I bring in my battered Birkin. Yes, you say?
Forget it, Amanda. We want a brand spank.
A new. Battered Birkin.
How? How does it work?
In terms of pricing, it's really interesting because we are very
tapped in to the prices in the market, so everyday we price
hundreds of bags and we also know what things are selling
for. The other thing a lot of people
don't realise about shopping in Ms. is that you can only really
take what they offer you. So say I want 1 of this, yes,
one of these, I might come in and they might offer me a little
red Kelly, but I don't actually want a red Kelly.
So and MERS was actually sued for this in the States.
It's going to be the first intimate beauty brand.
Oh my God, Can you can we talk about this a little bit?
OK. Intimate beauty brand.
Yes, right. Tell me today, I'm going on a
style journey with the founder and CEO of the resale platform,
Celier, the brilliant Hanushka Tony.
Hello and welcome Hanushka. Thank you for having me.
Oh. It's such a pleasure.
I've got the biggest list of questions to ask you before we
even get onto your own style, but I am hugely impressed by the
business that you have built. I mean, it's just incredible.
You spun on from the legal world and I'd just love to know what
inspired you to create Celia. To be honest, Celia wasn't a
business that I one day sat down and thought I'm going to start a
resale business. A lot of the credit actually
goes to my mum and Dina. So as long as I can remember,
she's always had this dream of having a consignment store that
would sell designer designer pieces.
And around six years ago she opened this teeny tiny store in
Knightsbridge with the idea of her.
I guess her ambition was just to have fun.
She wasn't looking to scale or build a big global business or a
brand or anything like that. And then COVID happened and I
stepped in and we built the business that is Celia today
together. And so COVID hit, you had to
segue onto online. And was that your brainchild?
Your baby? So I remember at the time I was
working in marketing because I had left the lawn, so I was
doing a lot of social media and branding.
And when the store closed, I realised that it was a question
of is this business going to survive or not?
So I took my iPhone, I went into this closed teeny tiny boutique.
And if you go into the original Celia store, it's so small, it's
tiny. And I started pulling things off
the shelf, training the camera on myself and talking about the
product. And I think at the time we were
the first people to really do live selling.
And I remember my friends writing to me and people I knew
and saying, Hanishka, can you please stop it?
It's, it's actually embarrassing.
Like we're at home on our sofas and we are cringing because no
one had sold in the Sway before. And I kind of thought, oh, I
don't care, I'll just keep doing it.
And things started selling, and after about a month, every
single thing we were posting had at least 10 to 15 people begging
to buy it. So we invented this tagline
called Fastest Finger First to represent how fast you had to be
to buy the product. And it all just went from there.
So the business is based on designer bags and clothing and
accessories. So we do all the categories for
women, from bags to ready to wear to accessories to shoes.
Obviously in our marketing and our storytelling, we really lean
into bags because it's something that women are naturally so
interested in. And there's so much to say about
a designer bag, whether you're talking about investment value,
how it elevates your outfit, what it represents, so.
And so the business model is it's all consignment.
Yes, it's all. Consignment, it's really
interesting because if you look at the resale industry as a
whole, there are so many incredible businesses.
I bring in my battered Birkin. Yes you say?
Forget it Amanda. We want a brand spank new.
Battered Birkin. How?
How does it work? In terms of pricing, it's really
interesting because we are very tapped in to the prices in the
market. So everyday we price hundreds of
bags and we also know what things are selling for.
So if you bring in a bag, we'll have a conversation and now say,
hey Amanda, so do you want a fast sale?
Do you want to wait a little bit or do you want the top possible
price? And you'll tell me what your
preference is and then I'll guide you because there's always
a sell today price based on what things are trading at.
But then there are clients who say, look, I'm not in a rush and
I want a very, very toppy price. I'm aware that this item might
actually not sell at this toppy price, but if I don't get it,
I'm not selling. So we try to accommodate our
clients preferences. So as a business, we have the
highest average order value in all of e-commerce.
So our average order value on the site and this is shocking is
about 3 1/2 thousand pounds. Wow.
And if per item average per order, which is absolutely
crazy. I mean even the top luxury E com
platforms, the biggest ones, if you look at their Aovs, they're
just under 1000. So we're well over triple that.
So when we decide for the Commission structure, we prefer
to have expensive items because that's what sells the most for
us. So for an expensive item, the
seller will get around 80%. And when you say an expensive
item, what are you your expensive?
No, actually an expensive item is something over 2.6000 lbs.
Right. OK, OK.
What's the most expensive item you've ever sold?
Let's have a think. I sold a few years ago a diamond
crocodile Birkin in blue. It was 4 diamonds.
It, it was factory set, meaning it was Erma's Diamonds, not
aftermarket and we got it in and it actually went to bids.
So we, which was, it's like an ordinary extraordinary.
