style files

What inspires you? For me, there is no divide between my fashion inspirations, and my life inspirations. After all, how you dress is how you want the world to see you: who you want to be.

Right now I'm inspired by Emma Watson's hair and makeup. A strong brow makes you look like a more interesting person (Carine Roitfeld, Hilary Rhoda, Frida Kahlo, Camilla Belle) than a skinny arch, and gives the face more character than may be strictly flattering. But beauty is useless if it's boring.

I'm always inspired by Rosamunde Pilcher. Are you familiar? This may reveal something unfortunate about my taste in books, but Coming Home is one of my all time favourite novels. An epic coming-of-age story centered around World War II, the style inspirations are thick on the ground. Pilcher's fresh-scrubbed and skinny blondes are a distinctive breed, whose penchant for red lipstick, thick sweaters, signature scents, 5 o'clock drinks, and dressing for dinner never fails to inspire me to embrace a little glamour in everyday life.

On the flip side, my feminist heart is unequivocally inspired by The Blue Sweater. Jacqueline Novogratz' autobiography-cum-development-treatise is more than just an interesting read. She inspires me to be useful rather than decorative, confident rather than strictly sexy, and ambitious rather than cynical. I'm pretty sure her book was the root of my current Katharine Hepburn style moment.



I'm currently reading Jack: A Life Like No Other, a biography of JFK. Frankly, I don't think it's a great book, but it is nonetheless engrossing. I have a whole new fascination with the lives of the new-moneyed in the U.S. in the 1930s-1960s. I want to get unwisely tanned, wear Wayfarers, and host a wild house party... in Florida. Actually, learning more about JFK has pretty much killed my respect for him, but it turns out Jacqueline Kennedy was a far more interesting figure than I gave her credit for. I always thought she was just one of the stock answers people gave when asked who their style icons were (pill box hats and big sunglasses) - but she really was both elegant and fascinating, and not at all the romantic figure I'd thought she was.




"Style Files" will be a continuing theme - expect more of my ramblings on inspiration to come.