‘I’VE ALWAYS LOVED PLAYING WITH clothes. As a child I lived in my own fantasy world, making up games and acting out little plays. My parents encouraged it. My mom was a thrifter way before anybody thought it was cool, and she would pick out bits and pieces for my dress-up box when she went shopping. It was full of hats and shawls, sequined dresses, feathered boas, prairie dresses and cowgirl boots. One summer I wore a Wonder Woman bathing suit twenty-four hours a day, every day. Even when I was tiny, I wanted to be expressive through clothing. I just never grew out of my desire to play dress-up.

My mother was a born recycler and frugal woman who loved a bargain. The thrifts in town were gold mines, full of Laura Ashley dresses or polo shirts I might be coveting. So my mom took me to the thrift stores, to hunt until we found what we wanted. It was really unusual back then to buy second-hand; it was almost weird, but it was just what we did. My mom normal-ised it for me. She instilled in me the thrill of the hunt.

Both she and my dad enjoyed clothes themselves. They appreciated quality and thoughtful design and sheer beauty. I remember a specific birthday or Christmas when my dad bought my mother an Hermès scart. I remember the beautiful orange box arriving - the packaging was impossibly glamorous, the designs were exqui-site. For my eighteenth birthday my parents went halfsies with me to buy a pair of Margiela Tabis from IF in Soho. I had been obsessed with them for a year, but they were wildly expensive for a teenager. I still wear them.

FREEDOM

I was lucky to have parents who supported my interest in dance and theatre and fashion, who related to it themselves. As a teenager I was desperate to leave our small town in Connecticut and get into New York City. I would beg my dad to take me into NYC so I could hang out at the Fiorucci store, hoping to catch a glimpse of Madonna or Cyndi Lauper because I’d read somewhere that they shopped there. He would indulge me for an hour or so and then say, ever so gently, ‘Maybe they’re not coming today, Chloë,’ and take me to Saks to soothe me with a little window shopping. My family took a lot of pleasure in style and expressed a lot of love through clothes and fashion.

All of these elements came together when I was trying to choose what to wear on my wedding day. I’d never really thought very much about wedding dresses beyond assuming that if I ever married, I would wear one of my favourite vintage gowns - something I’d had for years. However, when the moment came, I was just overwhelmed by the pressure of what to wear for such a big moment in my life. I’m lucky to have worked with a stylist, Haley Wollens, for many years, who was very helpful and constructive during this daunting wedding dress process. In the end I had three outfits; one for the ceremony, one for the dinner and one I could dance in, at the party. I got married in my hometown, in a local church, with all my family and friends around me, and then after the reception, we went to a party at my brother’s bar back in the City. The dress I wore for the church ceremony was full-length and white and very deconstructed, almost tattered, with a high neck, long sleeves and a train designed by Glenn Martens for Gaultier Couture. A little bit traditional and a little bit alternative. I felt like a sea anemone or a siren washed up on the shore in that dress. It was a magical moment of dressing up, a fantasy like the childhood games 1d played with the same friend who were there that day. I think that’s what people want to feel at a wedding: both rooted in their community and also trans-and that was how I felt in all three of my dresses. ported into a fantasy of love. That was what I hoped to project Even as a teenager, 1 loved that traditional-with-a-twist aesthetic. The ability to make something classic feel different appealed to me. It was why I loved Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode, who would wear a black turtleneck and jeans and black loafers and make it look like such a special version of something everyday. I was always striving for that.

There was also a large dose of the usual teenage desire to be different and to show the world that I was not just a blonde, blue-eyed Connecticut girl. I was obsessed with New Wave, grunge and punk and being alternative. That was so important to me when I was in high school. I wanted to project all my passions through my clothing, and really let that freak flag fly.

A lot of my inspiration came from the British style magazines like i-D, The Face and Dazed who were talking about those alternative scenes and elevating fashion in such an interesting, cool way.

They covered Seattle grunge and minimalist avant-garde fashion far more closely than the US magazines. They were a touchstone for me; I just devoured them. A lot of my style as a kid was born out of insecurity. I thought I needed more in order to be inter-esting. I’m not even sure about more of what. More layers or accessories, perhaps, or more jewellery, more make-up. Seeing how photographers like Corinne Day were shooting fashion taught me that you really don’t need much. You can have one cool piece, and simply by being yourself, you can create a look.

I spent years wanting to be part of the scene I was reading about and could see around me in the city. And then, trom one day to another, 1 was. I got scouted for i-D on the street in New York and suddenly I was in the pages of the magazine I loved, wearing a Comme des Garçons dress. My life took a different turn. I can see that playing out in my high school graduation photo. I was seventeen, wearing something I’d cobbled together from thrift stores under my cap and gown, and around my neck is a pendant I made myself from lace ribbon with a piece of FREEDOM boxwood tied to it. I’d seen something like it on the Margiela catwalk that year and wanted to copy it. It summed up everything I wanted to be as I left high school behind. The punk ethos of using found pieces, the simple shape of the wood and the contrast with the lace, the minimalist elegance.

I’ve always tried to figure out what it is I want to project with my clothes and aim for that, rather than concern myself with the labels other people use. I’ve been called an ‘It girl’ and my style has been described as both ‘cool’ and ‘elegant’. Obviously these are flattering terms and I’d rather be applauded for my style than not, but I think any moniker is pretty hard to swallow and even harder to maintain. I’m now the forty-eight-year-old mother of a three-year-old son. When I’m hanging out in the playground I’m not thinking about being cool or elegant!

I’m trying to figure out what style means to me at this stage in my life. I just did a big closet clean out and sold quite a lot of clothes to raise money for charity and for the cost of storing those pieces I do want to keep. It was an interesting process. I had to ask myself a lot of questions. Do I still want to wear a Peter Pan collar? Am I really going to keep this dress I can’t fit into any more? Or all these jeans? Will my son want them one day? I know I would have loved a stack of vintage jeans when I was a teen, but will he?

Since I had my son I’m not the shape I used to be. I’ve got boobs now. I’m curvier. It’s taken me a long time to get used to that and I still struggle. Our minds are very powerful when it comes to telling us how to feel about our bodies. It’s crazy how powerful that shame can be, though it also makes sense given that we still see only a very restricted range of bodies in the media. It’s hard to navigate midlife style but I’m finding it helpful to ask, as I always have done, what it is I want to project about myself and my life. I no longer need to be seen as alternative or cool.

Maybe I’m transitioning into a more graceful phase. Effortless grace: that seems very desirable to me now I’m nearing fifty with a young child. Maybe I’ll start wearing knee-length skirts, Yohji Yamamoto, 198os Comme des Garçons, channelling the gallerist Mary Boone and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

This is the thing about clothes: they help define us. They are like a weapon, or at least a tool. There’s great joy to be found in defining ourselves through style but it’s never completely immune to the power of other people’s expectations and judge-ments. That’s why I try to focus on my pleasure, my desire. What do I want my clothes to say? I love the freedom to move around between style moods. To use a modern word, I like the fluidity of navigating between all of them.

Style icons and influences:

Hollywood Golden-era film stars, especially Marlene Dietrich, in her menswear inspired garb.

The 1940s in general, especially as seen by the 1970s. Yves Saint Laurent’s take on that period is one of my ultimate style touch-stones. Women like Bianca Jagger and Debbie Harry, Cookie Mueller, Grace Jones, who embody that ‘rolled in the street’ 1970s New York glamour. They ooze sex appeal and intelligence and streetwise confidence.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s movies.

Japanese street fashion from the I990s.

Jean Paul Gaultier, The first piece I bought with my own money:

I was fourteen, going on fifteen, and determined to set a new tone for eighth grade. 1 planned the outfit I would wear on the first day back meticulously, and put it together from pieces I’d bought over the summer vacation. I went into school wearing a navy-blue, cropped turtleneck sweater with a miniskirt, striped stockings and wing-tipped DMs. I thought I was the coolest girl in the world. I was like, “This is who I am now..?

The one piece I’d save if my home was on fire:

Most of the clothes I want to keep are in storage, so I’m not certain there’s anything else I’d dive back in to rescue. Perhaps the dress I wore to the Oscars when I was nominated for Boys Don’t Cry - if that were in the house, I’d go back for it. It’s a simple black halterneck gown, Yves Saint Laurent by Alber Elbaz.

I wore his clothes when I was doing press for the film and I found them comforting and empowering. I don’t particularly love being on the red carpet - I don’t always feel like myself by the time I’ve had hair and make-up done. But on that night, I felt wonderful. I wanted a classic film-star look that wouldn’t date, so I wore the black dress with a heavy platinum and diamond necklace, red nails and lipstick and my short hair in a forties-style, set in curls. Alber helped me achieve my dream of old Hollywood glamour.”

Wow, it has been three weeks since I last wrote anything here that is more than five words long and it feels like a lot has happened, and it has (for me). For starters my daughter has finished school (my son did two years ago) and so all the school days are over - what a huge chunk of life it was! Slowly getting my head round it….

To celebrate the end of the hell that A-levels are, I took her and me off to see Harry Styles at Wembly. I always regretted not taking her on his last tour and so was determined to go this time and he of course totally blew me away; I mean talk about charisma! It was dripping off him (along with the sweat, it being the hottest day in London) but I could not take my eyes off him, and I cried at the end like a Beatles fan. The guy was electric.