We didn't plan an auction but we had so much interest that
someone said I'll give you 60. No, I'll give you 70.
No, I'll give you 80. So in the end it sold for around
£85,000. Oh my God, what would that have
been at retail out of interest? Well.
This is the very interesting thing at retail in today's money
that would be around 200,000. But this bag was pre loved so it
wasn't store fresh and when someone had bought it, they
probably bought it at around 150 K.
But it's interesting because the seller was desperate for a fast
sale, right? So sometimes we get these
amazing deals because the seller comes in and says, look, I do, I
don't want to wait. I want to sell this item today.
And we say, well, you can get more for it.
And they go no, no, no, no. I just want the bare minimum.
Just get it sold. Fascinating.
Yeah. I mean, this little baby that
we've got on the table. Tell me the story of that.
So I've obviously got a lot of bags.
It's a lot. A lot.
Doing my research, I know I mean how many?
Over 600. Oh my God.
You must have a huge room full of shelves.
So I have a lot of bags, Yeah, I mean, I'm very lucky to be able
to do that because obviously in this business I just get access
to the best possible pieces. But I was looking to get
something a bit different, a bit cool from a mez, and then I saw
this bag. It was actually offered to us
and people think that when I buy bags for my own business, I'm
paying rock bottom prices. I wish that was the case.
So this bag would have cost around 14,000 in store?
Yeah, sadly I did not pay that. You paid more.
I paid more. Fascinating.
And is this a A? Custom bag.
So this is actually a special order and that bag, which means
it's a limited edition bag. It comes in a blue box, so the
outside of the box is orange. You open it inside, it's Navy
blue and it's just a limited piece.
It's called a cargo Birkin. It's a 25 centimetre and it's in
the colour ver mangrove. I love it.
Hermes colours, they're just so. Creative and fun.
Yeah, they they are so inspiring, aren't they?
Oh, so that's that's current favorite.
Yes, definitely. And if I were to say to you, you
could only keep one of your 600 bags, 600 bags, which one would
it be? That is so truly difficult.
And does it change? It does.
It absolutely does from month to month.
Different favorite child. Right now it would be this back
in and I also have this baby pink, a completely useless tiny
Birkin 25 in Rose Sikora. I don't really wear a lot of
pink, but I just think it's so fun and I'm so aesthetic.
I love a good colour, you know, You just look at it and you
think it's sublime. With your 600 bags, are there
any that you've never used? Yes, there are.
And do you ever look at them and think, actually you're, you're
off to be photographed for ecom? Yes.
That normally happens more with my Chanel bags though, yeah.
Fascinating. How many Hermes bags do you own?
Oh. I'd say over 150.
Oh, my God, yeah. Can you talk to me about this
business of sometimes the bags are actually cheaper at full
retail than they are at resale? Yeah, it's it's actually
extraordinary. And this only actually happens
with Hermes. So because Hermes as a brand
really restricts who can buy their bags, what happens is
everyone wants an Ms. bag, but you go in, you ask and you're
normally refused in a very lovely, polite way.
They tell you to join the waiting list, make a wish and
you might be waiting forever. So a lot of people think, you
know what, I just can't be bothered with that.
So they come to businesses like ours and they buy exactly what
they want without having to wait.
The other thing a lot of people don't realise about shopping in
a mess is that you can only really take what they offer you.
So say I want 1 of this one of these, I might come in and they
might offer me a little red Kelly, but I don't actually want
a red Kelly. And is that the way they sort of
get you on the drip? You have you buy the little red
Kelly and say, well, actually I want the cargo when when it
comes in. So what what they do, and this
is an unofficial policy so don't come at me, is they have product
tying. So essentially it's assumed that
you would shop across all the other categories, excluding
leather goods. So you would buy cutlery, you
might buy some porcelain, some ready to wear some shoes, and
once you spend enough, you unlock a bag.
So Ms. was actually sued for this in the States.
So there's a class action lawsuit that's currently going
through the courts. Fascinating.
Because it's considered anti competitive and I think probably
actually for the UK viewers the fairest Ms. you could go to is
actually in the UK so they're far less fixated on pre spend
and product time. Wow, I'm very glad I bought my
Birkins when I did. Although they do look a little
bit worn, let's put it that. Way.
If your skin feels like it's changed overnight, you're not
alone. What used to work suddenly
doesn't, and new concerns like fine lines, dark spots, or
breakouts appear. Our skin evolves, and our
routines should too. Renew and Me creates
dermatologist design personalized treatments that
adapt monthly to your skin's needs.
Their advanced retinoid works 20 times harder than High Street
retinols to accelerate cellular renewal, smooth fine lines, even
skin tone and boost collagen, all precisely dosed in a
dermatologist approved formula. Paired with a smart base cream
tailored to your skin type, it maximizes results while
protecting your skin barrier. Expect smoother, firmer, more
radiant skin in as little as 12 weeks, all with ongoing guidance
from their UK licensed dermatology team.
