Big secret of Carrie’s designer wardrobe – it’s hired
BORIS JOHNSON may have declared that the national age of austerity is over – but a frugal spirit is still very much in evidence closer to home.
For The Mail on Sunday can reveal that thrifty Carrie Symonds has been hiring her designer outfits, rather than buying them outright.
The Prime Minister’s partner is often seen in the latest fashions at high-profile events, but by renting the designs she can maintain her image at a fraction of the full retail price. It also burnishes her green credentials, in keeping with her day job as an adviser to environmental campaign group Oceana.
Ms Symonds, 31, pays £9.99 a month membership to the website My Wardobe HQ, which allows her to supplement her day-to-day high-street outfits. The service has been described as a ‘private members’ club for the fashion world’.
Items she has hired include the blue-and-white check dress she wore to meet the Queen at Balmoral in September.
Created by Eponine London, one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite designers, it costs £2,100 to buy new, but £225 to hire. She paired it with knee-high Chloe boots, which would cost £995, but which she rented for £115.
On November 9, she attended the Festival of Remembrance at London’s Royal Albert Hall wearing a £1,740 outfit which she rented for £204; and on a trip to New York in September where she met billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melissa Gates as part of her work with Oceana she hired £780 worth of clothes for £118.
A source close to My Wardrobe HQ said: ‘Carrie loves eco fashion so borrowing clothes for special occasions means they aren’t just left hanging in her wardrobe and rarely worn. One dress can go a long way.’
The trend in renting clothes has been fuelled by a move against ‘fast fashion’. Research suggests £30billion of unused outfits are sitting in wardrobes with £140million worth of clothing sent to landfill in the UK each year.
In a recent interview, My Wardrobe HQ co-founder Tina Lake said: ‘I think the average consumer is a lot more educated in terms of the damage fast fashion is having on the planet.
‘What we’ve done is worked with high-profile, influential models and celebrities, helping educate their followers to know that rental can be glamorous, not something you should be ashamed of.’
At an event in New York on September 24. Gown by environmental fashion house Frank: £205 to buy, rented for £45. Suede shoes by Gianvito Rossi: £575 to buy, rented for £73.
At the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on November 9. Alice Temperley coat: £750 to buy, rented for £90, over a Karen Gee dress, £990 to buy, rented for £114.
At Aberdeen Airport on September 6 on the way to meet the Queen at Balmoral. Blue-and-white check dress from Eponine London: £2,100 to buy, rented from My Wardrobe HQ for £225. Knee-high Chloe boots: £995 to buy, rented for £115.