His sister Gemma once interviewed me for her sustainability podcast; she was so nice, clever and grounded. Luckily I spoke to her before I saw him live, otherwise I would have found it impossible to not try to steer the conversation around him. The obsession has slightly moved on now. Phew. But it does make you think: What must it feel like to walk on stage and have 90,000 people showing up (and then some) just for YOU? I am unlikely to find out.

I went to to a gorgeous wedding and ended up wearing a Rixo leopard safari style blouse with one of my big statement concho belts; forever channeling an early 90s Ralph Lauren ad (well, when the mood suits me). I wore this little bag - I had a very similar vintage version that I used to have and loved for years but it broke so this one is a good replacement, I do also have my eye on this vintage version. I love a vintage evening bag; they lend more rock ‘n roll louche faded glamour vibes to any outfit (as if they have seen the good times all before and have stories tucked away) - this one does a bit of that and this one too.

I used to wear Indian style tops a lot, (I used to love the 70’s ones I would find in charity shops - very rare to find now) I then went off them for years in favour of more simple / classic T- shirts, but with the heat the super light fabric is the only thing that keeps me cool. I love them with a belt; takes them into a more YSL/ Fashion world spirit than when worn on their own. Speaking of YSL, spot my couture belt from the 1970s from his Spanish inspired collection - you got it, the gold and silver one. And for last pic I am wearing a man’s long sleeve top I found in a charity shop with a 70’s snake belt.

I have given this tip before, but if you love searching online for pieces you love, download the GEM app, write what you want - for example: White cowboy boots, and prepare to scroll and get HOOKED!)

A few new bits I am loving - this Ulla Johnson top - I love safari vibes and love this pirate style Isabel Marant top. I also ADORE this Rixo jacket I guess because to me it looks just like one I might have found in a thrift store in New York in the 90s, when amazing thrift stores existed as there was no real second hand market place and so that is where people donated their clothes; the lot of them.

My great friend, Sarah Hiscox published her book, The Beginning And End of Everything, which was a real cause for celebration. She is such an amazing and wonderful friend and I could not be more happy for her. I remember it vividly when she mentioned just a couple of years ago that she was going to write a book - and she did! I first met Sarah when she first got clean after the addiction that cost her everything in her life, and so for me it is so fascinating to read about her life before heroin took hold, and then the deep despair of the addiction itself. One of the things I love most about the book is that it is not just about addiction, it explores feelings of not feeling worthy or good enough; feelings almost all of us have at points in our lives. It is also a great read, and not just because I love and know her, it is now on the bestselling lists.

One of my favourites projects I work on is the Oxfam Second Hand September campaign. I co-founded the initiative with Oxfam in 2019 and every year we ask a different person to be the face of it; so far we have had Stella Tennant, Sienna Miller, Felicity Jones and Michaela Coel, and yesterday we shot the face of 2026, and the big reveal will be the first of September!

I feel lucky to be able to have the opportunity to use clothes as a force for good, and working on this campaign certainly feels like that. And the campaign does actually work, it has now become an initiative that many other second hand brands promote and there is genuine drop in carbon emissions throughout the month. Sign up!!

These are a few of the cool bits I found in the Oxfam warehouse when I was prepping for the shoot. I love the 60s earrings!, I wish I had bought. All these bits are great, and they are back in the shops for someone else to buy and love. Keep yer eye out and if you find the 60s earrings give them to me! Wish I had been less distracted at the end of the day and had bought more things. My assistant Laura bought the Leopard coat, it was hard for me give it up, but she looked so good in it and I do have enough at this point in my life.

I posted about the interior designer Beata Newman and her brown and blue staircase in her showroom, and look at the 1950s jacket I found in the Oxfam warehouse; its funny and wonderful how colours, thoughts and styles can form a synchronicity in one’s life. I had to buy it. Talking of blue and brown, I LOVE this skirt by Doen; especially with tan Birkenstocks, trainers or little heels. Heels are so 90s Clueless…To me anyway.

I have had these Charlotte tilbury eye patches by my bed for months and have been forgetting to put them on, and I am now I am obsessed. I put on every morning for ten mins and they really do reduce puffiness and dark circles. Ten mins and see the difference! Thanks CT.

On the beauty / skin front I LOVE the ReVive day cream and now I have the night cream which is so GOOD. Rich and delish. I am obsessed.

Still being in the Snake game I saw this vase years ago, and forgot about it, and somehow it popped back up back into my life and I love it as much now as I did then.I am waiting for someone to buy it for me…hint hint. It is not everyone’s cuppa but I think it is fabulous. If Cleopatra had a kitchen table and some pink peonies….

My friend Natasha asked me to dins for her 50th to a super fancy Michelin star restaurant in Shoreditch called Cycene. The restaurant sits at the top of The Blue Mountain School which is a multidisciplinary cultural space in Shoreditch - so downstairs you have rare vintage clothing, ceramics, galleries and a library and lots more different things to see and buy (everything is expensive). If you find yourself in east London it is definitely worth popping into.. The restaurant itself was so chic, no fuss (and I usually love fuss). Wooden walls / wooden tables, but somehow soft and not hard, and lovely lighting. The food was so good but the only problem is I just need double the helping on a tasting menu. I guess that is partly the point - to be left wanting more.

I am not really one for reading the book that is on the bestseller list with a plot line that sounds a bit cheesy and trashy (just being honest!) but Yesteryear - just is GREAT. It’s got it all; social media gone to hell, time travel, revenenge and pathos. A classic summer read. You can thank me later.

Keep Cool!

Bay

Good to be back in Longer form! I always have to take a big gulp and I will do ANYTHING rather than write as I am not a writer, BUT I do enjoy it and it’s good to push oneself out of comfort zones? Or say they say…

I will start in my safe place: my kitchen, where I am writing this at the table. I was obsessed with having my kitchen re-tiled (it was just plain grubby white paint there before, with one row of subway tiles) I was obsessed with which tiles to get and deep dove tons of different colours and styles; dark green, art nouveau, Italian painted one - you name it, it would have been in the mix.

I was just about to order dark green ones and at almost just that moment my brilliant ex neighbour, the interior decorator Nicola Harding messaged me and I couldn’t help but ask her: TELL ME WHICH TILES TO GET!!! I had thought about it so much I was in a spin. And she said to go with off white Zellige. Phew. And here they are. My good friend who works in the art world had wall lights that I loved by an American architect (can’t remember her name!) and I ordered them. I put them up on the new tiles and ordered what I thought were normal size gold capped bulbs, but they are in fact over sized big and bubble like and I love them as them being oversized makes the tiles more fabulous and more special - I think! Happy accident…

Speaking of fabulous kitchens I went to the party of the brilliant interior decorator Beata Heuman and just loved this copper light/ shelf she had. I want to take out my shelves and put this this in. LOVE

And I fell for these kitchen bow drawers handles; just making the everyday more fabulous

I LOVE these fabric covers for lights; romantic and medieval in spirit, and also cast a beautiful glow.

Last thing! Blue and Brown making a perfect pairing on her staircase. I was totally inspired by her eye…

Going back to my kitchen, I have become obsessed with my Geraniums and trying to coax them to flower. I love them like I never did before, I never really took the time to get to know them. They have become like my little pets; they get sullen and stop flowering and then suddenly a few weeks later they burst into life. Get some for your kitchen if you don’t have already. They give good Spanish señorita vibes.

My fashion story that I styled in New York came in HTSI - It always amazes me when you see the final pics - and it looks just like we were just hanging out with a girl in NY taking some snaps, when in fact it was weeks of work and tons of people involved in the process. It reminded me of how much I enjoy help make pictures. And I love being in a group on the road, listening to music going from one location to the next.

I did love this silk dress! The green is sold out but here is the same one in black and a similar green one from the same brand. I also clearly have a thing for red shoes (it gives 70s vibes to me) and had multiple pairs for this shoot! The red ones with the orange and black dress are by Chanel and the ones with the green dress are by Valentino. Here’s some similar ones from Rixo that I love.

A great friend of mine is getting married in the county in early July, which made me realise for the first time in my life: I have nothing to wear! I haven’t been to a wedding in so long and I never buy clothes for occasions (I always end up wearing one of my vintage pieces) But I want to wear something different and have been on the hunt for something vintage/bohemian inspired as that is my current mood - I am leaning towards this Doen black top or this Isabel Marant one and would of course add a belt…a bit 70s YSL romantic vibes or also this Rixo dress has caught my eye.

There is always a part of me that that wants to dress in a more sharp tailored way but I just love the romance, freedom and laid back vibes of a bit of boho. I think it might also make me feel younger as I wore so much of that when I was in my twenties and thirties. This little Rixo jacket is definitely a throwback to the 70s.

Speaking of clothing, I’ve just been sent this amazing Agolde top. It’s skinny but stretchy and feels almost like wearing a pair of tights - fitted but cosy at the same time. Will be wearing this as a staple for the foreseeable; I would wear it paired with this fabulous black suede Toteme bag (which is currently on sale and reminds me of the Phoebe Philo one at a fraction of the price) and my Stevie belt from my collection with HERD.