Start your consultation today and get your first month of
nightly active treatment for just £4.99 with code style DNA.
Now I know you've got a very stringent authentication
process. How?
How does that work? I think in the early days of the
business we realised what we wanted our segment to be.
So we wanted to be that ultra high end of reset and in that
segment you live and you die by your reputation.
I cannot take any risks that a bag that I'm selling ends up
fake. I just cannot.
It would kill the business. So what we do is every item that
comes in goes through a three stage process. 1st, it's
authenticated in house by our team and they handle, I mean I
don't I can't even tell you the number of bags every year.
So a lot of bags are caught at that stage of the process.
Then they go to an AI authentication system called
Entropy. And what it what it does is it
takes microscopic images of your item, 1000 or 100 magnification,
and it runs it across a database of millions of images of real
and fake bags. And it gives you, I think it's a
99.9% accurate answer. And then with EMES we do a final
step and we send the bags to the world expert in EMES
authentication which is an iconic lady who lives in LA.
Her name is Bubba Baby and she is world famous for her Ms.
expertise. I mean, you must have to
occasionally let people down very gently and so well.
By the way, what you thought was your crocodile Birkin is
actually a crocodile. Fake.
Yeah, we had a case in Monaco this summer.
Absolutely. Just lovely, lovely lady came
in, she bought this crocodile Birkening and I think she had
paid £65,000 for it and we authenticated it and it wasn't
real so we had to. And the worst thing is she'd
bought it for a friend. Oh.
No. So bad.
So yeah. Talk about security.
Your security must be like do do you work in in like a sort of
ironclad? Yeah.
I mean, now in terms of our bag security, we are literally so,
so thorough with it. But we famously had a break in
that went viral in Belgravia last year.
So this time last year, which was absolutely, it was crazy.
Yeah. Have you got your insurance on
that? Yes.
So the insurance paid out, not the whole amount, but I mean.
In this world of circular fashion, have you ever partnered
with brands to help clear their excess stock?
We did in the early days of our business, but now I think brands
are so much more efficient in how they clear stock that if
we're not needed as much, yeah. I mean, we were talking earlier
about how viral your social media.
I mean, what was it? How many?
Half a billion views a year just on TikTok.
Just on TikTok, yeah. So who comes up with the ideas?
So we've been through a long process of trial and error, so
now we almost know what's going to work.
I remember this summer, this absolutely bananas.
I was going to Paris on a work trip and I thought I had a fake
Birkin in my closet that someone had bought in and that hadn't
sold. And I thought let me.
Obviously we didn't sell it and I thought let me just use that
for content. And so I took this fake Birkin
with me to Paris. I had my PA with me because it
was a work trip and I said would you mind just filming me walking
down the street with this fake Birkin on a leash?
Random why you were dragging it? Yes, I was dragging it outside
the Ms. store on a leash and we were filming people's reactions.
So I did that and I forgot that I had this video and I posted it
maybe three months later and it got 15 million views on
Instagram, 20 million views on TikTok.
So much engagement. And it was literally just an
idea that I came up with just round him.
And I thought why not? And it could have been.
It could have been an absolute flop, or it could have done
amazingly, which it did, but you never know until you film.
Yeah, it is quite trial and error, isn't it?
What next for Celier So? We're now three locations in
London, one in Monaco and then we have presence up and down the
country. So I think in total we've got 14
points of sale. We're actually opening in the
Middle East. So in Dubai.
I, I've not announced that yet. So now, now it's out there,
which is very exciting and we think that's going to be our
next market for growth. So 2026.
Said yes coming to Dubai. Amazing.
Any other projects? I'm working actually on a new
business, but essentially it's going to be the first intimate
beauty brand. Oh my God, Can can we talk about
this a little bit? OK.
Intimate beauty brand, right? Tell me.
So I was really thinking about the fact that as women, we have
beauty products for every part of our body.
So everything from eyelash serums to cuticle ores to leg
oils to conventional moisturizers.
But what do we have for our intimate regions?
And it's still very much something.
If you say the word vagina, people normally jump out of
their skin. It's still a bit taboo.
God forbid you say pussy. I mean, you just, you just can't
say it. So you just did.
I just did, and I'm really passionate about the idea of
destigmatising female Internet Wellness and beauty.
So Juice is launching in February 2026.
And just tell me a bit, what was the inspiration behind Juice so
I. Was sitting on a beach in Monaco
and I was reading a copy of Cosmopolitan and I came across
an article about I don't know if I should.
Say this. You can say it.
You say it. I.
Came across. You've got to get used to saying
it because this is a new business.
I came across an article about men who like eating pussy.
Now in and of itself that's not very controversial.
OK, some people like it, some people don't.
But what stayed with me was how they described the flavours.
So some people talked about it tasting like French Brie or
milk, but then the worst one was fish.
