
between, there's going to see young designers going to their
studios. But also the thing that we do
now is the Reese's a recent. So you go to the show, you have
the experience of the show. Then you go to an appointment at
the atelier with the designer, with the PR team, and you'll
walked through the collection and you'll talk through about
the, the inspiration, the fabrication, the detailing.
And you really then understand the amount of because when
you're at the show, there's so much the music, the lights,
you're, you're trying to create your content, you're trying to
do lots of things in that one moment.
You're not as focused on, Oh, look how the hem on that dress
is detailed. Look at the beading on the shoe.
You, you don't see the inside of the shoe.
Things like that. You you go to the reasor to
actually understand. The detail, yeah, The devil's in
the air. It is sometimes that gets
completely lost on a on a big cap.
Yeah. I mean, I think now with high
def photography, at least, you know, you can go online and
really zoom in on stuff. But I mean, some of the beading
I noticed this season, you know, that beading within chiffon,
though, is just, it creates this sort of, yeah, shimmery fringe.
And then you look closer and you realize that it's a Pearl in
every noble. Yeah, of.
Yeah, friend. Yeah.
And it's hard unless you touch the weight of it.
Feel because it is experiential. It is.
Fashion isn't just about what it looks like.
It's what it feels like. It it is.
It's, it's a physical experience, you know, So I feel
like. So that becomes a lot more
layered. You know, I was remembering I
used to work at The Sunday Times Style as the fashion director
many years ago with an amazing man called Colin McDowell.
Oh, combo, combo. Yeah.
And we used to go to the shows in Milan, and he used to be
like, there's a gap in the day, let's go to Lake Como for lunch
at the Black Cat. So he's get in the car, go to
Lake Como eating this really famous restaurant up on the hill
overlooking the lake. And you haven't got time to do
that now. Clearly a really complex time
for designers and brands. You know, we're in this, you
know, there's all this shit going on in the world.
We're all being told to buy less.
The carbon footprint of fashion and all the rest of it.
I mean, how? How do designers navigate around
that? I made a weird decision post
COVID because I was not to be a bore.
But yeah, well, you were. You nearly.
Yeah, I did. I was in a coma for months, you
know, Then I woke up. I couldn't walk, I couldn't see,
I couldn't speak because I'd been intubated.
So the the tube had created this, you know, when your voice
doesn't even sound like your own and what it's really quite
surreal, yes. So then you start to assess why
do I need to put my focus? What I need to do is focus on my
world and how I build it and what I do what I do.
And in the end, you know, you know, I loved working with you.
I loved working with Baradi and Antonio Baradi and Victoria's
Secret for 10 years, you know, but it takes something, it takes
time, it takes energy, it takes commitment.
And in the end, I made this choice of I want to grow my
world, I want to grow 10. And how do I do that?
How do I make it scalable? Good for you, good, good for
you. Because actually, you know it
has got. Busier and busier has it.
It's grown. Yeah, but but for the designers,
what do you think? What's the answer?
What? What?
What are you saying to them? I mean, what am I saying?
Honestly, it's I never want to be the negative person because
that one designer that cuts through all the hardship, all
the effort, all the there's so many land mines that you're
going to come across that are going to barriers or hurdles
that you're going to face that will make you think, should I
continue? Should I continue?
I think in the end, you have to be focused on why the business
and how the business works. I think a lot of designers don't
always consider that. I think they they may do a show,
but then not really understand the business end of things.
The ones that work best are the ones that have that help, have
that mentoring and where we can we try and give them that.
Because you're not really taught that at school.
You're not taught how to to fill in an Excel sheet.
And why should you be? It's not your Vorte, but it's
important to have that information.
I wasn't taught any of that, but I know that in order for me to
continue to exist in my creative world, I have to make the books
balance. There's just, I have to make the
numbers work. I feel like when you're a young
designer, you just, you're so open.
You're like a, a giant receptor of, of creativity and I love
that. I love being part that.
I love experiencing it. So I feel like what we can offer
is the more practical help, You know, where can you buy zips
from deadstock or fabric that other designers aren't using?