Apparently we’re in for a heatwave next week and, to get myself ready for the ever unpredictable English weather, I love to wear this Charlotte Tilbury body shimmer. I love a bit of glossy glamorous glitter on my skin

As ever, I’ve been loving snakes and found this gorge little gold bangle and this belt from eBay that will be added to my ever-growing collection.

That’s it for now, have a great week!

Bay

In the evening I have been deep diving The Pitt (which I love) and reading London Falling, which EVERYONE seems to have read. What has been nice is eating less in the evening, and doing more salads. A lot of people I know don’t like big meals in the evening, but I do! The heat has definitely changed that - for now! Ask me again next week and I will be back on the third helping of carbs…

Here are some bits and bobs that have come into my life or that I have my eye on.

1. Mulberry Bag - this is from their new collection with British Pasture Leather collab and I love how simple it is; very Jane Birkin, but I love suede…

   

2. Gold necklace I bought this for my daughter as a goodluck charm for her exams. Super cute

3. London Falling book Unputtdownable. It started as an investigate piece in The New Yorker, and is now a book and is about to be made into TV series. You won’t believe the story, but it is true.

4. Santa Maria Novella - I love anything by Santa Maria Novella, and this new Serum is just as delish as everything else.

5. Mejuri Studs - I have gone off big dangly earrings. I am loving diamond (or fake diamond) studs; more crisp, sophisticated and cool looking. In the mood for that vibe.

6. Missoma studs - I like white on white. Carolyn Bessette might have worn these…

7. M&S Gladiator Sandals - love a gladiator sandal and these are super classic and easy.

8. Etsy Belt - love tan and a gold wide belt with a shirt or dress ….always adds glamour and style

9. Etsy Gold Bag and Etsy Tapestry Bag - I just love a vintage evening bag. Most of the designers copy this effect and idea; but then add a few more zeros on the price. Go to the source and get the real deal. Always look so much better a bit worn. At least I think so anyway.

10. Jonathon Adler Vase - I love a snake; a snake ring, a snake belt and a snake vase. And this colour so good with pink or red. And white!

11. Brown silver buckle belt - love a tooled belt. I love the pirate style edges; like thorns.

12. Potpourri - Put this in a bowl and in any room and the smell is so exquisite; this is the same Pot Pourri they have been using in Italy since 1221, when the brand was founded by a group of Dominican friars in Florence.

13. Falke Tshirt - I love a classic V neck T, and this cotton makes it hang perfectly

14. Aeons olive oil - My good friend who always seems to be right up to speed with good health benefit concoctions suggested this - I have just started taking it every morning. Apparently it needs to be this specific one as from a Volcano.

15. Dr Barbara Sturm - I love this Serum - it really does add a brightness to the skin. Expensive, but worth it.

16. Heart pendant - My friend gave me this, and I love it with a roll neck. It looks like a Garnet stone; hence it being a pressie for me.

17. Rixo pumps - I think blue jeans with white pumps is super chic. These are a lovely pair.

18. Pooky Lamp - This lampshade makes a space SOOOO cosy and warm.

19. Toast Sunglasses- chic and not crazy expensive

Have a great week!

People love the Style of Sienna Miller and with good reason. She does the easy, effortless (but polished ) laid back glamour almost better than anyone. She is a joy to style - EVERYTHING looks mega on her, and I interviewed her for my book Style and Substance, Why What We Wear Matters. I asked her what she wanted to talk about - and she wanted to talk about style in terms of being comfortable. I love this piece as it is so revealing and honest about how she really feels about clothes and style. Her style. Here she is, in her own words:

“I’m not sure I fully understood the power of fashion when I was younger. I chose clothes and accessories intuitively, just hoping I would look good. It hadn’t really occurred to me that people would find particular meaning in those choices or want to construct a story about me from them. But of course, what we wear is powerful because it fundamentally shapes the way people perceive us. I was twenty-three when I started being photographed by the press and was just having fun with what I wore, being a little flamboyant and experimental with clothes as many of us our in our twenties. I wasn’t prepared for the amount, or the tone, of the attention I received.

The Boho look I was tagged with was in the air back then. I didn’t create it, I just wore it and got photographed in it. It was very ‘me’ at the time but, as the scrutiny grew, I started feeling self conscious about it, and myself. I decided to pare back my style so that I attracted less attention. I eventually switched to a uniform of nice jeans and a good jumper because that allowed me to feel more comfortable and more authentic but was still chic. As I grew up, my lifestyle changed. Once I was a parent I didn’t have time to trawl the markets looking for interesting pieces. I also became even less comfortable being looked at, though I think that is a function of age and stage of life. I’m hoping that by the time I am sixtyI will have gone back to being a flamboyant-dressing version of myself. I can feel it coming already. You just start not to give a shit!

For now, I’m really into elegance and beautiful tailoring so I buy Phoebe Philo-era Celine when I can find it on Vestaire Collective. I like clothes to fit in an unusual way, and weird colours. I have a thing for shoes, especially boots, but I don’t really care about handbags. Belts on the other hand…I love them. I love anything you can add to your classic wardrobe to give it a little lift. So my style is mostly about elegance and simplicity, though sometimes of course I just want to have fun and break out the sequins. What I wear is very mood dependent. If I am staying with friends for a weekend then by the end of it I’ll be wearing eight million scarves and a hat and loads of jewellery and having a lovely time. Boho is all still in there!

Being an actress, my style choices have definitely had an impact on the kind of work I’ve been offered. People in the business see you a certain way and that shapes the roles you are considered for. I don’t think it’s only actors or other people in the public eye who are affected by this, though. Style is social. It sends out signals. All of us are making judgments about others on the basis of what they’re wearing, all the time. Sometimes those judgements are trivial but sometimes they are consequntial.

So then there are decisions to be made: how much do I, or does anyone, want to use the power play of style choices in order to change our image and change the way people treat us? Using it in a deliberate way can be empowering but something is lost, I think, if it gets too calculated. In my line of work there’s now a circular relationship between designers and actors when it comes to red carpet dressing, for example. Designers create outfits with that single moment in mind, which can end up having a restrictive effect on creativity.

The reason I love the fashion and style of the 1960s and 1970s is that it sums up a much less self-concious age. There’s Jane Birkin with her perfect shirt and the best jeans and a little basket, or Brigitte Bardot, or anyone in The Rolling Stones. It’s the freedom of the times reflected in the clothes that I find so inspiring. The mood was wrapped up in music and design, and entwined with the revolution in sexual freedom and women’s and civil rights. The way that people wore clothes back then feels so fresh. These days everything feels contrived.

We are living through an interesting moment in which, thanks to social media, we’re all used to being looked at and have come to expect or even need it. Everyone’s second guessing how we will appear to others. That inevitably has an effect on how we present ourselves. It can go in a number of different directions, of course. Clearly for many people it’s liberating and empowering but I’m not sure it’s a wholly positive thing. It feels harder to be spontaneous and genuinely free in our style choices. Everything is permitted but everything’s also being done for the gaze of the audience. It’s easy to loose yourself in that place. I’m not on social media because I’m just not comfortable with that level of self - exposure of scrutiny. Many of my friends are brilliant on those platforms and do it really well, but I know I wouldn’t.

When you have a child your priorities change. There is now something and somebody who is infinitely more important than anything else. In the early years you have to give up a bit of yourself because the demands of the job are so big. I’ve found that the shift in mindset remains. My focus now is less “how do I want to express myself?’ and more "‘how do I enable this person to express herself?’ It’s very grounding.

I’ve tried to raise my daughter to be confident in every respect of life. It’s necessary to be considerate of others, of course, but equally necessary not to loose sight of who she is, what she thinks, feels and needs. Times have changed since I was a child when the emphasis (especially for girls) was on being nice and polite at all costs. Any success I've had in this confidence - building is down to her, incidentally, not me. And she definitely has a sense of her own style. I’ve already discovered there’s not muchI can do to influence it.

I still love clothes but mostly I just want to look nice and be comfortable, though it’s wonderful to be in a position to wear a beautiful dress from time to time. I’ve always wanted to feel like myself. I’ve never been very good at creating a persona to hide behind. I can totally see the appeal of that; it’s just not very me. So I continue to try to dress in ways that feel instinctive and comfortable and then not worry too much about what I look like and who’s watching.”

1. Doen dress

2. Reformation dress

3. Saint Laurent blazer

4. Buckle Belt

5. Brown sandals

6. Chloe boots

7. Concho belt

   

8. Leopard Coat https://go.shopmy.us/p-59936840

9. Tassel Belt https://go.shopmy.us/p-59939166

10. Etsy Belt https://go.shopmy.us/p-59940174

11. Boots https://go.shopmy.us/p-59938197

12. Jeans https://go.shopmy.us/p-59937610

13. Rixo Jacket https://go.shopmy.us/p-59938042

This piece is an extract from my book, Style and Substance. The reason I love this piece so much is because it made me for the first time in my life really care and become somewhat obsessive about scent, and the power of it.

I have always worn scent in a laid back kind of a way; when I was a teenager I wore Yves Saint Laurent, Rive Gauche, mainly because I loved the bottle (black silver and blue) and Anais Anais by Cacharel as all my friends did, and again, I loved the bottle.