And I actually at the end of the day, I don't really care what
men think. I don't I'm all about female
confidence. So how you feel?
But it planted a seed in my head because I remembered all the
conversations I've ever had with my girlfriends.
And quite often when you're starting to be intimate with a
new partner, you do think, am I the best I can be?
I mean, you've put on your perfume, you've got your
Brazilian bum bum oil and you smell amazing.
And I thought, why don't we have anything to boost confidence
down there? So we created this intimate
moisture melt, which is a small Suppository.
You insert it like a tampon and it melts inside you in about a
minute and it releases the most incredible flavour and scent.
It comes in three flavours, strawberry, cherry and Peach.
Wow. Well, good luck with that.
So that will that hit boots? Will it hit Harvey Nichols?
What? What's the marketing strategy at
the beginning? At the beginning, we're going
direct to consumer because we really want to build a strong
brand ourselves organically. We've got an amazing team that's
going to be building it. So and then further down the
line, we're going to explore retail and wholesale.
Very exciting. Well, good luck with that, God.
Now today we're going on a style journey, your style journey.
Tell me about what you're wearing.
So I'm actually not really dressed the way I would usually
dress, but today I was in a kind of a more What's the word for
what I'm wearing? How would you describe this
outfit? Pretty and feminine, yeah.
And yes, you know, you've got the the sort of Brodery Broder
Onglet Broder. I can't say it, Broder.
Onglet and yes, sort of. Body skimming.
Yeah. Today's outfit is, I would say,
quite pretty, quite delicate. It's not what I would usually
wear. This is a Magda butcher on top
Levi's jeans because I think that right now Levi's are doing
the best jeans, which is crazy but better than anyone.
A pair of Chanel boots, an Irma's bag and just some
jewellery. So you grew up in Azerbaijan?
I did. How old were you when you left
there and came to the UK? So I was about four years old.
So do you have any memories of living there?
I do, actually. My childhood memories of
Azerbaijan are quite vivid, so Baku, where I grew up, is on the
Caspian Sea, so I remember daily walks along the long Blvd. on
the sea front. I remember the food, I remember
the faces, my family. Gorgeous, do you?
Do you remember what sort of clothes you were wearing back
then or? Yeah, so growing up that I was
born just as the Soviet Union collapsed.
And during the Soviet Union everyone was obsessed with
Western fashion, but you couldn't get it.
So what would happen, and my parents would tell me these
stories, is the local supermarkets and grocery stores
where you would buy your sausages and your milk.
Once every few months they'd get a delivery of say, 3 or 4 Levi's
jackets and there'd be a queue of 500 people trying to buy
them. And the Star back then.
So my mum's generation, it was very flamboyant.
It was 80s, it was bright colours.
Azeri women, they love to dress up.
So everything was kind of fuchsia, pink or turquoise, and
the big shoulders and the jewellery and big hair.
And then you came to the UK and you lived where?
We moved to Croydon, so my parents moved from Azerbaijan to
the UK, literally with the shirts on their back.
Way old. Britain.
And at the time, which was actually quite different to the
way it is now, it was a very kind of a sleepy almost, I
wouldn't say middle class, but everyone there was in their 60s,
not old, but, you know, just it was a boring place.
Yeah. When we moved there it was a
boring town outside of outside of London.
And were you in a school uniform?
Yes, yeah. And any memories of that?
Oh my gosh, so bizarrely my parents couldn't decide on what
school to send us and they found a super random local school
called Follies End Christian School and I'm not sure what
kind of Christianity it is. It was because I remember in
assemblies you'd you'd do your hymns and then people would fall
down and say that they were possessed by the spirit of the
Holy. So was it evangelical?
Yes, it was a very evangelical school, very unusual.
So anyway, the uniform there was basically a burgundy tracksuit.
And how did you feel about it? I mean, I didn't love it but
didn't have much of A choice. Has it affected your sort of use
of the colour burgundy? I hate burgundy.
I hate it. And do you think it's because I.
Think so. Yes, interesting.
And when was that moment that you first put something on and
you thought, this makes me feel different?
My mother Dina always was and is incredibly interested in
fashion, but in those very theatrical pieces.
So even though we didn't grow up affluent by any means, she would
always save for, I don't know, six months and go to London, go
up to Harvey Nichols and buy one thing, whether it was a pair of
kind of 90s Dolce Gabbana shoes, the kitten heel and on the front
a little icon of the Virgin Mary.
And she'd bring them home. And there would always be that
sense of when she unboxed them, I think personally.
Oh, I know it was a bag and I was.
Interesting, and what bag was it?
I was 15 years old and I'd gone up to Topshop in London and do
you remember the days of Topshop at Oxford Circus?
That was such an experience and I saw this baby blue lambskin
leather bag with brass studs from the brand Giovanna.
