In this episode of Style DNA podcast I go on a style journey with a long time friend and collaborator, the woman who I think is the most passionate fashion editor I have ever met… the inimitable and fabulously energetic Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou. Sophia is the Founder, Global Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of 10 Magazine, 10 Men and 10+.  In 24 years, the 10 Magazine empire has grown to include a series of international sister publications, including 10 Australia, 10 USA, 10 Japan and most recently 10 Deutsch. She began her fashion career at British Vogue, and went on to hold Fashion Director titles at a slew of revered publications, including The Independent Magazine, Sunday Times Style, Harper’s Bazaar UK and Vogue China, Japan and Russia. Throughout her career, she has worked alongside industry renowned brands including Antonio Berardi, Elie Saab and Roland Mouret and was Collection Creative Director for Victoria’s Secret for nine years. 

Sophia talks so knowledgeably about the industry…we chat about the incredible spectacle of the shows, especially the immersive experience of the Cruise shows put on in exotic locations by the very big houses, and how tough it is for smaller designers trying to compete with that spending power. I ask her about how younger designers can cut through and who has done it well…and of course we chat about the joy of working with both the models and the brilliant creative teams on the Victoria’s Secret shows.

Sophia undoubtedly has real fashion chops but aside from her infectiously positive personality, I have always admired the fact that she found her personal Style DNA quite early and then she has honed it through the years whilst staying very true to herself despite the vagaries of fashion and trends. She talks about being a “curvy girl” and which brands she has always been drawn to…the timeless appeal of Alaia and The Row in particular. I ask her about trade discounts and much quoted press freebies, but for as much as I am sure that there have been those, they do not sway her opinion on what she wears and she is fully prepared to pay full price as she works on the price-per-wear mentality.

We laugh about her choice of wedding dress as a 23 year old Greek/Cypriot bride …considered an “older bride” at the time…and her mother’s reaction to the dress she had commissioned.

We talk about her 600 pair shoe collection…yes, but they have clearly been acquired over decades and all have memories attached…a nostalgic diary of sorts. Then there are the bags…

Thank you Sophia for sharing your warmth, fun and wisdom x

I kick off Season 7 of Style DNA with a dose of true hilarity from the queen of quick quips and feminist observational wit,  the brilliant and irreverently funny million copy best-selling author Kathy Lette. 

Many moons ago we shared a hilarious evening at a bar in Florence… I can remember howling with laughter all night… 

Oh my, how I have laughed and laughed re-listening to this recording, trying to whittle down the clips. We talk about everything from ageist sexism, she was dropped by both her agent and her publisher because she wanted to write a book about middle aged women and being told that “Middle aged women are like Mogadishu and Sudan…we know they exist but no-one wants to go there”…She admits it knocked her confidence but the resulting novel, The Revenge Club about four scorned women and one perfect plan (every snippet apparently true but reconstructed for the purpose of the story) has clearly been Kathy’s best revenge, together with a huge dollop of humour and well deserved success… 

We laugh about the misogyny she and her girlfriends experienced growing up in the “surfy” culture of Australia which included “tan tattoos” …and then 80’s fashion, replete with perms and shoulder pads…how she invented the term Pussy Pelmet (who knew that widely used term was her wordsmithing?). How and why she started wearing comedic clothes including a custom suit printed with corgis, originally made for when she commentated on Kate and Wills wedding for Australian TV, and then pulled it out again for an Aussie gathering at Buckingham Palace which the late Queen found highly amusing. She confesses to being “a bit of an Imelda Marcos” when it comes to shoes and the joy of receiving her good friend Kylie’s cast offs …every story delivered with a sharp, often feminist, wit.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did having it…and if you need some light relief I urge you to download The Revenge Club or HRT Husband Replacement Therapy on Audible and let her mellifluous tones accompany you on your morning walks or a long journey … I promise your abs will get a work out and you will probably also have some light bulb moments to chuckle about.Thank you Kathy for being such a fabulous and hilarious guest.

But I first came across Kathy’s writing when her cult classic Puberty Blues was published in 1979. It is the definitive story of teenagers navigating the chaos of life…her observational and totally relatable humour had me, as a teenager at the time, totally hooked on her writing and I have chuckled and guffawed through most of her novels since.