I understood the power of scent in its rawest most heart jerking way. I was sent to boarding school and was unhappy; desperately homesick, and a woman came into the dorm wearing the same scent as my mother, First by Van Cleef and Arples, and it completely knocked me back - a total gut punch of sensory missing and longing. And I LOVE cologne on a man. LOVE. Good smelling cologne on an attractive man makes me weak at the knees.

As I got older I would wear the scent if I got gifted it by a brand (Dior Gris, which I do love and wear a lot) or a pressie from someone, but I never really engaged with it in the way I did with clothes - not even close. And then I did. After I read and published Sophie’s piece I took two afternoons off in a month and went to two different department stores to deep dive as many different scents as I possibly could. I literally got obsessed and Googled what scent some of my favourite actresses wear; Catherine Deneuve as it happens wears L’heure Blue by Guerlain. And so I bought it! I became obsessed with the idea of wearing an old classic, a scent a granny might wear like a Guerlain, or Fracas, or JOY by Jean Patou or Caleche by Hermes…..and the list goes on. I still love these scents but my go to for everyday is the classic Clarins L’eau Dynamism - I love its lemony, patchouli easy freshness - as if I have just washed my hands with gorgeous hand soap; light, fresh and delicious. But also easy, not giving too much away. Not a ‘Scent’ kind of scent - if that makes sense!

Anyway, enough about me, this is the piece Sophie wrote in my book: it is love letter to tuberose, but more than that - to me it conveys beautifully the way scent is woven into our lives and becomes part of our stories and our signature.

“My friends and I used to braid it into our hair when we were young teenagers, spending monsoon summers with our spiritually restless mothers in an asharm in India, high up in the green mountains of the Maharashtra State.

In India, as night fell, the bats swept low and we scattered across the dusty road away from them, shrieking and laughing. They kept coming, dive bombing down, close enough for the movement of their wings to stir our hair, drawn in by the siren call of the white flowers crowning it.

For me, the scent of tuberose is awakening, paired with incense and mysticism. It spells warm rain pounding against the silk of a bandage - tight choke, dyeing the skin underneath a violet pink. Memories of chanting in a darkened room papered with a peacock feathers. Losing sight of the world in the flames of a bonfire that was meant to burn away all earthly sin as we danced around it, a band of lost, devout, fragrant girls.

That sharp, narcotic reek, at first godly, became in later adolescence, the smell of seduction. Glamourous mothers, my mother , the card - carrying alphas of super- femininity, always seemed to enter a room in a cloud of Guerlain’s Apres L’Ondee, or Robtert Piguet’s Fracas. I was allowed to wear a whisper of the latter behind the ears to my first dance, along with sticky lip-gloss and mascara. I remember dragging the cool edge of the glass stopper behind my schoolgirl bob, not yet understanding the full scope of its buttery, carnal power. I knew enough to recognise that it was a symbol though, some initiation into womanhood.

The late stylist Isabella Blow, who was to enter and change my life like a maverick locomotive when I was eighteen, always wore some variation of tuberose. I was a stranger sitting on her doorstep, crying, when she stepped out of a cab in a cloud of it, wearing a galleon ship upon her head. I wonder now if the familiarity of her smell contributed to how at home I felt with her? On her ivory skin, the flower continued an elusive trajectory, spilling off McQueen jackets and stockings from Chantal Thomas, the scraps of lace from flea markets in Pairs that trailed from her Globe- Trotter suitcases in a compelling stream. She wore powdery tuberoses, L’Artisan Perfumeur’s was one, and along with her Mr Pearl corsets, slash of red lipsticks, honk of a laugh and Philip Treacy hats, the scent was her daemon. To smell it now would be to throw me, Alice down the rabbit hole, into a time in which I played dress up with grown - ups, sharing laughs and cigarettes in their kitchens, ignorant of the fact that many of them would not make it through. When you’re young, it feels like everyone will live forever. Tuberose is also the smell of loss, of disbelief and grey days, churches and funeral hats.

My grandmother wore Chanel 5, as she called it, forever her old faithful, and I wore and wear Fracas the same, though I mix it up, playing with others like some ingenue alchemist. Tammy Frazer’s Rose and Tuberose is a lovely splashy green thing; Katherine Hepburn would have worn it had it been around when she was, in all her golf-playing, tweedy glory. And then there is the wonderfully virginal Estée Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, which is like the sweetest linen sheets. For the less chaste, there is Serge Lutens’ Tubereuse Criminelle, a complicated scent that begins with the mentholated medicinal and ends on something pure and creamy, or Frederick Malle’s Carnal Flower, again, a chameleon, an almost caffeinated kick that undresses to white flowers within a few minutes and is unflinchingly sexy.

Although I’m scent junkie, and revel in the discovery of something new and exciting, whilst still hankering for the classics (Misouko, Caleche, Rive Gauche), nothing for me packs the same erotic punch as Fracas or a real-life cluster of tuberose itself. I suppose, because both are so wrapped up in the olfactory memory bank of firsts. Fervours, friendships, dances, kisses, losses, loves: tuberose has been the base note to my life, whether in a temple, train, school run, or a hip hop night at Don Hills, twenty five years ago. It’s potent and punchy. It has a message as my friend Bay would say.”

1. Carnal Flower - This is what Sophie sometimes wears. So sexy and heady… I LOVE.

2. Van Cleef - A 1970s classic. I love it. My mother has never worn anything else.

3. Diptyque - Fresh and delicious.

4. Gris Dior - I wear this. It is sophisticated and delicious.

5. Robert Piguet - Can you get more iconic than Fracas?

6. Jo Malone - A good friend wears this and I just love it every time I smell it on her.

7. YSL - I always wore this when I was younger. A classic.

8. Tom Ford - Sexy as hell.

9. Hermes - Legendary - love this

10. Clarins - My go to everyday. Never leave home without it.

11. Guerlain - a long time classic early Guerlain scent.

12. Jean Patou - Like Fracas, it is legendary.

I hate to say it, but how can we be in April!!??? I am beginning to fret about the year running away too fast and just not having got nearly enough done - that said, I always manage to find time to obsess over the things I love.

These bits and pieces are some lovely distractions of the last few weeks.

I took my daughter to see Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre (terrible seats on the balcony!) We both loved it (her more than me) Sadie Sink played Juliet (Max from Stranger Things) If you feel like a blub the with the ultimate star crossed lovers, book tickets now as they are selling out and have extended the run. It is a great thing to take a teenager to, as Sadie being in it, brings Shakespeare more into their reference point.

I am LOVING this book, Buckeye and have almost finished it. If you enjoy American novels about family and small town life (not selling it in well) then you will adore this; set in post war of 1945, it a gorgeous sweeping book of love and relationships, and so although about a small community, it reflects beautifully the nature of humanity.

I do almost always read novels and so not great at reading non fiction but I did order The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro which won the Pulitzer Prize and has been sited as one of the best non fiction books of the 20th century - it is about how an unelected official amassed unprecedented power to reshape New York City and state over 44 years. It has arrived chez moi and is over 1,000 pages long; just gotta dive in! I do love that feeling of plunging into a world you know nothing about, and learning so many new things (and then forgetting them all almost as soon as I have put the book down- obvs)

I am twenty year late to the TV party and I am sure every single person reading this has watched it as it was so legendary, but I have been deep diving Homeland! - cramming eight years of TV into three months, but god it is GOOD! and I have totally fallen in love with the Peter Quinn (Special forces assassin - with a broken damaged heart, of course - don’t they all?) Beautifully acted by Ruper Friend ( and I mean beautiful in every sense of the word) I have literally typed in ‘why I am so sad about Quinn’ into chat GBT of a late night - turns out lots of people have before me, it reassuringly comforts me. Welcome to my world! Anyway if you haven’t watched it - WATCH. And Clare Danes as the legendary and brilliant Carrie Mathison - the genius CIA operative is sensational.

As always, loving my gold jewellery, and since I saw one of my best friends wearing a pinkie with a beautiful pearl, it has made me appreciate the chicness and elegance of them - and I love wearing the necklace and earrings together with a roll-neck or T shirt; playing with prim. And then my go to classics: gold hoops and I love the necklace bar, it always reminds me of the kind of jewellery a smart granny would wear, OR a sun kissed 70’s supermodel with a white shirt loosely unbuttoned. For me it crosses all style vibes!

I bought a pair of Chloe trainers. I pretty much only wear trainers so if sometime I fall in love with an expensive pair, I buy them. (I did get a discount for these) I like them as they feel as light as wearing ballet slippers but with the style toughness of a pair of boxing boots. It is a vibe!

And I bought my friend who adores pumps these M&S ones - love the colour and good value. J’ADORE vintage Ralph Lauren (I know it’s a real trend, but there you go, lots of good things are.) I saw Micha Barton wearing this jacket (I begged her to swap for something in my wardrobe - I got a hard no) I and have been obsessing ever since so think I might have to buy it from Vestaire. I would take the stars off the collars. (It looks way cooler on than in pictures as it hangs like a Pea Jacket; loose and relaxed. More French beat than strict military)

I have always loved the combination of red and green together, I know it is a classic pairing of colours (red heads know this better than ANYONE) My love for it comes from the 1970s Guy Bourdin adverts for the super chic seminal 70’s shoe brand, Charles Jourdan - the ads were total game changers in terms of colour and style. Block colours, not just red and green, but orange and blue, like a high gloss primary colour palette in a children’s nursery. These sandals I have chosen remind me of those high gloss, brilliantly art directed ads. For me, these kind of 70s sandals add glamour and style to any outfit; jeans, shorts, dresses - they are so classic they work with everything. Like having gorgeous nail polish…adds a dash of lacquered glamour to life.