Don't know, random, and at the time it cost for me it seemed
like a fortune. It was £95 and I saved for five
months to buy that bag and I don't think I've ever been more
euphoric. Now, because you started out as
a lawyer, I did. What were you wearing back then?
So I was a lawyer at a very traditional, lovely English law
firm in the city, and everyone was dressed accordingly.
But I found it very hard to dress boring for the office, so
I'd always wear a little pencil skirt, a nice top, a lovely bag.
Obviously at that time I wasn't kind of rocking around in Chanel
or anything like that, but I'd always have quite, quite nice
pieces. But I remember constantly being
told off for breaking unofficial rules.
So I didn't realize that you had to wear tights to the office.
Apparently that's a thing. Who knew?
And you couldn't wear. I was constantly getting told
off for wearing shoes that were closed at the back and you
couldn't show a toe. That was also not allowed.
Could you show some toe? Clean.
No, no, very, very particular SO.
Very conservative. And then you broke free.
I did. Was that because your mother had
this vision for selling? So actually I'd already left for
law earlier. So I'd career pivoted into a
marketing job and I'd had my first bit.
So I'd left for law because I wasn't enjoying it and it wasn't
for me. I had my first baby so I had my
son Kingsley. We moved to Monaco and I think I
was maybe 2 months postpartum and I thought this staying at
home life is not for me. I was just AII was so under
stimulated and I think the stress of a newborn baby and I'd
had an emergency C-section and it was all a lot.
And I thought, right, I need to, I need to do something with
myself. So I got a marketing job.
So that's what I was doing before Celia.
And what were you wearing for your marketing job in in Monaco?
Oh, at the time I was wearing a lot of Reformation, kind of
those cult Gaia, very casual jeans.
But into your fashion. Into my fashion, always.
And what do you think sparked your love of luxury goods?
I think. It part of it was I'd, I'd
always see how my mum would be transformed by, she's very
theatrical in her dress choices. So by the drama and theatre of
the pieces she chose. And obviously if you go to the
High Street, if you go to say Marks and Spencer's, no shade to
Marks and Spencer's, it's great, but you're not going to get a
piece that's kind of like walks into the room before you do.
But designers and luxury, they, there's an element of
storytelling and they create worlds.
So from a very early age, I was conscious of how transformative
luxury fashion could be. Because it's not for the
everyday, Not necessarily. Are you, are you very conscious
of messaging through your clothes and accessories?
I think. How you dress is very much what
you portray to the world. It's interesting because I
always really admire people who just go out.
They don't care how they look and they're all about just who
they are. And I think that's incredible.
But for me, I find getting up in the morning, deciding what to
wear, picking pieces I love, you know, having a certain routine,
it sets me up for the day and I feel confident.
But I also want to project that confidence with the clothes I
wear. When you when you need to feel
empowered, what do you tend to reach for?
I actually love when you have a whole look where everything
really works well together, so where the shade of the bag
complements, you know, the top. It doesn't need to be matchy
matchy, but it just needs to feel very thought out.
And do you? Do you plan your looks or your
mood? Dresser Never a complete mood
dresser Unless it's a red carpet like the British Fashion Awards,
I never really plan what I'm going to wear.
Have you planned that already? I have.
Can you tell us?
Yes, so last year I wore Dipetza.
So these are, it's an amazing female Greek designer and she
creates these dresses inspired by Greek goddesses getting out
of the water. So it kind of clings to you and
beautiful. This year I wanted to do
something a bit different, so I'm wearing cleopat.
Is that how you say the brand? I don't know cleopat, but it's
this really interesting shade of green.
So I got the dress for the colour.
It's this, I don't even know how to describe it.
It's a, it's a bit of a vintage kind of Victorian green, but a
beautiful corset that ties laces really tightly in the back and
then some embroidery in the front.
So it's very different. Have you ever worked with a
stylist? No, I haven't.
No. So this is.
All. All you.
Just a passion for fashion. How much do you tend to shop
from the pieces that are coming into the to silly?
So actually this morning before coming here, I had the team drop
me off a big bag of clothes that have just been consigned to us
and there were some hawkers in there.
So there was a Christopher Espa cobalt blue silk gown, you know,
the one with the cutouts. So I tried that on keeping that.
There was a Marcus Alameda baby pink with a salmon tint Coward
set of this denim top that's a bit corseted and these salmon
baby pink jeans looked amazing keeping that.
And yeah, there are. I'm not.
Even going to ask you what your annual budget?
Is but I do resell things so it all balances out.
You see it just it just works. Do you keep it on a spreadsheet?
No, no, maybe not. If I would say to you, you could
only dress in two brands, 01 Designer and 1 High Street,
which two would they be? For everyday and this is kind of
High Street Kalt Gaia. It's not quite a luxury bag ish
ish ish. Love Kalt Gaia.
And for designer right now who's doing interesting things, I
think Christopher Esba. I just love Christopher Esba.