Create a portal where people can go and buy these things.
Because it strikes me that you know, these businesses now, you
know, it always used to be get your business to 10 million and
and then it's 50 million and then then it's 100 million
turnover before an LVMH is an interest in you.
It's just a giant, giant hurdle. But then you look at designers
like Jacques Mousse and they've done it, they've done it.
They sussed out the. And what was their secret in
your view? I think they had their eye on
what would work commercially. I do.
I think they had an element of it.
And even if you look at what Ray does for calm, you know, the
beautiful creative pieces that come from the catwalk are just
spectacular. But there's a business end of it
where it's, you know, the sweatshirts, the T-shirt, the
things that you can buy entry level, the perfumes.
You can be part of that world without buying the couture
pieces at the you can buy those as well, obviously.
But it's about understanding the balance.
What can you do to perpetuate your world without compromising
your creativity? It's that balance.
In this world of sort of gender fluidity, yeah, have you ever
thought of consolidating 10 and 10 men?
We when we first started, it was both, yeah.
But then the market demanded for advertising and for actually, I
reacted to a demand from my advertisers.
They were like, if you had a separate magazine, you we could
put our advertising in this separate magazine.
Two years later, there it was. And that's the great thing about
being independent. Your agility is like nothing
else you'll experience. We have always had diversity.
I think people made such a big Oh, we've always considered body
diversity diversity, you know, cultural dug us always it's
always been part of our dialogue because I believe beauty isn't
just this line never has been. And I think it took people a
long time to come around to understanding that, which is
sad. But you can't, you can impact in
your way, you know, in in the women's issue, the two beautiful
boys were dressed in all the women's collections and in and
in the men's, Hannah Law did a cover story and she was dressed
in men's wear. Yeah.
So it just came from the market. And and now when we've launched,
we've just launched 10 USA a year ago.
Because my dream, when we first conceived of the name 10, I was
like, wouldn't it be amazing if it existed in other places and
it became part of the language of that place?
So it would be DJ Deese Vega if it was great.
And so I wanted it to exist in that way globally.
But even then, like my naive beginnings, I thought wouldn't
it be great to have a number rather than the name because it
could become belong to that place.
So after COVID, I made this decision to focus on 10 because
it gave me so much joy in terms of my creativity and how I could
manage the workload. Because after COVID, you do have
long COVID and that's a real, that's a reality, is a reality.
And for three years, I couldn't travel because of the blood
clots and the lung damage. So it gives you more time.
You're not chasing your, you're not on the Habsaw.
You are, but you're not. So you suddenly have time to
think about what you want to do and focus on it.
And a friend of mine who was working at American Bank at the
time, who I'd worked with when I'd done my stint at Chinese
Vogue and Japanese Vogue and, you know, did Russian Vogue and
always have freelance at Italian Vogue and worked at British
Vogue was my very first job, was Sarah Murrow's assistant when
Isabella Blow was walking the corridors with her red lipstick
in her hat. It's looking amazing.
And me thinking this is fantastic.
I thought, you know, she approached me and she was like,
I would love to start 10 in the US How do you feel about that?
And I was like, I'd love it to be you.
So we embarked on this journey of her being editor in chief of
10 USA. And then a year later, a friend
of ours that I'd worked with on Japanese, like had been there 20
years and sadly was Major Dundal.
It meant I could then ask her to do 10 Japan so.
And is there any cross pollination?
Yes, there absolutely is. But I will say this with 10
Japan, that's very Japanese. Yeah, I think the homogenization
of magazines will be the death of them in a way.
Yeah. I, I feel like you have to have
a voice that reflects the place and time of where you are.
So 10 UK is very British, you know, 10 Japan is very Japanese.
10 USA is very, you know, I mean, 10 Australia we've had for
10 years, no longer now 12. So it's, they all are very
indicative of their, of their plays.
You know, we don't do 10 designers to me, and it's 10
designers in Japan, 10 designers in Austria, 10 designers in the
US You know, it's very much a conversation about the that
place and that tie, you know, and we're just about to launch
10 Germany in March. You were the collection creator,
director of Victoria Secrets, I think for 9:00.
