The EDITOR...
HATTIE HAWKESWORTH, 36, IS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AT FARFETCH
Barbara Cartland meets Dolly Parton meets Jayne Mansfield, that’s my style. I gravitate towards bad taste – anything that’s a little bit off: think old lady dresses, excessive leopard print, strange hats. I like the ultra-feminine and my favourite colour is pink. My wedding dress was a dusky rose and I gave birth in a bright pink hoodie.
Earrings are a weakness of mine. I bought a pair of Alighieri pearl cluster drops for my wedding day and, at home, I must have more than 5O pairs in total – the more Pat Butcher, the better. This is probably influenced by my journalist mother and graphic designer father’s eccentric friends, who were photographers and fashion folk. I loved visiting their houses, watching their beauty routines and marvelling over their dressing tables and jewellery boxes.
My teen years in Hove during the Noughties consisted of me smothering my face in Vaseline before applying streaky fake tan, and wearing crochet tops with low-rise jeans, mimicking Britney in her Slave 4 U era. Just before I moved to London, I began vintage shopping in Brighton.
At fashion college, everyone wore black – and I did, too. I used to wear my boyfriend’s black Fred Perry jumpers with pleated John Lewis PE skirts, accessorised with silver chains and cowboy boots. We slashed tights into tops – it was very DIY. Then came my 194Os phase: all granny bags and cardigans. Now, I mix vintage with new-season designs, from Bottega mules to my black Wardrobe.NYC trench coat. I spend most of my money on blazers with big shoulders and narrow waists.
I buy quality items, with my most expensive piece being a hand-embroidered sequinned Ashish dress with huge sleeves that I bought for a spate of weddings. But my most loved item is far simpler: last season’s over-the-knee Ganni cowboy boots, which I wear almost every day. I’ve always worn cowboy boots, even when they weren’t in fashion, because I learned to dress for fun. It makes me feel good. F*ck what everyone else says.