Now I'm going to hold your toes to the fire and say proper High
Street, proper high. Street I'm not going to say Zara
because everyone says Zara. She's.
Going to say whatever, what would you when you're dressing
high and low, where do where do you enjoy going?
World Prize version. I'm going to say Zara, yeah.
Yeah, when do you think you really discovered your style
DNA? I think it's actually been the
past few years. After having children for a
little bit of time, I was in this no man's land.
I didn't know what I wanted to dress like.
I didn't even really know what I wanted to feel like.
And then 2-3 years ago, something just clicked into
place. I think work was going really
well. Everything was kind of great and
I thought, OK, what are we doing here?
How are we looking? And so I kind of put myself on
this journey of discovering what brands do I love, what fit, what
do I embody, what do I want to look like?
And so we've talked about the brands.
What fit do you like? Are you generally body con?
I think I'm quite petite, so I always love girls who can rock
an exaggerated silhouette, but I'm petite.
I'm narrow so I normally go quite body con, quite fitted,
Nothing that swamps me too much. So that's my fit.
And how tall are you? I'm 5 foot three, yeah.
Does your husband have a view on how he likes to see you?
It's so interesting. Whenever I talk to him, he
always says look, it doesn't matter how you look, I love you
whatever way. Good boy, he's a keeper.
But his whole philosophy is actually quite interesting, he
says. I honestly can't.
I just don't care at all about your clothes.
I just want to see you happy. So yeah.
How lovely. What did you wear to get
married? Oh God I wish I could do it
again because my dress was horrific.
Oh no. Oh, but at the time it seems
like a good idea. What year was this 20?
14, right? It was the era of these big
gowns and I remember around the time I was getting married,
just, you'd still read magazines and you'd see celebrity weddings
and the inspiration at the time I, I don't want to tell you my
inspiration. Come on, come on, fess up.
I. Remember, loving Danielle Lloyd,
Do you? Do you know who that is?
Yeah. So I loved everything she would
wear. Anyway, I got this huge,
enormous Zahir Mirad dress. I mean, it was so big.
It was bigger than this room and.
Where did you get married? In the South of France.
Yeah, OK, so so here Mohammed, and describe the dress to me.
I. Also had a horrific hairstyle.
I mean, it was no. Such thing as horrific.
No, it was horrific. Maybe, shall I?
Maybe I'll send you a picture for you to put on screen.
It was horrific. Everything about that look was
absolutely awful. So really, try again.
A huge, huge train like this big poofy Cinderella.
Did you enjoy? It on the day.
I mean, I loved the wedding, I loved seeing my friends, my
family, but whenever I look at the pictures, I just, yeah.
But you felt good on the day. Yeah, I think so.
Yeah. Well, there.
You know you can. You can do something slinkier
and sexier for a celebration of. Exactly.
So tell me, what is date night Hanushka?
Wearing on a date night. I like something very fitted.
So recently I was in New York in Kiff.
I walked in and I got this amazing little corset in tartan.
It's not Westwood, but it looks like Westwood, so it laces at
the back. It really pulls you in.
And then a pair of low slung military green jeans with a
belt. So it's quite a nice like
dichotomy between the tight laced corset and then the quite
utilitarian jeans. Yeah.
And high heels. Always heels.
And heels from where? Everywhere I like, but they need
to be high. They need to be high.
So that's Aquasora, that's Amina Muadi.
We don't. We don't get involved with the
kitten heel ever. Ever.
So what is stay at home chill out Hanuska wearing?
Sometimes quite a big oversized T-shirt to be quite comfortable
or I'll wear like a skims body and then some track pants.
Do you have a style icon? I think it changes.
But Karen, I have to say, I just think Kim Kardashian could not
put a foot wrong lately. I think she's got a new stylist
she's fired who she was working with before.
And her looks right now I think are incredible because they're
sexy, but also subversive and a bit, I mean, they're not.
They're very sexy, but they're also different.
Do you consciously mimic it? I mean, in my everyday life, I
don't really have a lot of occasions where I can rock about
looking like Kim Kardashian. In the Latex.
Yeah, exactly. But if I did, I would.
How would you want your husband or a close friend to describe
your style DNA in three words? Sexy, quirky, confident love.
That does your weight or your perception of your body affect
what you wear? Massively, and I think I'd be
lying if I said no it doesn't. I think we're all quite
conscious of how we feel within our clothes.
So I know that if I feel a bit heavier or if I have water
retention, I will very much dress differently to when I feel
quite jimmed and worked out and at my best.
I mean, I think as human beings, we particularly in the fashion
world, we can all be a bit guilty of sizing people up very
quickly. And I'm sure you you've actually
had to hone that skill for people walking through the door
of Celia to say I want to sell this or I need to sell that.