Years I remember. When ballet vault started, I
mean, this was super high octane show.
Yeah, yeah. What did you feel?
I mean, you know that you put a lot of you into that and you
took it to a whole other love year.
So how did you feel watching the most recent show?
I know how hard it is to come back from something.
I mean, they were really condemned at the time in that
movement of the me too. And yes, obviously there were
flaws in the approach, but honestly, there were so many
women that I worked with personally that were so
inspiring to me. Monica Mitro, who was like the
head, who actually was the person who conceived the show 25
years before that. And there's such a big group of
women and, and the models, all mothers, mostly with children
and lives beyond just the modelling, you know, it wasn't
just, and some of them in their 30s, which was unheard of
really. It taught me a lot and I, I
adored it actually. I loved creating.
And that's what I feels lacking, honestly.
People want the fantasy. People want the escapism.
It's not about it looking like every other show.
It just isn't because they had the luxury of being this
Fantasia moment and and people want that.
They want that. They're greedy for that, you
know, experience. So yeah, I mean, I loved it.
I mean, coming up with these, oh, it can be desgards,
ballerinas. And Clint and I used to go there
and then we used to make it Golden Angels for Clint and, you
know, Black Swan because not everyone understood all of those
layers. Yeah.
You know, films that were used as references and you just giant
mood, just giant mood boards and creating wings.
You know, honestly, the people you interacted with, the hand
painting, it was all chore because.
Of HD, people are coming right in and you can see every bead,
every detail. So it was important.
It was important, yeah. What are you wearing today?
Today I'm head to toe the row actually, which has become like
uniform without. It's just so brilliantly cut and
so easy to wear and the fabrics are so beautiful.
So I'd say I still wear a Liar and the Roe.
They're like my 2 main actually, only designers that I love to
wear. I mean, I've always loved a lie,
you know, I've always worn it. Always, Always, always, always.
Amazing man, amazing inspirational cream.
OK, Grashiki Question. Yeah.
A liar. The Roe.
Yeah. Eye wateringly expensive.
Yeah. Do you wear a massive discount?
No. And it's not even about, I've
got to say it's for me. I'm very, I know I have always
been very much about how long will I wear this?
I'm not a trend dresser. I never maybe in my youth when I
was like a teenage human, I'd be like down in Jane Norman buying
like what I'm going to wear that night at the club.
But no, not really. I was always very much aware of
if I'm going to buy this beautiful jacket, I'm going to
wear it till it's threadbare. You know, I will love it and I
will wear it. And I have so many iterations of
the same. Like if you open my wardrobe,
you'd see a collection of dinner jackets.
I'm like obsessed with dinner jackets.
I am, I do. It's so mad like the I love it's
always been the masculinity of the tailoring with the because
I'm a curvy girl, you know, I celebrate my curves and that's
why I lie has always been really great for me.
But even in the row, you know, like this is like, you know,
it's fitted, It's it it's easy to wear.
It's almost like a tracksuit. I know you're going to laugh,
but that's what it feels like. So comfortable.
But it still gives me an elegant Diana and it suits my body type.
It just does. I'm very much about what suits
my body. Yeah.
I've never been a victim dresser.
Nope. But you grew up in London?
Yes. Were you?
Was your mum?
Sort of. Well my mum was started as a
seamstress and then became a quality controller, so we were
always around clothes. But my dad was obsessed, had
always wore tailored suits. We used to go to his tailor
together, so we used to sit and wait for him to be fitted.
It was like fascinated that this flat piece of fabric could be
made into this elegant and he had in the day.
It was like you had your tailor and he'd had him since the 60s.
So he'd this old man knew my had his block and knew what he was
going to make him chose the fabrics.
I mean even things like weird things like sports days.
My dad did never wear jeans. He'd come with a sports coat and
the sport, not a suit. But it was all tailored.
Yes. You know, having a tailored suit
even then, was not cheap. It wasn't the cheap option.