In the final episode of Season 6 of Style DNA I go on a style journey with none other than the Retired Ballerina, the President of the Royal Academy of Dance, Presenter, Judge and Classical Ballet Coach at the Royal Ballet Company …the dazzling and divine Dame Darcey Bussell DBE.

Full disclosure, I have been a fan of Darcey’s dancing for as long as I can remember …not only was she the most technically brilliant ballerina she danced with such a palpable joy and flare that she was mesmerizing to watch. Much of our conversation centred around dance and she talks openly about her body, dancer’s bodies, and I ask her how she went about de-tuning hers after the intensity of training for at least 8 hours a day for 20 years. She admits that having had two children during her career helped prepare her for stopping but obviously nothing prepares you for the full stop and losing the “family” of the Company.

Darcey is the consummate professional, you don’t get to the very top of your field without 100% commitment and she certainly has always had that. She is passionate about the transformative power of dance and is working hard to get it into all schools, as much for mental wellbeing as for physical wellbeing.

She was invited to perform at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics for which she came out of retirement, giving herself, her confidence and her body 8 months to prepare. She laughs about how little rehearsal time they had at the stadium itself and that the actual pyrotechnics had never been rehearsed…it wasn’t until she was gliding down the wire with the pyrotechnics alight on the frame around her that she thought about how much hairspray she had in her hair and the potential flammability of it!  But even for someone of Darcey’s stature she admits it was still a pinch me moment to be part of it all.

We talk about preparing for a show and the inevitable conversation about pointe shoes…fascinating.

We chat about her 7 years as a judge on Strictly and being in control of her own image for that…something she hadn’t been for all her years as a ballerina where you are a complete chameleon to the role you were dancing.

Talking image – The National Portrait Gallery owns 9 images of Darcey and she talks about one of her favourites being the one taken by the photographer Bryan Adams of her in a very covered yet sheer McQueen dress wearing “very high heels” and not a lot else…

I hope you enjoy this episode…thank you @darceybussellofficial for this fascinating and insightful conversation.

In this episode of Style DNA I go on a style journey with the British television personality, entrepreneur, and social media influencer, best known for her role on the reality TV show Made in Chelsea, the wonderfully down to earth Mother of 3 Binky Felstead. Binky’s new show, Beyond Chelsea, has just launched on E4 and she assures me that it is a very different kind of show…more a diary of her life as a mother, wife and entrepreneur with a  fraction of the drama, and jeopardy (something that reality TV producers tend to strive for, often pitching individuals against each other…). She talks with disarming honesty about her lack of interest in fashion and style when filming MIC, often turning up on set in holey jumpers and the crew having to lend her their clothing so that the scene could be filmed.

She was the first of her contemporaries to have a baby at the age of 26. She talks openly and relate ably about losing her identity when she had her baby India. The anticipation of a front cover for Women’s Health Magazine saw her back in the gym getting fit and “strong not skinny” …she has a refreshingly healthy attitude to her body.  Then, with the help of a stylist she has clearly been finding her style mojo, recently attending The Pride of Britain awards looking truly sensational… a far cry from her self-proclaimed fashion disaster when she was collecting her BAFTA. The endearing thing about Binky is that she really doesn’t take herself too seriously and it is charming and funny.

She tells me about her wedding dress(es) journey…from Chelsea Registry Office to the beach in Corfu…

We chat about disastrous hair extensions, Botox and the dreaded salmon sperm facial…

Binky has a transparent and inspiring approach to life and parenting. She shares her learnings in her 2023 book titled The Making of You: a guide to finding your identity and bossing motherhood…two things she has done rather well IMHO. 

Thank you @Binkyfelstead for our happy chat …

In this episode I go on a style journey with former British number one Tennis player, Broadcaster and Commentator the serene and gorgeous Annabel Croft.

Annabel is the BBC commentator and pundit for the coverage of Wimbledon and hosts the Wimbledon finals ceremony … of course we chat about planning her on screen looks particularly for the final’s days. 