But are you, are you conscious of doing that or is it, is it
intuitive? Look, personally, I've always
had a sense that in my business people, often before they meet
me, they completely prejudge me. They have an idea of who I am,
what I'm about, what my priorities and interests in life
are. And that's fine, everyone's
entitled to do that. But I genuinely, whenever I meet
someone, I always completely dispense any assumptions about
who they are and I don't tell myself any stories about people.
I really try and get to know a person when I meet them, even if
it's in a business context. So I always dispense all
assumptions and judgement, especially in business.
But you never, you never sort of read someone by what they're
wearing. Oh, by what they're wearing.
You know what's interesting? Again, it's very, very difficult
to assume anything based on what someone's wearing in our store.
Some of our biggest spenders have walked in dressed so
modestly, just so simply, without any overt luxury brands,
and you think it's just a person coming in for a browse, which is
fantastic. And then 20 minutes later
they've dropped 80,000 lbs on three bags.
You know you, you, you just never know.
Let's talk about planning. Is your wardrobe phenomenally
organized? Oh yes.
So before, I used to have this idea that you have this amazing
collection of clothes that you built, build up over the years.
You have your favorite jackets, things you wore to this
occasion, and then you kind of curate your wardrobe over the
decades. I've completely abandoned that
because I've realized that personally, for me, I feel best
in my clothing when I wear it for the first few times and my
excitement dissipates the more I wear something.
So every, I'd say every season. So autumn, winter, spring,
summer, I kind of go back to the drawing board with my wardrobe.
So I keep the same jeans. I have a few Chanel jackets I
would never sell, but everything else like tops, skirts and
dresses I sell everything with Celia and I start again.
Wow, how enviable. I mean on the on the note of
selling, do you think there's anyone else, any other platform
that's doing a really good job of the circular fashion?
I mean, I think right now Vistiere Collective and Vintage
are both doing a great job. With Vintage, it's more of a
it's, I don't actually use it, but I know a lot of people rave
about it. So you can pick up some absolute
bargains there, but you really have to dig.
It's obviously not a high touch service, but I've heard great
things and obviously the Steer Collective are a huge global
platform. So on there you can get
anything, anything. There are millions of listings.
But coming back to your wardrobe, if you're uncertain
about something, who do you most trust to give you an honest
opinion? My mum and my sister-in-law.
Do you do you tend to generally just follow your gut instincts?
Yeah, yeah. Would you say you've had a worst
fashion moment? Got apart from my wedding, I
think post children I was wearing some rather questionable
things. I went through a stage of
wearing I don't know why these big optical glasses because I
thought they made me look really cool and a bit intelligent and
mysterious like why? And then I and.
Did they have any lens in them? No, they did, to be fair.
And then I'd pair them with, say, a Rizzo dress or a floral
Reformation dress. And then to be quite cool, I'd
maybe wear a pair of trainers with it.
Oh, terrible. We don't talk about that.
When you're choosing what you want to wear, do you start with
one particular item in mind, like your gorgeous cargo Birkin
that you want to, you desperately want to wear that,
so you work around that? Or do you?
Just how do you approach? That I I can always find a bag
that fits what I'm wearing with 600.
Birds, a bloody hope you can. So I never actually start with a
bag. I normally start with the colour
palette that I want for the day. So do I want to be quite dark
and also the energy, Do I want to be quite dark and a bit
Moody? Or do I want to be quite prim
and, you know, a bit more feminine And then it all goes
from there? Do you have one item of clothing
that means the most to you? So my dad has this vile, it's a
vile shade of mustard yellow. He's got this mustard yellow
men's oversized jacket that he bought in 1986 in a Soviet
grocery store, which is where you used to buy clothing.
And it's become his lucky jacket.
OK, this is over. It's bizarre.
So essentially, over the years, whenever anyone he knows has a
problem, he takes this jacket and he lends it to them, and
whatever is going wrong in their life suddenly resolves itself.
Wow. So people have got jobs with
this jacket. They've started relationships
with this jacket. Improbable things happen when my
dad loans out his lucky mustard jacket.
Anyway, it's now in my wardrobe. Do you wear it ever?
Every now and then. I think I've worn it out of the
house twice, but the colour is truly terrible.
Sometimes I wear it around the house.
And has it, has it made an impact?
I feel like it has since I've had it, I've been happier than
ever. Let's talk about travel.
Do you pay particular interest or attention to what your
airport look will be? Yeah.
I love to be comfortable, but I also like having a sick look.
You know, when you look in the mirror you think, oh wow, I look
quite cool even though I'm travelling.
It just makes me feel better about being on the plane for X
number of hours. And you need to be comfortable
as well. So yeah.
What luggage do you use? Rimowa, everything's matching,
everything's silver. And do you ever take multiple
bags with you? Yes, always.
And do you do you trust checking them in?
I mean, I normally put my most valuable ones in the hand
luggage, so I have a little Ramona of my handbags and then
things that are less precious will go into the hold.
