In this episode of Style DNA I go on a style journey with the award winning BBC radio host, TV fashion presenter and Influencer, who goes by the name of MiddleAgedMinx, the fabulous and joyous Jo Good.
I first met Jo when she interviewed me for her Gold show for SheerLuxe and we clicked immediately…laughing about how age was just a number, that it is wrong to be pigeon-holed, and agreeing that we like to think of ourselves as ageless.
She talks with great humour about customising her very conservative “English public school inspired” school uniform while growing up in Australia…which included steaming her stiff boater into a Stetson shape…I would love to see a picture!
At 5 foot Jo is an inspiration to other petite women…she refuses to conform to the normal “rules” of petite dressing and has great style hacks to offer on the subject.
Jo loves to document her life in her popular YouTube vlog and her Instagram channel. We discuss the term Influencer and she makes the excellent point that as an actress she was paid to be in a lot of commercials promoting all kinds of stuff, stuff that she had no knowledge of and no affinity with the brand. She feels that as an Influencer it is wrong to be chastised to be paid to promote things that you have actually trialled and like. As she says, the insights from Instagram will tell you how well you have performed, and this is why she has great respect for Influencers who work consistently for the same brand, because they are clearly proving their worth otherwise the brand wouldn’t keep working with them.
We close by discussing her approach to Sustainable Fashion …why she doesn’t do fast fashion but also why she doesn’t buy vintage…in her brilliantly quick turn of phrase she says “I have a thing about vintage on vintage - I think it can make you look really old!”
Of course the Quick Fires were far from quick and this whole recording ran on for longer than normal but it was so full of joy, wisdom and nostalgia that it was hard to cut. Thank you @middleagedminx for being such a wonderful and witty guest x
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1:12:42
Roxie Nafousi - Style DNA - Season 8
In this episode of Style DNA I go on a style journey with none other than the world-renowned self-development coach, inspirational speaker, manifesting expert, and three-times Sunday Times Bestselling author, the inspirational Roxie Nafousi.
I first met Roxie when she came to one of my London Fashion Week parties at my Mayfair Store and the shy woman I met back then was worlds apart from the confident communicator that I had this Style DNA conversation with… I have to say it is heart-warming to see someone evolve so positively…and in this conversation she eloquently explains how that evolution came about.
Roxie has talked opening about being lost, until she found manifesting and I ask her how her style has evolved from being the person she was previously? She admits she hated her style before, how she felt only as worthy as the man she was with and that impacted her dressing. She states that her style growth is aligning with who she is now.
We talk about when she discovered her passion for fashion? Fashion had always been a bit of a mask for her…that she liked fashion for all the wrong reasons, it’s probably only in the last year that she has started to take more care of what she wears. She writes about it in her latest book Confidence, that a big part of manifesting your higher self or stepping into your most empowered self is about the way you dress. In Step 8 of the book she talks about dressing the part as one of the ways that you can show up as your future self. Alongside this, she says that a big part of the manifestation journey is letting go, letting go of all things that don’t serve you, whether it’s bad habits, behaviours or people but also the kind of clothes that don’t serve who you are anymore, or that are not who you want to become. It’s definitely food for thought…
She has clearly found her confidence…and feels that she is of value to the world but is humble enough to admit that she has days when self doubts creep in but she is better equipped to deal with them and most importantly wants to share her learnings…
Bravo @roxienafousi…thank you for your frank and open conversation…hugely thought provoking and helpful to many I am sure x
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51:04
Season 7 - Style DNA: Kelly Hoppen
In this final episode of Season 7 of Style DNA I go on a Style journey with a true icon of British design, my friend, the world-renowned Interior Designer, Author of 10 books, affectionately dubbed the 'Queen of Taupe', ...the titian haired, inspirational pocket-rocket power house that is Kelly Hoppen CBE. I first met Kelly when she was looking for a wedding dress...there are some designs that you never forget as a designer and to this day, 35 years on, I could sketch that dress, coat and shoes precisely ... all very pre-Raphaelite...I was thrilled to learn that Kelly still owns it and what's more still wears the floor length velvet coat over jeans.She talks openly about how long it took her to find her style and how much more relaxed she is in making her purchasing decisions now that she has her style formula...her Style DNA.We laugh about her going to give a talk at Bloomberg and how she dressed up to fit in with what she thought was expected of her, as though she was going into a boardroom, only to be told by someone very close to her to go and change, asking "where has Kelly Hoppen gone?!" and reminding her that Bloomberg had invited her because of who she was. This was clearly a pivotal moment for her, and the lesson was to never lose your own identity because of what you perceive to be someone else's expectations of you. Such good advice.Of course, I had to ask her about her time as a WAG when she dated the footballer Sol Campbell (16 years her junior) and she talks honestly about some of her fashion choices being "quite questionable" for a time.Now she lives between London and the Cotswolds and we discuss what country dressing means in that uber glam part of the country...it's certainly not jeans and tweeds!But more importantly, we chat about her being chosen by L'Oreal to be one of the faces of their brilliant Age Perfect Campaign...a real pinch me moment for Kelly but one that she truly deserved. The Kelly I know has always worked diligently at her fitness and wellbeing and at 65 she has never looked better, clearly comfortable in her skin, and more relaxed than ever. Bravo Kelly and thank you for sharing your Style journey, Prozac boots and all!I hope you enjoy this episode ...it was a treat for me to take a journey through time and style with someone I have known for so long...thank you @kellyhoppen for friendship and this style chat xx
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52:41
Season 7 - Style DNA: Venetia Archer
If you’ve ever wished that beauty treatments could come to you at home instead of the other way around, then you have Venetia Archer to thank. In this episode of Style DNA, I sit down with the brilliant entrepreneur behind Ruuby, the concierge beauty app that has revolutionized the way we book and receive our treatments.