Annabel grew up on the tennis circuit, (the Tour), and in her words she spent her entire childhood in a uniform …either school or tennis kit. We chat about her choice of tennis dresses and how important that was to her in an era before the fantastic technical fabrics we have now and how the Williams sisters have set a new bar in terms of women’s tennis fashion.

She talks openly about getting a little lost stylistically after having her children but Annabel clearly loves fashion and her daughters Amber and Lily have become her trusted style gurus, sometimes pushing her out of her comfort zone but always knowing what will work on her.

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We talk about her brilliant (and brave) participation in Strictly Come Dancing in 2023. Obviously we talk about her wardrobe, the talented team led by Vicky Gill and her partner Johannes, with an incredible eye for detail, having a lot of input into her costumes to make sure they enhanced the dance and her movement. But SO brave, as Annabel had lost her husband, the love of her life, Mel,  just a few months prior to this after a short battle with cancer. She talks movingly about still sleeping with his scarf … and the pain of seeing his clothes in the wardrobe … and the emotional attachment she has to certain items that he bought her or loved seeing her wear…

Annabel talks with an almost disarming honesty …such openness and warmth … I loved this conversation with a woman I am lucky enough to call my friend. Thank you Annabel for this lovely conversation.

In this week’s episode of Style DNA I chat with the original Princess of Punk, the truly extraordinary, iconic and zany, Dame Zandra Rhodes DBE.

Known for her fabulously bold prints, she launched her eponymous fashion brand 56 years ago. Rhodes is renowned for perfecting the art-of-print as an intrinsic influence on garment shape. With dramatic designs and her own distinctive look, she paved the way for fashion as theatre and entertainment.

We chat about dressing international stars including Freddie Mercury, Diana Ross, Barbara Streisand and Jackie Kennedy, as well as British Royalty, most notably, Princess Diana and Princess Anne… and I cheekily ask her if, given the opportunity, what she would design for the current Princess of Wales…

She talks about how her big career break was in the 70s, meeting two Ukrainian models who persuaded her to take her collection out to America where they were sure they could find her a backer… she arrived in New York with a letter of introduction to Diana Vreeland who fell in love with her designs and instantly commissioned a huge shoot for Vogue starring Natalie Wood…and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Rhodes grew up in Kent and was surrounded by fashion from an early age as her mother was a pattern cutter for The House of Worth. She would quietly watch the bridal fittings and appear in the children’s section of the shows. She evolved her own style including her love of pink hair and a dramatic eye…and always has, and still does, wear the clothes she has designed.

In 2020 she formed the Zandra Rhodes Foundation, a charity that ensures future generations of designers, artists, researchers, students and educators are able to study her life and designs, with an emphasis on her methods and techniques. Dating from the mid 1960s to the current day, the Foundation is working to catalogue her six thousand garments, printed textiles, drawings, accessories, fashion films, kodatraces, silk screens, press cuttings, personal memorabilia and collected artworks. A central collection will stay with the Foundation and the remaining material will be donated to permanent collections of major museums across the world, including the Fashion and Textile Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Now in her 80’s her focus more recently has been on strategic collaborations with fashion and lifestyle brands such as IKEA of Sweden, Happy Socks and Poppy Lissiman. In 2003, she founded London’s Fashion and Textile Museum, which to this day showcases some of the best in fashion and textile design.

She recently published a book, Iconic - My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects …it’s  an insightful memoir told through a variety of mementos collected over the years, in which

Zandra shares her life story for the first time…definitely worth a read!

I hope you enjoy this conversation … thank you @Zandra_Rhodes for taking me on your style journey.

In this episode of Style DNA I go on a style journey with Entrepreneur, Celebrity Influencer, Presenter and Media Personality …the exquisite Rosemin. I first met Rosemin when she hosted a dinner for me in Dubai in 2018 to promote my new collection…what was lovely is that pretty much every woman attending that dinner arrived wearing Wakeley, and it felt like the most generous endorsement of me as a designer.