Good Packer, Bad Packer. Oh chaotic, but packing cubes
have actually made things a lot easier.
I don't know if you use them but they're the best thing.
I just buy them off Amazon and I have packing cube for my gym
kit, packing cube for everyday looks, packing cube for jeans
and it's just so efficient. Heavy Packer Light.
A very heavy packet. Like how many cases?
So I went to I've been in Harvard for a month and 1/2 on a
course I. Saw that?
Yeah. Which was so fun, but basically
everyone else on this course who was doing it, they everyone had
one to two suitcases. I rocked up with six enormous
Rimowa suitcases. I love it.
Your wardrobe secret. Which brand is your guilty
secret and why? I sorry to plug my own brand,
but Celia, because I just, I love it more for ready to wear I
think than for bags because you find so many pieces that are out
of season, but they were the best in that season that you
just can't get anymore. So I love it.
God I love the circularity of your wardrobe.
Guilty secret. What is the most expensive item?
You don't have to tell me how much either accessory or
clothing that you've bought. The most expensive item that
I've bought for myself was a gold protect watch last year
that was a Nautilus. Have you ever bought yourself
something as a reward for a deal well done?
Or closing a round of fundraising.
Or just a a token gift. To self, I remember that when
Celia was, I really could see the business taking off and we
were selling all these expensive bags and Birkins and Kelly's.
But at the time I didn't have a mini Kelly and I'd never bought
anything for myself, especially not at resale prices.
And so I guess this must have been about five years ago now,
and I decided to treat myself to my first Mini Kelly.
I bought it at a resale premium, so at the time it was super
expensive. I think I paid 13,000 lbs brand
new which seemed extortionate. Brand new in Celia.
Yes. So a client came to us.
They'd paid 4000 for it. I'd paid them thirteen.
I've worn that bag to death since.
But if I was to sell it today I'd get around 19,000 for it.
Oh my God. I mean, on that note, have you
ever bought Emma's bags from the store?
I have and I used to a lot, but I don't anymore because I feel
like because of our viral videos, every time I go into
into a store, they kind of know they know and I feel quite bad
putting anyone in an awkward position.
So I just don't do that. Yeah, yeah.
And also, it doesn't sound like you need to because you get this
amazing yeah choice. Let's talk about sustainable
fashion. So what do you do with your
clothes when you've had enough of them?
I resell them or I give them to charity.
Charity of choice. To be honest, just the local
charity shop what whatever it happens to be.
I think a lot of these listeners would like to know which one is
that. Octavia on the Brompton Rd.
Fantastic. What would be the oldest piece
in your wardrobe? So the oldest piece right now in
my wardrobe is the Birkin that my husband first bought me for
Valentine's Day when we started dating.
Oh my God, Good, happy. Yeah, it's Navy blue box leather
with this special crisscross hardware.
It's really limited edition. And then the oldest piece, I
have a Chanel bag for my birth year, which is 1989.
And it's it's quite nice to have a bag from your favorite brand
in your birth year. Gorgeous, I've got to ask you do
you still own your wedding dress?
The one that you do. I do, so after the wedding I
took it to Jeeves Belgravier to be professionally cleaned.
They put it in a box for you and it's somewhere at my house.
Let's spin on some quick fire questions.
What fashion advice would you give your 20 year old self?
Stop trying to be something you're not.
Which fashion trend or era would you most like to see make a
comeback? Oh, the 90s.
What fashion or beauty trend would you consign to Room 101?
Laminated eyebrows. You'd be amazed how how many
people talk about the slugs. Your last impulse buy?
This bag. Views on tattoos.
What did Kim Kardashian say? You don't put a bumper sticker
on a Ferrari. But I like the one.
Some people to be fair, just not for me.
Beauty treatment you couldn't give up profilo painful.
I know. High end or High Street?
High end. Bling or bear, Minimalism or
maximalism, Couture or charity shop couture, Crocs, cute or
puke? Puke Birkin or Kelly Birkin
sneakers or stilettos. Stilettos, bags or shoes.
Bags. Boyfriends, barrels or wide
legs, wide legs, body con or boho body con, sports, lux or
rock chick, Rock chick, red carpet or relax.
Red carpet. Trend or style?
Trend color or monochrome color? Experimental or uniform?
Experimental? Cashmere or cotton?
Cashmere. Trilby or Tracy?
Oh, Tracy. Order or editor?
Editor. Charity shop or resale?
Resale. Shapewear or sexy lingerie Sexy
lingerie tights stockings or hold UPS tights Finally,
traditional last question at the end of the day, what do you or
don't you wear in bed I. I wear a T-shirt.
Anushka, I have loved this conversation.
My God, you're passionate about your fashion and it's just been
wonderful to talk all things fashion and style with you.
So thank you for. Being such a great so much loved
it. Thank you.