A true multi-hyphenate, Venetia started out in the corporate world, where she quickly realized that busy women (herself included) needed a more flexible way to fit beauty into their schedules. And so, Ruuby was born—a service designed for the busy modern woman who barely has time to grab a coffee, let alone schedule a salon visit for a beauty treatment.
Prior to founding Ruuby, Venetia worked as a geopolitical risk analyst, specialising in Somali piracy - and spent a stint in Kenya researching pirate gangs and negotiating with Somali pirates (yes, really) – and during that time she learned that fashion isn’t just about looking good—it’s a tool for power and confidence.
We dive deep into her mother’s influence on her personal style...lucky Venetia appears to have the perfect source of vintage designer pieces care of her mother’s generous cast offs!
We chat about how fashion has always been her armour—from boardroom battles to fundraising rounds. In the early days she admits to a bit of a rebellious ripped jean, cool jacket tech spirit and how now the armour of a great jacket and a heel are her go-tos when she wants to feel empowered.
We discuss the joy of buying a “treat to self” to mark time or a deal …has anyone else discovered the sheer independent delight of that?
Venetia is as sharp as she is stylish, and our chat is filled with gems…whether you’re into beauty, business, or just love a great fashion story…Thank you Venetia for sharing your insights.
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35:07
Season 7 - Style DNA: Alexandra Shulman
In this episode I go on a style journey with the longest standing former editor of British Vogue … Alexandra Shulman CBE.
As a young designer at the time I will never forget being invited by Alex to a one on one lunch at San Lorenzo not long after she became Editor in Chief. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I came away thinking how kind and approachable she was…in fact the polar opposite to the intimidating image of most editors at the time…There was never anything Devil Wears Prada about Alex.
In this episode she talks openly about her relationship with fashion …proclaiming she knew nothing about fashion when she took the job and maybe “ignorance was bliss”. But when she took the helm of Vogue it was a unique moment in fashion…there was an incredible pool of British design talent and at the same time the High Street was breaking through and democratising fashion. Of course I ask her what she wore on her first day in the ever-imposing Vogue House…
We talk about the pressure of dressing to attend all the shows around the world and she is wonderfully pragmatic about how she knew she was never going to be a “Carine or an Anna”… How the editors grand hotel rooms would always be laden with flowers on arrival from all the big houses, often with handwritten notes from the designers…and a time that Karl (as in Lagerfeld) wrote several pages to her as to how he was feeling about a particular situation…
During her editorship she was asked by the then Kate Middleton to recommend British designers for her wedding dress…Alex submitted her ideas, bearing in mind the possible dynamic between the designer and Kate, the obvious need for incredible security not to mention, could the designer/house create a dress worthy of making history for all the right reasons. She had no idea until the wedding day who had actually got the job.
She talks lovingly of spending time in her mother’s dressing room as a child (the only time she and her siblings got to see her during the week), watching her get dressed for work as the editor of Conde Nast Brides magazine. How glamourous and stylish she was and indeed still is in her 90’s…
Alex’s book Clothes and Other Things that Matter… is not only about clothes but about the way we live our lives. “From childhood onwards, the way we dress is a result of our personal history”. Not dissimilar to this podcast, our clothes have stories …
I hope you enjoy this episode…it was a rich conversation peppered with stories of the crazy world of fashion.
Thank you @alexandrashulman for being so wonderfully open and brilliantly eloquent x
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Join Amanda Wakeley as she is joined by a different celebrity guest each week as she uncovers their very own Style DNA.
Guests include Trinny Woodall, James Blunt, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, David Furnish, Yasmin Le Bon, talk about their best and worst fashion moments as well as answering the question, 'What Do They Wear In Bed?'.
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