Back to things I have done - I went to see the Tracey Emin exhibition. GO! At the Tate Modern until 31st august) …She really is an incredible artist. And seeing these ideas now after 30 years was so moving and awe inspiring. That bed, just for starters. whatever an artist is - She is one. Talk about self exploratory. She really is an original who does everything, including her art completely on her own terms, and that is so inspiring.

I once stayed in a house in the South of France (I was about 13) that used to belong to French movie star, Jeanne Moreau and the bathroom was a red terroccota colour, It got under my skin - I never forgot this notion of having a fabulous and rich colour for a bathroom, it feels a bit rebellious and decadent. And a little bit like a bathroom fit for a 1960’s French movie star. Hence the colour of mine. I think truth be told I am not crazy about plain white bathrooms. Unless they are gorgeous, I can find them cold, and I think I might like bathrooms that look more like a cosy sitting room. Not for everyone, I know!

I have always been obsessed with cushions. I guess they are bit like belts in a way; an accessory for my sofas and chairs. I have collected them for years; from charity shops, ( a lot from them over the years) and all over the place. I try not to buy any more as I have no space, (but I always do). I think they add so much character, or a dash of colour and they truly add the personal eclectic touch to a room. I love a leopard or tiger print, a romantic floral or pretty chintz. One of my favourite places for cushions in Yastik by the brilliant 80s fashion designer who now does interiors. He is has amazing taste and style. I love all of them.

I am a creature of habit and my style is pretty consistent - like most people. So when I want distraction, I usually turn to Esty or Vestaire and often deep dive the same thing.

I have probs said this before on here but I LOVE a snake ring - aside from their literal symbolism of spiritual awakening, healing, creation, wisdom and tons more, they just look super cool, glamorous and rock ‘n roll, Cleopatra (Liz Taylor - owing that vibe, in the movies and in life) Here are some I love that I have found recently.

And finally, ending on belts because although most people are not as crazy for them as I am, I have to put some good belts finds here in case SOMEONE is. And I love finding good belts. I am always amazed by how much fashion houses charge for belts - and unless they are totally out of the ordinary and ones offs, I would ALWAYS go vintage. Not just because they are cheaper but because they hold the source of the ideas that are being used for new ones now. And I love worn things - in case you didn't know.

Thankyou for reading if you have got this far, And Happy Easter!

She looks like she is just having THE BEST time with playing dress up, she is also naturally a great clothes horse (it helps!) - everything looks insanely good, and she knows it, and that carefree confidence translates into the fabulousness of how she strides out into the world.

This sense of style freedom feels so modern, she never looks overstyed or like she is trying too hard, she makes fashion look lighter and freer - and therefore more FUN. And isn’t that really point of this whole dressing thing that we all do? It should be fun right?

It helps that she really keeps the classsics CLASSIC; a great high waisted straight leg pair of jeans, the perfect white T shirt and then a cool simple suede jacket. She gets that if you are going to go simple and parred down, make those pieces really say something about you: in her case that she really understands how a cut, length, fabric or detail can make all the difference.

I love that whether she is wearing a sequin dress or sweats she seems to carry herself in the same way - relaxed, neutral, light…EASY. She makes the glamorous outfits somehow feel casual, and on her it looks fabulous. She brings a light touch to the red carpets around the world.

The simple hair, minimal makeup, relaxed posture and zero fuss energy - all these signature trademarks make her over arching style so consistent and so it always feels like she is in different clothes, but not someone looking as if they are trussed up and glamming it up just for the photo or the red carpet (hard for people to look properly stylish in these settings, no matter how good the dress is - at least for me)

And she clearly loves clothes. It must be fun to dress in a way that is so different from the rest of your family - phew! There is almost an irreverence to her style energy, as if she is saying - ‘I get it! I get the style vibes of references through movies, fashion and film, and boy I’m having a good time playing dress up!

Maybe she has a stylist who does it all for it, it doesn’t really matter - it’s the fun, confidence, sexiness and ease she exudes that makes her style so great.

1. Levis ribcage - classic dark straight leg

2. Light Levis ribcage - great everyday jeans - to go with everything

3. Celine jeans - love these. French editor style! great with pumps

4. Zara jeans - great with a white T

5. Nili Lotan - Best jeans in the bizz. If someone looks great in jean - they are often by Nili Lotan

6. Abercrombie - great with anything

1. Massimo Dutti - chocolate brown classic

2. Mango - I love how classic this is.

3. All Saints - Very Kendall!

4. Max Mara - Love the blazer vibe. Reminds me 90s DKNY

5. Ebay - so cool with a white T and good jeans

1. Uniqlo - an oversized classic

2. M&S - going to get this one too

3. COS love a classic narrow white T

4. Reiss - cap sleeves can be great with bronzed arms

5. Frame baby tee So Kendall…

6. Sunspel - cute and close fitting

1. De la Vali - super cute 80s spin on a 50s sundress

2. Selfridges - perfect with white Birkenstocks!

3. French Connection - classic white sun dress

4. Reiss - simple. I would add a thick statement belt with this

5. Calvin Klein - Carolyn Besette Kennedy anyone?

The first thing I reach for when the weather changes are my shirts. Over the years I have collected too many to count, mainly from the mens section of charity shops. I like the straight fitting ones; not the ones made for ‘ladies’ and nipped in at the waist. These can look fabulous if they are beautifully cut and the fabric is gorgeous (Carolyn Besette sometimes wore these for an evening event and the stark chic effect is pretty much syle perfection. )Her most famous shirt move was the iconic white and black Yohji Yamamoto outfit; instead of making the shirt formal, she literally undid it. Unbuttoned to the breastbone, sleeves pushed up, imperfectly tucked in; a masterclass in personal styling.

I think this is why I love a shirt; they can say so much style wise. And yet they are so much a part of the world of conformity and convention; all the more fun to be had subverting them.

The shirt bounces around so many style genres; from preppy Harvard undergrad, to Parisian cool parred down Fashion Editor (think of Emmanuel Alt; google her if you don’t know who she is) - she OWNED that vibe) I remember when I used to see her at shows and other people would be dressed up in fashion outfits up to the nines, often looking uncomfortable and sometimes self conscious and she would just look utterly herself and relaxed; a shirt buttoned down quite low, jewellery, perhaps a worn little belt and flats or low stilettos. C’est tout. And it was the shirt that was key somehow; it tied everything together.

With the shirt the devil is in the detail; it almost always is with style, right? So the sleeves rolled up casually showing bracelets; showing your signature pieces, (that can also mean bare arms…) a few buttons undone and the shirt is sexy, softer, more informal, perhaps a bit suggestive. Should be. And then done up high, it becomes restrained, strict, classy and cool headed.

I love the soft glamour of a satin shirt too; the 70s was a time when that was done to full and gorgeous effect; often worn with a long gold chain and charms - One of my all time favourite go to wardrobe staples. Easy glamour, and I love using this look over and over again.

In my moodboard you will see pictures of Alexa Chung and Gigi Hadid in institutional style school girl blue shirts, or what could be seen as work/office wear; the colour and style inherently signify discipline and rigour (both of these women so glamorous, but obviously not in conventional 9-5 jobs, which these shirts imply) the shirts take on their own kind of originality and stylishness - they are somehow subverting one of the most basic and accessible pieces of clothing, and it looks more surprising and original and cool on them than if they wore something that was more obvious designer or obviously fashion. I love how democratic it is; completely non exclusive (something fashion is often predicated on - has to be for the price tags) But these shirts look so great because they are not trying to be fashion.

Ralph Lauren was brilliant at marketing the versatility of the ordinary shirt and imbuing it with story telling and romance. He kept all the codes but radically changed it from uniform into a fantasy that anyone could step into. Ivy League? Old Money? English Gent? he channelled the lot.

And of course you have the classic Kim Basinger look from 9 and half weeks: tons of sex and then throwing on your boyfriends white shirt because there is no point getting properly dressed as you are about to be naked again to be further devoured by a gorgeous man. I think every oversized shirt carries this sexy reference point.

Generally when I wear a man’s shirt, I feel like a version of myself that I want to be; crip, grown up, stylish (always wear my collars up…) and part classic (almost everyone else around me is wearing one too, and I like that) And that is why add a belt. It makes it mine. Simple but strong. I like a stamp of individuality on anything!

I could could go on and on! One of my most favourite shirts I found and one of the first that made me really understand the fun of subverting them was a black and white striped one with a big crest on the pocket; pure 1980s Sloane Ranger. I felt so cool in it; I loved playing with its reference point as of course I never did identify as a Sloane Ranger - it really always does come back to playing dress up, and this is what makes clothes and style and SHIRTS so fun much to wear.

For the record If I had to pick one it would be a classic blue or black and white striped one; one feels super preppy and collegiate to me and the other more Sloane ranger, and by extension of that, more of a fun fashion game.