Rosemin grew up in Canada, her family emigrated there from East Africa in the 70’s escaping Idi Amin’s regime and effectively having to start over but exhibiting an incredible entrepreneurial work ethic to Rosemin and her brother. Her early passion for fashion took her to study fashion marketing at The London College of Fashion and then Rosemin cut her teeth in the fashion world working for Mr Ford, as in Tom Ford himself. Clearly the opportunity to work so closely with him was incredibly important to Rosemin, witnessing first hand how he approached his Creative Director role.

Following her time at the Gucci Group she was head hunted to help launch Juicy Couture in the UK and Europe. Her honed eye meant that she approached celebrity seeding in a very targeted way, and it worked. Celebrities from Kate Moss, to Gwyneth Paltrow to Queen Rania of Jordan were all photographed wearing the newly expanded collection of Juicy… the sunglasses, the slip dresses and the trench coats.

Rosemin recently remarried in Paris and we talk about her Faraz Manan wedding lenge (exquisite) and her Tamara Ralph gown (fairytale)..and why she chose these designers. We discuss the longevity of Chanel…what a brilliant job Stella McCartney is doing championing sustainability in fashion…her style icons…and the joy of wearing an Abaya …

I hope you enjoy this episode …thank you Rosemin for being such an inspiring guest!

In this episode of Style DNA I go on a Style Journey with the Founder and CEO of the online publisher SheerLuxe … the brilliant Georgie Coleridge Cole. Georgie founded SheerLuxe from her kitchen table back in 2007 inspired by the concept of sharing her recommendations, magazine style in a digital format. It was early days in the digital revolution, but knowing that she had slightly missed the heady days of print publishing she backed herself to create the now formidable SheerLuxe which has shaped what successful digital marketing looks like in the UK. She has a team of over 70 employees, over 700,000 newsletter subscribers, over 2 million social followers and a myriad of emerging and well-established brands and retailers as its commercial partners – from Net-a-Porter, and Harvey Nichols, to Reiss, Charlotte Tilbury & Chanel. Alongside well established retail brands they are huge supporters of British founder led businesses and entrepreneurship. Not surprisingly Georgie has a great sense of her own style and we chat about how her mother and she approach clothes and style in a very different way…but both care deeply about their appearance. I question Georgie about being a deb in the 21st century and we talk about how her wardrobe has evolved now she is spending more time at her new office  in the Middle East. I challenge her on ageism in fashion…something that I feel a lot of brands and publishers are missing a trick on…I do firmly believe that this is going to be the next big Ism… I hope you enjoy this conversation – and if you haven’t signed up to SheerLuxe I highly recommend it.

Thank you Georgie for being such a great guest.

Georgie Coleridge

In this episode I go on a Style Journey with the world-renowned florist, author and designer, affectionately dubbed the UK’s ‘Queen of Flowers’. . .the whimsically wonderful Willow Crossley. She is best known for her innate floristry skills and knowledge of botanicals and has worked with brands from Dior to Chanel, and private clients (including The Royal Family) in phenomenal spaces in Britain, Europe and America. She is also the author of four books: The Art of Handmade Living; Inspire: The Art Of Living With Nature; Flourish; and The Wild Journal: A Year of Nurturing Yourself Through Nature.

Willow and I chat about her inspirations, growing up in the country, in the wilds of Wales… where she absorbed a love of colour. Back then all her pocket money went on magazines which she would devour and analyse with her stylish mother. She moved to London and studied at the London College of Fashion and went on to work at both Vogue and Tatler which certainly honed her aesthetic eye in an era when the editors were “super glam”. 

We talk bridesmaids dresses…Willow has been a bridesmaid an astonishing 14 times!…and then her wedding dress and her blister-inducing Louboutins…and then moving to Provence and spending the summers floating around in Edwardian cotton pieces that she had collected over time.

Back in the UK and based in the Cotswolds with a burgeoning business and 3 boys, we discuss her eclectic style, her love of colour, her passion (borderline obsession) for sneakers, and the challenge of staying warm and stylish for her frequently chilly work, as well as her collaborations with the likes of Brora and her approach to sustainable floristry as well as fashion.

Thank you @willowcrossleycreates …I so enjoyed our happy conversation xx