But what he taught me was that you can have this piece for a
really long time, true forever, if it's, you know, tailored
properly. And what was your mother
wearing? Was your father very into what
your mother was wearing because he was so into what he was
wearing? I think my mum was much more of
a practical person. She liked.
I mean, I remember my first because I'm obsessed with shoes,
you know this. But in my 660 pairs of shoes and
growing stop, I have to get rid of some of them.
But they almost mark a time now that you know.
They almost like a diary. Yeah, really of my life, like AI
remember she had these amazing wedge wooden heels with patent.
We used to try and clump about in the in the 70s.
But she was so chic. My mum, she was very, very, very
chic. Even I remember pictures of her
at my christening with the big hair, you know, that we've got
from her. She was so 17, but she was so
elegantly dressed. Yeah, I do a christening.
She was 17. She had me when she was 16.
Yeah. Wow, And what was your light
bulb moment in terms of when did you first put something on as a
child? I don't remember this so
vividly. Oh, a really vivid memory.
My mom used to make us all our outfits so them so them she used
to make them for us and my sister and I had matching
outfit. Even though there's an 18 month
gap between men. My sister, we had these
matching, we look like little twins and and we'd gone to buy
these shoes and I remember seeing this, going to this shop
and and thinking the window was huge.
And these patent, black patent. They must have had a little heel
on them like this big. How old were you?
Probably seven. Yeah.
And they were like lots of buck and yeah, buckles across the
top, little gold buttons on the edges, round toad.
But it was the experience of going into this store, seeing
them in the window, trying them on in the store, feeling so
grown up. As a teenager, were you super
creative in your In your? Fashion.
When we came to the teenagers, you dressed for the music you
loved. I mean, we're doing a big music
issue actually. And what I was fascinated by and
always have been, was if you were a New Romantic, that's how
you dress. If you're a very casual, that's
how you dress. I was very into R&B.
Yeah, I mean, I was box pleat skirts used to came around my
hair. You know, we went to house
parties and but you dress in this way.
But I look like a middle-aged lady.
I mean, it was box pleat skirts. These court shoes like always
quite she funny bloused pussy bow ties and and a tailored
jacket. You wanted to message?
This is the music genre I'm into.
And and so came out of art school here.
Went into no, did my degree, then worked.
But that was so boring. I was so bored.
I'd never been so bored in all my life because it was drawing
boards and you and I wanted to travel in my head, in my
Sagittarian mind, because I really do believe that it gives
you itchy feet. You don't want to be stuck in a
predictable 9:00 to 5:00. Even then, I had a desire to do
something else and I wanted to be creative.
But you know, coming from an immigrant family, you have to
have a profession. And I feel like for for them, it
was you're a solicitor, you're an accountant, you're an
architect, you all these things. It's the lines that you're sort
of given as an option. And so I don't know, I, I feel
like I made a choice and then decided I didn't want to do it
and thank God for Paul because at the end of the day, Paul was
like, look, your husband, yeah, who he was like, I'll support
you. I will support you for a year.
Because I'd left a perfectly well paid job to go and do.
I got a dream. I worked there and then thought,
I'm going to go and work in newspapers because you could
practice your skill every week, create shoots every week.
So, you know, worked at the Evening Standard, worked at the
Independent Sunday Times, were then freelance for like Days and
ID and you know, the Italian Vogue did all these things, but
always having this responsibility for a full time
job because for me, I've always been quite a practical person.
I want to know that this is going to sustain me.
It's going to be a we're able to create my dream.
And in fact, when I first started 10, I was working at the
Independent isn't a fashion director with Susanna Frankel.
It's always been a layer of I never knew that 10 was ever
going to be able to sustain my world, but it thank God it did.
But when did the soap that I first met the Elia wearing heel
wearing? You know, I evolved.
I have a time when I could suddenly afford to buy Maya Liar
because yes, it's not inexpensive.
You know, I love what Peter does.
He's really embraced the codes of the house but made them into
his own. I respect that so much.
I think it's really hard. It is.
What was your very first designer purchase?