1. Matteau shirt - Love these colour. Pretty on anyone

2. WNU pink - I have one almost exactly this colour - and perfect blush for spring

3. Toteme Vestiaire

4. PRL Blue Stripe - to me this will always have a Sloane ranger ref. In a GOOD way.

5. WNU White - CLASSIC

6. Reformation - this one is so cool and classic you hardly notice it.

7. Boden - Great with pale worn denim jeans

8. RL Chanelling gigi and alexa; perfectly subvert school girl blue…

9. Abercrombie - So good tucked into high darker blue high waisted denim

10. RL - A classic with a Safari twist

11. M&S good with anything, but great with white shorts or pants.

12. COS simple, soft and demure

I have picked some sunnies that I love too as the sun is out, and love them with a shirt; white shirt with black wayfarer: Sharp.

1. Celine - My fave but too expensive for me as I loose them, but the best

2. Prada - channeling baddie vibes - love the 3d effect

3. RL -Superstylish - love the oversized animal print

4. Rayban - CLASSIC. How many movies can I ref with these in them? to many to mention.

5. D&G Going for the 50’s movie star Flick eye cat. So feminine.

6. Saint Laurent Classic glamour

7. Ebay Rayban - Fun Rayban wraps

8. Ebay Dior Love this colour - 70s throwback

9. Chloe - again 70’s spirit with the go faster stripes

10. Jimmy Fairly - love these- super chic Jackie O style

11. Gucci - Giving it the sleek and chic narrow eye

12. Vestiaire Just kinda cool and fun

I don’t generally buy many new clothes (more vintage) but when the seasons change I get a yen to update the classics in my wardrobe. The pieces I have chosen here really are enduring clothes to wear and wear again.

I went off the Breton top as EVERYBODY and their MUM was wearing it, but I am back into them now. I wore my one for years and years and it literally fell apart. It was a man’s one and actually I like the mens’ shape better; they fit looser and more free; they feel cooler on - at least for me. Sometimes the womens Bretons can be nipped in at the waist and be fitted, and that was rarely how the icons wore them. I think they look better when they hang a bit and the cotton falls in a softer way over the body.

I love how the Breton started as workwear (most of the best things did) in 1858, when the French Navy adopted the striped jersey as part of Sailors’ uniform. It was Coco Chanel who introduced it into her designs in 1917 after spending time on the French coast. And the rest is blue and white history; it has now been made truly iconic by the likes of Picasso, Jean Paul Gaultier,Birkin, Bardot and Audrey Hepburn and of course many others. It is now in the style of classics hall of fame as signals something not just effortless French cool, but also an artistic identity and a bit of intellectual savoir- faire too. Not to mention how comfy it is. I will be wearing mine all summer long.

1. Drakes

2. Joules

3. Polo Ralph

4. &Other Stories

5. Sezane

If you know me at all you will know I love a vintage belt. I just think everything looks so much cooler and more stylish with one. (I do love parred back too) but for me a belt lends high style vibes to most outfits. If clothes are new and you add a worn leather belt, the whole looks just becomes more YOUR own look. Wear one over a sweater or a T and it adds a style signature that is all your own.

1. Etsy

2. Etsy

3. Bay Belt

4. Ebay

5. Rixo

Love a pump. Always have. Again, a total classic - they combine simplicity, comfort and elegance - they have the polish and smartness that heels can give, but for me they often look cooler and more effortless.

Of course they are directly inspired by ballets shoes, hence the graceful shape and the lightness they seem to exude. They never take over an outfit; the restraint is what makes them such classics - and they work with almost every outfit day to day. I love them.

1. Le Monde Beryl

2. Mango

3. Polo Ralph Lauren

4. Chanel

5. Etsy

The Denim shirt is one of my all time favourite pieces of clothing EVER. It has been worn by workers, musicians, cowboys and movie stars. They were built for durability, and brands like Levi and Wrangler helped popularise denim workwear in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for labourers who needed clothing that could handle the rough and tough work of the American midwest - because of that origin the shirt carries such authenticity and heritage and that just does make it cool in my mind.

1. Wrangler

2. Gant

3. Saint Laurent

4. Polo Ralph

5. Ralph Lauren

I always love a gold hoop. Hoop earrings are one of the oldest jewellery designs in human history. Variations of gold hoops have been worn in ancient cultures across the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East. When I go to the Metropolitan Museum in New York or the British Museum in London, it is the gold hoops and rings I lust after; they always look as if they were made yesterday they are so chic and modern, and yet they are thousands and thousands of years old. In the summer I love a gold hoop with a stone to become a bit more bohemian and glamorous, and always a nod to the style vibes of Cleopatra.

1. Wolf and Badger

2. Astrid and Miyu

3. Missoma

4. Wolf and Badger Earrings

5. Wolf and Badger Earrings

First Prize of the classics goes to: Blue denim jeans - Yves Saint Laurent famously said: “I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes” Enough said.

1. Khaite

2. Etsy Levis

3. Levis

4. Agolde

5. Frame

That is it for now. As I write this, I have my sweater firmly back on and the raincoat at the ready…

I obsessed over which tiles to get; art nouveau, dark green, floral, Spanish - you name it; I deep dove it. Literally hours spent obsessing over which ones. I was properly stuck and so I asked my ex neighbour and friend Nicola Harding (check out her brilliant book. She is so CLEVER with colour and form; so inspiring. I was amazed with what she she said: go with white zellige tiles, (coming from a colourist…) her theory being that in London with all the craziness outside one needs a sense of calm and order in the kitchen, and actually I think she is right and so I am now the proud owner of a white tiled Zellige kitchen.

Sometimes I think that if I change something externally it is going to make me feel more sane on the inside. Alas it doesn’t seem to work that way…still the same! Damn. I thought the tiles might do that (they didn’t) perhaps the light will? I bought this light to go on the shelf; Swedish (they always seem to get it right, and I love a heavy brass in the kitchen as it gives old school Parisian bistro vibes) Now I am looking for cosy wall lights to add so that the gloss of the tiles bounces and makes me happy. I’m currently deciding between these brass lights, this John Lewis version, this light from Amos Lighting or this version.

I was delighted to leave my kitchen tiles and head to Kenya to stay with a friend - I love it there. There is nothing quite like an African sky at night, and on one night I danced for 7 hours straight. (Powered by frozen margaritas ) I think it was a release from all the rain and the dark early nights here. It felt like such a catharsis and reminds me how much I love to dance and how it is just so life enhancing and joyful. At least it is for me. Need to do more.

The DJ was brilliant and played everything from Hip hop to Dire Straits. Whitney Houston and just banger after banger after banger.

I was with friends so didn’t get as much reading done as I had planned. But I did read this BRILLIANT ghost story that has been made into two movies, but nothing touches the book. If you want an unputdownable spooky read - look no further. She also wrote the Lottery (a short story) which is one of the most shocking books I have read; but absolutely amazing.

Being naturally very pale, I was getting ready to go out to dinner with my friend Clem and she rubbed this on her arms and legs and it looked epic; glossy tanned and shimmery. Never going on hols without it.

I got back home to two packages and to my delight, Purple PR had sent me a new Dries Van Noten bottle of scent. I am obsessed with the bottles, I just think they make the most chic bathroom objects and the BEST pressies. How can you not love? And they smell DELISH. I want all of them. But at £250.00 a pop they are no giveaway. But I will keep the bottles for ever - so worth it.

As soon as the sun came out I ordered a tablecloth and some new sheets (I love new linen and order a piece every few years. I love the Scallop by Sophie Conran. so I can eat outside asap and embrace the sun from my kitchen table.

Next up is hosting and styling an event with the brilliantly sustainable brand, Herd who I did a collaboration with last year. Due to popular demand my belts and bags still sold , and I still wear them both all the time. The belt is copied from an old 1960’s one that Anita Pallenberg gave me years ago. It is a classic. And the bag is a copy of an old 70’s folk one I found in LA…Perfect little holiday pirate style looking bag.

Which brings me full circle in my life, back to Vintage - Come to the Frock Me Vintage Fair this coming Sunday in the Kensington library. Treasures to be found! Not to mention the fun - If I don’t see you there, see you in March!

Bay

A good friend of mine has a place in Lamu and has asked me to and join come and I am so excited! I am loving packing for Africa; It is a beach holiday but not JUST that, it is Africa and Lamu Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kenya, and is the oldest and best preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa - now that is worth dressing up for; definitely worth a style vibe.

For me it can feel like stepping into a different version of myself - a bit more wild, rugged, worn, and inspired. Inspired by Out Of Africa, YSL Safari vibes and by the brilliant photographer, Peter Beared, who really knew how to capture that raw, romantic safari energy, the kind that feels dusty and lived in (a thing I always love in clothes) but also relaxed, laid back and effortless, cool and confident. Basically how I want to dress in London but don’t make enough effort to. It is also so classic - Safari inspired kit is one of the all time most stylish and classic styles out there. Ralph Lauren knew that. Sill does.

