Former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman talks to HANNAH STEPHENSON about life in the fashion industry, body image and her battle with panic attacks I loved The Devil Wears Prada, but I didn’t recognise my own office in it
IT MAY seem bad timing to bring out a book about fashion, given the current lockdown situation and the fact many of us are working from home in leggings, old T-shirts or even PJs. But that is what former Vogue editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman has done, with her aptly-titled new book Clothes... And Other Things That Matter – part-memoir, part fashion history, exploring all manner of attire from the bra to the bikini, the trainer to the trench coat.
And she isn’t dressing down too much at home with her partner, Tatler journalist David Jenkins, and her son Sam, 25: “I like to be comfortable but I don’t tend to loll around in trackies and pyjamas.” In the book, Alexandra, 62, delves into her own life and work to look at how clothes intersect with the larger world, and explores what she wore with each phase of her life and what she still holds dear.
“Right now, I doubt many of us feel the need to have something ‘on trend’,” she agrees, “but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to have clothes that make us feel good.”
The book begins with a count of the clothes in her wardrobe in 2018 – 556 pieces including 34 jackets, 22 coats, five full-length evening gowns and a plethora of other adornments.
“It’s impossible to say which is my favourite,” she muses. “Favourites change. Sometimes it’s something new and sometimes something that I have had for years. “I have a pink satin coat by the Italian fashion house Marni that I love because every time I wear it, I enjoy myself. It’s not an everyday piece. It’s special. I have an old Gap T-shirt in a pale green that I have owned for probably 25 years which is still one of my favourites.”
When Alexandra was appointed British Vogue editor-in-chief in 1992, after stints at Tatler and GQ, there was some speculation that she might not be experienced enough for the job and didn’t really look the part.
Shortly after joining Vogue she was given two Chanel jackets by the label’s press office – worth about £1,000 each at the time. When the Vogue company chairman asked how much she spent on clothes a year, she said she thought it was about £4,000, which she admits was around triple what she normally spent.
Alexandra later found out from an associate that the chairman had wondered if he’d hired the right person to edit the country’s leading fashion magazine.
She was also a size 14 – something interviewers would continually reference over the years – and she points out that her successor Edward Enninful doesn’t attract the same observations about his appearance or weight.
In the 1990s, the magazine was criticised for photos of a waifish
Kate Moss that were dubbed ‘heroin chic’, part of a larger ongoing debate over whether fashion magazines contributed to eating disorders.
How does she feel she tackled body image during her tenure at the magazine? “Vogue was always being called out as promoting eating disorders among young women, but eating disorders come about through a huge number of factors,” she says now.
“People vulnerable to them might have felt they couldn’t measure up to images they could see in the magazine, which is why I always wanted to show many, many women and men who were celebrated for talent and professionalism outside the spheres of how they looked.”
While the anecdotes flow about how, during her career, she has mixed with artists, actors, poets, royalty and designers, along with her memories about what she wore for the occasion and what particular items of clothing mean to her, she also reveals that from the age of 20 she suffered panic attacks.
“I began to suffer panic attacks when I was 21 at university,” Alexandra recalls. “I didn’t know what they were and neither did those around me, but eventually my doctor suggested this was what was causing heart palpitations, dizziness, etc.”
She experienced the first one shortly after missing her flight when returning from holiday in Greece and ended up marooned in Athens for days because of an air traffic controllers’ strike.
Two weeks after returning home, she was staying at her family’s rented holiday home in Herefordshire when she suddenly couldn’t breathe. “I couldn’t swallow. I thought I was going to die. It was the first of the panic attacks that have beleaguered me on and off throughout my life,” she writes.
Today, she reflects: “Throughout my life, there have been periods when I have had them more frequently and others when for years they have gone underground.”
Going into the cut-throat world of fashion must have put more pressure on her, but she dismisses the notion that she may have been entering a Devil Wears Prada environment.
“All big industries are competitive and fashion is just the same as many others when there is a lot of money at stake, and when people care about what they are doing. I loved The
Devil Wears Prada, but I didn’t recognise my own office in it.