Oh my God, you know what? I can remember it being A John
Richmond leather jacket or a piece of body map.
It was one of the two. It was a moment when I stopped
shopping at Camden Lock and thought, right, hyper, hyper.
They've got this brand body map. I love body map.
So I understood my what my body needed because the body map was
quite jersey fitted, quite sexy ish, you know, but always with
like a leather jacket or some sort of soft and hard because I
think women have got that feminine, masculine, that's how
we are. We're not just one thing or the
other. So yeah, I'd say it was a piece
of body map. Then what?
Age Did you marry Paul? 23 and that was considered an
older bride. I was an older bride.
Yeah. So tell me about that.
Well, I mean. I've got to tell you the wedding
dress story because this is a good story.
The wedding dress story is a good story.
It was the 80s. It was the 80s and my sister had
gotten married the year before and she'd worn this.
I mean, it was Lady dye in her huge shirt.
So that was the trend. Big hair, big dresses, really
over the top, really huge. And I considered myself an older
bride. So I decided it's my goal to
have this dress made. That was very different for the
time. It was like it was almost like a
an Anthony price inspired to Ling even though because my
grandma used to live in Camden, we used to walk past Anthony
Prices store that was on the corner.
So it was an Anthony Prices and probably Dior inspired from I
don't know where I would have seen this.
The 50s musicals somewhere must have been in my head.
It was like a Duchess Saturn, which is like a heavy satin in
ivory. I made a decision to have it in
ivory and it was like a sure collar that turned into a tray
and it was a very narrow column skirt.
I remember my mum, I didn't let my mum come to any of the
fittings. And then when I so you
commissioned, yes. So when I dragged it out this
bag to show my mum, she goes, what is this?
I was like, she's like, Oh my God, it's an evening dress.
And then she said what is the colour?
I said it's ivory. And she was like, Oh, no,
everybody's going to know. I mean, honestly, she was
horrified, Horrified that it wasn't big, it wasn't BD and it
wasn't, it wasn't what she'd wanted for me.
And in my mind, I was like, I'm Grace Kelly, I'm Elizabeth
Taylor. I'm not going to do those
dresses. I'm going to do the other thing.
And she was horrified. Because should you have been in
white, should have been in white.
Proper. Everybody's going to know
everybody. I mean, she just was so funny.
And yeah, I mean it, but I loved it.
And I look back at the pictures and I think, thank God I made
that choice. Now obviously as a as an editor,
you go to so many shows a season, do you ever feel obliged
to wear the designers? No, no, I'm not that person.
I mean, I think people accept that I'm going to wear what I'm
going to wear. I mean, obviously there's a
whole slew of people that will dress for the designer who show
they're attending. And, you know, that's become
sort of the influencer domain. Yeah.
I will say, I mean, there are some people that I see, oh, they
changed outfits for that show. And honestly, if you genuinely
own a piece and you want to wear it, you should.
But I'm a real believer in owning what you wear.
I'm not really part of the. I'll borrow this and give it
back. Yeah.
I mean, the whole influencer thing has really taken hold in,
you know, when you first started?
When I first. Oh yeah.
There was no such, no. No.
And what's your view on it? I don't really call them that
anymore. We call them content creators
because that's what they're doing.
Isn't their job to create content for a brand.
And it's super smart of a brand if they're associating
themselves with a really great content creator because it can
get them eyeballs on a bag, on a piece of accessory or or the
brand itself if it's done cleverly.
I'd be utmost respect because it's hard.
And you know, for a long time they were sort of marginalised.
And it's hard for them because I'm not.
All my friends are content creators and I have the utmost
respect honestly because I feel it harder than creating a
magazine because you're constantly trying to validate
what your opinion is. Now you are the mother of Zack.
Yeah, and he is heads up the sheet productions and is the
commissioning of 10. Yeah.
And and the Empire. Does he have an opinion on what
you wear? I got to say this genius story.
I was wearing a piece of vitamin once and it was like this
striped blue and white. I don't know what possessed me
to buy this thing. Blue and white thing.
And he said no, you know, he looked like a dinner ladium.