It is also the kind of style you can really play with; dress it up and make it go more warrior with big silver or turquoise cuffs on the arm, mix metals, (throw in Goddess vibes with gold hoops and necklaces) add a belt and/ or a hat and some gold/ bronze sequins OR go simple and barred back; sleeves rolled up with a loose long linen skirt or shorts with an unbuttoned dark green shirt and brown gladiator sandals. Go quiet and cool, but this particular quiet and cool is sexy in an under the radar kinda of a way (is there such a thing!? Putting it out there…) For me I think I am going to go more full warrior romance, and dream up my own Safari story.

I can’t remember when I first started to love leopard print. It just suddenly became my THING. I made it my THING. I adopted it to be my style signature whether it liked it or not. Anita Pallenberg was a good friend and she LOVED leopard, and so she definitely enhanced the love for me; I saw leopard through true rock ‘n roll wonderfully stylish eyes.

Throughout my adult life in various pictures in my family album I am in leopard. I have spent years looking in charity and vintage shops for the perfect leopard coat or jacket (even though I have multiple versions of THE perfect leopard coat and jacket…) I think now I am finally done. Years of rummaging and pleasure have finally run their course on the leopard front for me- Thankyou for the good times!

Leopard is ICONIC for so many reasons: it’s been worn by rebels, glamour icons, rock stars and rule-breakers and it hits the mark every time.

One of the reasons I love leopard coats is because they make any ensemble feel instantly cool without trying too hard. You can wear the simplest, most undone outfit underneath and by throwing on a leopard jacket or coat, it becomes intentional and a vibe; they turn even the laziest outfit into a look and make confidence feel effortless. You can’t wear leopard and not feel a bit badass

This print lives in so many different style genres; it’s rock ‘n roll, loud, rebellious, a bit dangerous, the kind of thing worn by people who don’t play it safe (a la Keith Richards) but at the same time it is incredibly sophisticated and polished, and oh so glamorous! (think of the 1940 movie stars like Joan Crawford) and then on to Catherine Deneuve, perfect in 1960s prim Paraisan patent pumps, velvet hair bow and a dazzling pale leopard print coat, giving the outfit a perfect twist of gentle French soignée rebellion.

In a nutshell leopard print in ICONIC - A wild classic, and here to stay.

1. Ebay Coat - love this. Classic vintage. A bit 80s but not too much. Actually very ‘fashion’

2. Prada Coat - Chic and ladylike just like Mrs Prada herself.

3. Etsy Coat - Love this 60’s spirit with faux fur trim

4. Ebay Coat - Easy and cuddly. I like the blonde and brown.

5. Rixo Coat - Great long - super elegant

6. Etsy Coat - Oh I love this 60s version! So Wild Cat / Beatnik.

7. Wolf & Badger - I like that this looks vintage 80s.

8. M&S Coat - Love a snow leopard

9. Etsy Coat - This print reminds me of the 60s - super elegant.

10. H&M Coat -

11. Stand Studio Coat - I love the richness of this one.

12. Mango Coat -a good teddy classic

I love a pinkie ring, more specifically a signet pinkie ring. I think what I love most about them is how classic they are. I don’t like them being worn in a literal way so much, in order to show a family crest and to indicate being part of the upper class; I like them to be worn in a way that subverts all of that, but at the same time still carries that sense of heritage, history and confidence. A ring on the pinkie just somehow knows it belongs there. For me they add more character to a hand, and turn something simple into a statement. They are also super elegant and give a good sprinkling of cool nonchalant energy

.

I especially like an oversized one as it feels more like a subversion of the classic, smaller size and it breaks the expected restraint and convention; the bigger ones keep the history and symbolism, but gives it a pinch of rock ‘n roll and irreverence - like taking something from the old world but making it for now, making it yours. Rock ‘n roll spirit aside, let’s not forget the association of Kings and Queens, the rulers of Ancient Rome, the nobleman and clergy of Medieval Europe (Pope!) who used them to seal documents - if you had a signet ring, you had authority. The point is they were a link to power and very particularly to male patriarchal power; so of course, that is another reason why I love women wearing them; subverting that trad maleness and making them tough and cool and so the the bigger, squarer, beautiful and more bad ass the better.

1. Etsy ring -

2. Monika Vinader -

3. Wave Antiques -

4. Prude and Smith -

5. Missoma -

6. Wild Fawn -

7. Sky Diamond -

8. Jessica McCormack -

1. Missoma -

2. Georgian locket ring -

3. END -

4. Ebay -

5. Fenton -

6. Antique Jewellery -

7. Wolf and Badger -

8. Etsy -

In a nutshell, signets just look cool and confident. To me anyway.

Like everyone else I saw Hamnet. WOW. Jessie Buckley really is something else. If you haven’t seen you need to get down to the cinema. The thing I enjoyed almost the most about it was the production value; you really feel that you get to see what it looked and felt like in England in the 16th century, the costumes and how magnificent the countryside would have been back then . And Marty Supreme - what a ride. And again, the production value is incredible. I love seeing movies where the sets and costumes really do feel that that are taking you back in time to another time.

Turner and Constable - You cannot miss this show; the two masters on show in the same space, both talented beyond measure and at the end you have to ask yourself and your gallery companion - ‘who did it best? if you had to choose?” Over to you. Unmissable.

Moisturiser - this one has got the lot. People say. you have to have vitamin C and all sorts of other things and this seems to have the lot.

I lost one of my favourite earrings that I wear everyday (the moon! Sob!) So I bit the bullet and bought a new pair so the Sun and Moon can be reunited.

I went to my friends house and she had the most gorgeous little venetian (the glass was blown in Burrano in Venice) moveable light. I just loved it as it gave the room the most gorgeous glow but it was crazy expensive. I looked and found these as alternatives; still pricy but a keeper. So chic AND cosy.

I have started using magnesium spray at night and I love the ritual. I am not sure if it helps me sleep better, but I am willing to go with it.

Swimsuit to go away with (M&S) - I am not one for buying expensive swimsuits (maybe because I don’t feel that great wearing one?) I go for M&S for my swimmers and this one I love; classic, movie star vibes and will hopefully hold my tum in.

White vintage concho belt I LOVE a classic concho belt and I love this white one with a white sweater; it just looks a bit more original and different than the classic brown and black version. Also great with white T in the summer…

I bought a new pair of trainers - New Balance, a collab with Adele’s husband (not that I care about that) but they are such a good colour and they are SO comfortable. The most comfortable ever.

I have been wearing quite a lot of black, not sure why but I did get sent this by the White Company and it is so soft and snug. I have hardly taken it off. I also love the colour mink in cashmere. LUX.

Favourite scents: Always on the hunt. I always have my go to everyday, Clarins, but I have also totally fallen in love with Carnal Flower; so sexy and delicious. Not for the faint hearted but such a vibe. I love.

I have read two cracking books this month, I finally read Bonjour Tristesse, I have had it on my bedside table for years and finally got round to it. A French classic and a brilliant coming of age book (in a French way) and a gorgeous read. The other book I have read is This House of Grief by Helen Garner; she is the most brilliant writer and she follows the case of a man on trial for murdering his children when his car went into a lake during a coughing fit (his story) it would be too bleak if it wasn’t for her genius prose. If you like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood then you will love this.

I have never been madly fussed about soap but I got given the Santa Maria novella... for Christmas and I love it. It truly smells of soapy perfection. CLEAN. And the perfect size.

I am often late to the party with all things tech and I love listening to The Rest Is History and other Radio programs and never knew about a blue tooth connection to a radio - and Viola! For Christmas I got this super cute little mini Roberts Radio with Bluetooth, so I can listen to my fave things from BBC Sounds on this, and it can follow me around the house. So cute.

And I bought my daughter the Dyson airwrap (for me and her to share) which I am obsessed with as my hair is fried from having dyed it and heated it so much but this does the blow dry I love but without making my hair super dry and damaging it. And I do love a flick! A 70s soft one, always have.

Fave mugs: (never thought I would write about mugs!) I got these for my husband for his Christmas pressie as he always complains about the mugs in our house. They are pretty perfect for a cuppa and I love the colours.

I was lucky enough to go to Florence to see the Fra Angelico exhibition. It was such an incredibly beautiful show and I loved it so much and was such a reminder to me to look and see and do different things in my life. It is so easy to stay in the same routine but I have made a pact with myself to go a different part of London to flower market or an exhibition, or a gallery; Something new.

Intimissimi vest - this is somewhat new discovery for me. I have always loved a classic Italian style vest; simple, basic, but perfect. And this black long sleeve intimissie ticks al those boxes.

I have over bleached my hair, but extensions in for year and it is wrecked (sadly) and then someone told me about Biotin and literally within a week my hair was longer and thicker. I have never known a product that says it does something actually perform so quickly in the way you hope it might.

I am a sucker for a classic for a classic shaped T shirt in an army olive green - this one pretty much perfect. Gorgeous cotton. Rag & Bone Tshirt

Etsy Vintage Bag - love a little vintage clutch. Perfect for a dash of vintage colour under the arm tuxedo of a tuxedo.

Polo Ralph Lauren Concho Belt- always and forever.

Cushion someone gave this as a pressie. I LOVE dragons (almost as much as snakes) and it is a perfect glamourous pop of colour in my navy sitting room.

Rouge noir Chanel - I bought this as did everyone after watching Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, and I am so back into it.

