How to find the perfect balance between smart and comfortable as we head out of lockdown
As we ditch the wellies and elasticated waists, you can smarten up and still be comfy
Smort dressing: smart and comfortable
Credit: Andrew Crowley
Welcome to a new chapter of this column. As we feel the grip of the past year loosen, it seems only right to start thinking about how we dress to re-emerge into the sunlight.
We are all a little apprehensive, I’m sure. Many of us have enjoyed the slower pace – I have certainly relished the looser waistbands. My feet are definitely experiencing a baptism of fire. I think I have worn a pair of heels just six times in the past two years (I bid adieu to the Jimmy Choos in November 2019 when I was heavily pregnant, then lockdown arrived and I embraced the open-toed road in a pair of Birkenstocks). For endless walks my wellies and AllBirds trainers became the new norm.
Win a copy of If In Doubt, Wash Your Hair
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Packed with uplifting, practical advice, we have 2 copies of Anya Hindmarch’s latest book to give away!
When fashion designer, businesswoman and mother of five Anya Hindmarch is asked what her best piece of advice is, she nearly always replies with, “If in doubt, wash your hair”. Now the title of her new book, Anya shares what she has learned during her busy and eclectic life, what she still worries about, and what advice she has received along the way.
From practical tips and quick fixes, to profound observations about confidence and creativity, this inspiring handbook will show you how to live a little better – and why sometimes, the answer can be as simple as washing your hair.
Anya Hindmarch has created her own high street
8 May 2021 • 5:00am
Anya Hindmarch outside her new venture, A Village
Credit: Rii Schroer
From Monday week (May 17), Pont Street – a Chelsea thoroughfare that runs off Sloane Street – is under new ownership. Anya Hindmarch, entrepreneur, handbag designer extraordinaire, one-time business ambassador for the UK and thoughtful environmentalist, will have her name above five shops there. That’s most of the first block.
She’s calling the project A Village. There’s the bespoke flagship she’s had there for 15 years – a magnet for just about every royal and rocker you’ve heard of – plus The Labelled Shop, dedicated to the fine art of organisation (one of her obsessions), and The Village Hall, an evolving concept space that for now houses an Anya Hair Salon which, although it can’t promise a long blonde mane like hers, will deliver “shampoos, therapy, coffee and champagne”.