But he's always so you look beautiful or he's always so
positive, even when I was feeling like some days when you
just feel like shitty, he'll say something really wonderful
about. But he does care, like he he
appreciate the the shoes and the outfits.
What is stay at home chill chill out sof wearing?
It's a Lily, you know, it's the jersey.
It's the yes, yes, yeah. It's like a you can wash it, you
can. And it's sort of like a sports,
you know, race back. Yeah, long to the floor dress
that I wear to sort of line the sofa in or and I might wear a
cardigan over the top bit Cashman.
Yeah, is. Fitness and exercise.
You know me, I've always been allergic to that sort of
movement. But you know, I love to walk.
I love to walk. And when you're Greek.
So yeah, what are you wafting around us?
The. Uniforms the same.
It's again the Roe or. Would you say you've got a style
icon? Oh.
My God style icon. Not really.
There's no specific person. Are you a mood dresser?
So think about what shoe I'm going to wear and then I think
what will work with this shoe? I work from the bottom up.
It's weird. And is it always a heel or?
Well, no. I've Amanda Wakeley.
You'll be pleased to know I have now moved into a flat for the
summer. Yes.
Oh my God. How would you describe your
style DNA in three words? Oh God, that's actually quite
hard. Feminine, masculine comfort.
Do you have one item of clothing that means the most to you?
Many years ago I went to Japan. I found this amazing white
wedding kimono and it hangs on my bedroom door.
And I say to my husband, if I ever die, that's what you're
going to bury me in. It's this amazing, beautiful.
Embroidered those wedding kimonos.
They're beautiful. I should be framed.
If there was a fire, I'd probably say that one thing.
What's your view on how brands and fashion actually approached
this age group? Oh.
My God, it's so much better than it's ever, ever been.
In the 80s, it probably 70s, there was a sort of age
restriction. I think now designers are really
smart. They think about the women of a
certain age with a bigger disposable income, and they're
tailoring for that woman. They just are.
But do you think that's being fairly and well communicated
through the the press, through the industry, through the
visuals? I mean, I say this often, I feel
like the moment of the shows is a moment of fantasy.
It's a moment of dreams. It's not about seeing a
practical jacket per SE, but then when you sit in a show from
the row, yes it is. Or in a live show, yes, you can
come away and think I'm going to wear this up, but that's not
always why you're at. A show, I'm talking about the
industry and how, how people, you know, how brands actually
communicate to women in their 50s, women in their 60s.
I, I question whether we're seeing enough women like you who
are really inspirational because you just own your look.
I I'd love to see more. I'd love to see more of you.
I think that, you know, I often watch those TV morning shows
where they they are like, here's where you can buy this thing and
it's on trend. And then they send someone out
on the catwalk and it's not tailored for that person.
And I feel like the disservice is happening at that grand
level, even it's it's more about saying to women our age where
what suits you best go and find these pieces.
And by the time you're our age, you know, you know what suits
you. You know, you know, the shape of
your body, unless it's changed drastically, which really
happens at our age, it's just you've formulated away, good or
bad, you have. The reality is always saying to
someone, what makes you feel confident, what makes you feel
comfortable? What is giving you your, I don't
know, the inner power? Yeah, that clothes can give you,
you know, they really can. You mentioned your shoe
collection. Nor Gore.
It's a lot of shoes, so I think it's at 600 and something.
Oh God, it's a shame. Where does it store?
Covers the house. The house is like a giant
cupboard of stuff, just so much stuff.
You know, eventually I would have to put it in in some sort
of warehouse somewhere. But and I keep saying I'm going
to sell these things, but they're so of a moment.
Like I remember the shoe I wore when I was pregnant.
We said, you know, the the shoe I bought for this event.
I'm very like that, very nostalgic about the pieces I own
because everything has a memory attached to it.
You know, my Galliano that I love that I will never sell
because you know, I've, I've just been nominated for award at
the fashion awardses and they're like, what are you in a way
where you're at? And like, I really want to wear
this beautiful Galliano piece. Do it from the wall.