I lived in New York in the late 1990s. John F. Kennedy JR and his wife, Carolyn were like the King and Queen, or perhaps more the Prince and Princess of the city; both beyond beautiful, young, glamorous, rich, and (total opposite to celebrities now) mysterious. How chic does mystery seem now? Beyondo.

I will never forget walking in Soho in about 1998 on a cold beautiful New York evening and walking towards me was Carolyn; I looked at her and at that moment she looked up at me with her big, beautiful blue watery eyes, and as soon as our eyes met, she immediately looked down and hurried past me, realising that I had recognised her. Of course I was struck not just by her beauty but more by her clear discomfort at being looked at by me. I didn’t stare, but she didn’t want any of it. Even in that tiny meeting of eyes, I saw and felt that I was looking at someone who felt hunted and furtive. I felt it clearly and it made me feel uncomfortable having met her gaze.

Back at that time I was obsessed with thrift stores (New York had the most amazing ones) and I loved dressing up. When I say dressing up, I mean that I was inspired by images from the 1970s, punk, gothic, hippie, preppy; the lot. I always thought that Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s style was boring and safe; anyone could do it.

I didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. But I do now.

The older I get the more I like and appreciate simplicity in style; Carolyn made clean lines, neutral colours and classic shapes seem modern and cool; never boring. So many people have imitated her style, but nobody can pull it off the way she can; her fabulous hair, long and lean body and beautiful patrician face sure give a helping hand in giving her the iconic style status that she now holds. But ultimately it looks so good on her as it was absolutely effortless and undone; undone in the most perfectly fashionista way.

As I said, I now love her style and sometimes dress in that simple way (fabric quality is crucial!) but I am too much of a magpie and love a belt, scarf, stud and a sequin way to much to commit in any real way.

Here are some style tips a la carolyn:

1. Keep the palette calm; black white, cream, beige navy and grey (I do this - I just add stuff to it. Lols)

2. Clean Silhouettes - straight leg trousers, bias-cut slip dresses, tailored coats, simple knits.

3. Fit. Boy, her clothes fitted perfectly, they skimmed the body.

4. One mega piece per outfit . A great coat, a mega sleek dress, sharp trousers - then keep everything else minimal. . Let the one thing to do the talking

5. Hair: Easier said than done!

6. Low on the logos. More classic and quiet.

Carolyn is a myth now, she had a rare mix of extreme beauty, radical restraint, and a total refusal to perform. In a way she is remembered less as a woman who lived and more as a woman who appeared - briefly, exquisitely, and OH SO stylishly, and then she disappeared. Forever Young.

You can dress them up, you can dress them down; wear them with a cream silk pussy bow shirt or your boyfriend’s T shirt. And nothing is better than a blazer with a pair of blue denim well cut jeans, heading west towards Ralph Lauren story telling romance. The tweed blazer completely adapts to you, rather than demanding that you adapt to it.

There is a quiet confidence to tweed that I love. (a quiet confidence in all the clothes classics I think) The tweed jacket doesn't fight for attention, it sits outside of any trends; it just exists, comfortable in its own relevance and timlessleness.

When I wear one I feel more grown up, more sophisticated and more anchored, a bit like I’m part of a longer style story that involves years of craft, durability style and substance.

Here a few that would last a lifetime.

1. Isabel Marant Jacket - a classic, rugged, 70s style forever jacket.

2. Cat Eye SL - I AM SO INTO A 1950’s / 1960’s CAT EYE!

3. Clarins Perfume - Eau Dynamistante. I love this. It is a total classic. If you see me and I smell good, this is why. I carry in my bag and spray on thoughtout the day. It is more of a freshener; soapy, lemon smelling zest rather than a scent.

4. Agnes belt I love a conch belt. Great with almost anything.

5. Missoma Great for the pinkie and the black onyx gives it a gothic and witchy edge.

6. Nellcote: My fave bag. I love its 70s swag. It just is a vibe. You can wear anything and this bag just lends both style and bohemian glamour to any outfit.

7. is Isabel Marant Hoodie - a classic. And I love the faded vintage colour of it, and it is lightweight; not too boxy.

8. Levis - Good value and the gold standard of democratic denim.

9. Superdry belt - love a classic concho - rarely see them in gold.

10. Birkeenstoks just do look cool and earthy. And they go with almost anything. And for someone with super flat feet like me, they are my summer essentials.

11. Astley Clark - a locket gives an outfit romance and heritage. And mystery. Who or what lies inside!

12. Charlotte Tilbury - I love her makeup and creams. My go to.

13. Hoop Earrings wolf and badger - I love a gold hoop earring, a style staple.

14. Isabel Marant Green Henley - Henleys are a great basic. I love army green. Understated but tough and chic, all in one.

15. IM boots - These boots are pretty perfect. I love the toe shape, not pointed or square, just lovely and rounded; its hard to find a good shape toe, and I love the biker/ cowboy details.

16. Nyx Eyeliner - easy to use.

17. Uniqlo - great value for a basic roll neck.

18. Vintage Bag- Real vintage evening bags are usually way better than the new ones; both the cheap and expensive ones. True faded glamour; you can’t fake it.

Brigitte Bardot: the name is a legend in itself. You hear those two words and a whole world of glamour, beauty and style comes flooding into your mind. And of course another time; the photogenic and now otherworldly world of the 1960s and 1970s.

What made Bardot become such a mega icon that her name is synomous with so much? Not just beauty and glamour but of New Wave cinema and so much more? I think she was like Elvis Presley in that there had been nobody quite like her before, not anywhere. She seemed to arrive barefoot, sun-bleached with the best hair ever, brilliant thick sexy knol black eyes (she really did invent the rock ‘n roll eye) and she looked better than anyone else. And like Elvis, she had a bucket load of charisma.

She didn’t perform femininity so much as totally inhabit it, completely authentically and unapologetically. She seemed so natural, so free, so cool. She was so cool, authentic and confident that she chose to give up the fame and stardom to look after dogs and fight for animal warfare with the same intensity she once bought to film; obsessive, uncompromising and personal; that is a cool thing to do if you are the biggest movie star and sex symbol in the world. Ultimately she chose anonymity over applause. Few stars have done that - fewer still with such finality.

I think the reason why her clothes style was so alluring was that she dressed for herself, not the gaze. She wore what looked good on her body: simple knits, gingham, ballet flats, fisherman sweaters, undone sexy hair. She had such ease and confidence and as we all know confidence and laid back sexiness always looks stylish.

Style wise she repeated the same ideas - flat shoes, simple dresses or skirts, soft fabrics, denim, shirts, and of course that fabulous long hair, and must have eyeliner. The clothes framed her presence instead of shouting over it. That restraint, confidence and singularity is rare and oh so elegant and fabulous.

Here are some style tips in homage of Bardot:

1. Cotton, wool, linen and cashmere. She always looked like she was dressed in these natural fabrics.

   

2. Clothes that skim, not cling

   

3. Waist definition only if it’s natural (ties, knits, belts, elastic (not corsetry)

   

4. Colours: cream, navy, black, soft red, gingham, faded blue, khaki and brown. And of course the classic Breton blue and white stripe top. I wear that top because of her.

   

5. Shoes: ballet flats, loafers, sandals and low boots. Her footwear always said: I am here to live, not to perform.

   

Farewell B. B. She will be remembered for her incredible beauty, but she will also be remembered for her refusal to be owned, to toe the line, to explain and to be endlessly available. In a culture built on access, that refusal and the choice to be reclusive in her world on her own terms feels radical and free.

I found it a few years ago in Portobello market. It was £30 but I almost didn’t get it. Every time I wear it I take a deep sigh of relief. I spotted it, inspected it and asked how much it was and was told it .£30 - a bargain, but even then I didn’t jump on it (as I say, it needs some warming up…) and I walked away. I walked away!!! And then good sense got the better of me and I paid my £30 and went home.

When I got home I inspected it properly. It is fake leather (so has that sleazy 70s feel - which I love) big gorgeous zip, worn stealing lining and worn shearling collar. Simple. Classic but fits me perfectly. I think it was probably a mans jacket, (when men were smaller) and for all its faux leather it has an old fancy label. This faux leather jacket by Next is so great and I love that it looks faux. The amazing thing about these jackets is you can wear them with anything. Dress them up with a white shirt, skirt and brogues or dress them down (not down, just classic and cool) in a pair of jeans.

Of course nobody has worn one better thank Kelly Mcgillis in Top Gun - one of the all time best moments of film costume design in my book.

This fancy one by Lemaire has tough flying vibes to it. I love.

Chloe Sevigny and Alexa Chung also look fabulous in their versions.

Chloe Sevigny turns everything into a style vibe of the highest order. I did a shoot with her and she wore this jacket and I loved it! I asked where it was from - vintage Jean Paul Gaultier no less. My heat sunk as I knew it would be near impossible to find another one. The joy of vintage! (except when you are on the other side…)

Here are some I love that are available in this day and age - easier to find than my obscure tatty old 70s one, but pretty damn good.

This one by the kooples is great - I like the punky colour of the collar with the black.

Some other great ones I’ve found online:

• A vintage one from Rokit

• This one is Mega

• Zara good as usual

• And this one is a classic forever piece

• This is my fave - inky black slighltly cropped little perfect bomber

These jackets can last a lifetime. The older they get the better and you never get sick of them; definition for me of a Style Classic.