“I still keep in touch with many of the people I worked with, which is lovely, and of course I still read the magazine,” she adds. “I don’t miss the feeling that it is mine. It’s not like a baby. Magazines can thrive with different parents.”
Working at Vogue didn’t make her lose her love of clothes, but the way she felt about how she dressed was different while she was there, she reflects.
“As with all jobs, there were certain demands on how one should appear and now it’s rather lovely to always be able to wear what I feel like wearing, rather than what I should wear.” With more freedom since she left in 2017, she now wears trainers more often – although says she still wears heels because she likes how they make her feel.
“I have bought a lot of clothes since I left but slightly more casual,” she continues. “I spend quite a lot of time surfing clothing sites and then have made a rule not to press buy at the first sight of something. If I still really want it a few days later then I may reconsider.”
Since leaving Vogue, she says life has been interesting, as she has taken up collaborations with Boots and has been enjoying writing.
“But I have also enjoyed the fact I could be in my home more. Perhaps not ideally as much as I am right at the moment!”
Alexandra believes the fashion industry will survive in the wake of Covid-19, but maybe behave more responsibly.
“There will no doubt be changes in the way that some people operate. Some of the massive travel and expenditure on promotional events might get cut back and I think most people would regard that as good. “But we need clothes, we need the creativity of fashion. The industry was already taking huge steps to consider their sustainability and this crisis will feed into that.”
So, will she ever get rid of any of the items she lists in her wardrobe? “I regularly go through my wardrobe. I do wish I hadn’t given away so many wonderful pieces over the years but since I gave them to charity, at least somebody else has got them.”
dystopian tale for all, which is scarily relevant right now.
NON-FICTION THE BUY NOTHING, GET EVERYTHING PLAN
ONCE again this corner of the printed world reflects my stay-athome lifestyle. And this week that means reflections with a sunshiney, tropical theme.
(I bet it’s raining by the time you read this!)
I’ll begin with our continued dalliance with the world of cocktails. When I say “our” this is me and my daughter; the latter being inspirational in opening my eyes to how easy making a cocktail at home can be.
We’ve just sipped a Piña colada which we created with
Dead Man’s Fingers Pineapple Rum
(£22, Morrisons, thedropstore. com, right). For each cocktail we poured 50ml of the rum into a blender with crushed ice, 50ml of coconut milk
“ITALIAN butter is very different to the kind readily available in England. Maybe (probably) I’m just getting old, but I’m sure lots of butter in England doesn’t taste of anything anymore. “In my last months before moving to Sardinia, I got into a habit of smelling the butter in shops. I would unfold some of the paper and have a good sniff of the pat inside. It drew some strange looks from other shoppers, but it’s a sound method of judging the quality,” says Letitia. “A good butter should smell of thick, cold, cream: ever-soslightly cheesy, faintly sweet.
Butter is “very rarely” used in cooking. “When butter is used, it is as an essential flavour in the finished dish, rather than just a means of cooking,” she explains – which this simple pasta dish demonstrates perfectly. “Glamorous it may not be, but I could happily eat this dish every day. It also demonstrates the essential skill in making pasta sauces; that the pasta cooking water must be added to the finished dish, to both emulsify the sauce and melt the grated cheese into a creamy consistency.”
INGREDIENTS: (For 2 restrained diners, or 1 hungover/fragile one) 220g dried pasta of your choice (I like risoni or any ‘short’ pasta best) 120g butter 8-10 small sage leaves 70g Parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve Sea salt
Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil. Drop in the pasta.
Place the butter in a wide, shallow pan and put on the lowest heat. Add the sage and cook for a moment or so to gently to release the aromas. Drain the pasta when it is at your perfect al dente, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid.
Add half the cooking water and the pasta to the pan with the butter and sage and turn up the heat. Stir and toss well for a minute or so, then add the cheese and toss again and again, until an emulsified and silky sauce forms. If it looks too dry, add more of the cooking water, too wet, carry on cooking. Serve with more cheese.