I can't get into the piece, but but I'm like, what would I do?
Would I tailor it? No, because I don't want to
destroy the piece. But there's another a liar piece
that I probably will wear. So.
I like my shoe collection is like the clothes, there's so
many memories attached. So we know you love a liar.
You love the row. What about bags?
Oh God. So I've recently acquired, I
mean mainly a liar. I do have a lot of a liar bags.
If you had to count my bag collection, it would probably be
mainly a liar. But I have recently as a reward
to myself from my favorite favorite vintage store in Japan
while we were doing our first meetings there, acquired where
is it? This little beauty.
Oh my God. It's a Lindy.
It's me, Lindy, and this from Amour Vintage.
I buy a lot of vintage. I mean, I think honestly, isn't
it gorgeous? She's pretty.
She's very heavy. This was is vintage, Yeah.
And and obviously, you know, authenticated.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I'm more is if anyone's
going to go shopping in Japan, go to a mall, they've got a
whole store dedicated to Chanel. I have so many Chanel bags.
It's Alya Chanel as the majority bag.
And then this is my Hermes only. Because rumour has it that you
editors, whenever you go to a show, you get.
Presented with a bag, not always and also it's it's challenging
because you know if you go to a dinner, some may loan you a bag
or put that down. They're not on the floor, the
floor. Bad luck, bad luck.
But yeah, you do get, you know, we are in a really lucky, lucky
industry. We get given a lot of beautiful
things, you know, like honestly, I will say my wardrobe is a
collection of those things. But the majority that my
Balenciaga by Nicholas Geschier has always been something I have
purchased, my liar purchased. You know, there are things that
you, you know, Chanel. I do weird things like I'll go
to Terminal 4 and see a bag I like from Chanel because in
Terminal 4 the the selection is amazing.
The great thing about Tokyo is there's some really rare pieces,
but also you just think it's a mixture.
The pricing. The pricing only relates for me
to how many times I wear that thing.
If I'm going to wear it a lot, that it in my justification
where it's price per wear. I was going to say pounds.
Per wear is on my yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you know, if I look at Mylar up on it and still do for 20
years, so it lasts that long. I mean, what's your view on the
huge price tags on some of these designer bags now?
You can buy a vintage that's, you know, works really well,
that's less expensive. When you go to see where they're
made, they're all made by hand. Every piece of leather has a
provenance and you know where it's come from.
You know what it is? Everything is made by hand.
It's not made in a factory. What I find sad is maybe a mass
market bag which has cost £5 to make and then is being sold at.
I don't know, I don't know what they're sold for £700 or 500.
And I feel like that's just not right.
But then yeah, does the same rule apply to luxury brands?
I don't know, honestly. For me, I, I buy so like a liar,
I'm totally happy to pay what it costs.
I, you know, a lot of them have got a lot of detail in the
beadwork or the so now I'm happy to pay what they're worth.
They're worth that to me. I'm going to spend on some quick
firequest create. Sweet, I'll be quick.
What fashion advice would you give your 20 year old self?
Where What makes you happy? Which fashion trend would you
like to see make a comeback? I hate fashion trends.
A fashion or beauty trend you would consign to Room 101.
I think they're all an expression of your different
phases. So no, none of them, none of
them are horrible mistakes because they all part of your
journey. Your.
Your last name house by it. Was a piece of.
Jewelry. Your views on tattoos.
Yeah, I'm not a fan. Grooming or well-being
treatment? You couldn't give up.
My acupuncture, actually. High end or High Street?
Oh, high end, probably. Crocs cute or puke?
No, I hate Crocs sports. Lux or Rock'n'roll?
Rock'n'roll Cashmere. Or cotton cashmere.
Trilby or Tracy Tracy Trend or style Urge Style colour or
monochrome Monochrome Order or edit Order Charity shop or
resale Resale shapewear or lingerie.
Lingerie. Bikini, a one piece bikini and
finally my traditional question at the end of the day, what do
you or don't you wear in bed? Nothing.
So I could have talked to you for hours and in fact.
I loved it. That was so good, thank you.