I used to feel like I needed to dress up like a TV presenter
ANITA RANI has been a television presenter since the early 2000s, meaning a lot of her fashion decisions have played out on the public stage.
She confesses that at first she felt she needed to dress like she thought a presenter would, but now, at 42, Anita insists she is much more comfortable and confident in her own style.
“I like to have a variety of things, I mix and match” says Anita, adding that where she shops has changed over the years as her style has evolved.
“I’m a big fan and supporter of small businesses. Businesses with good values, good ethics, who are thinking about where the product is made.
“So I’m happy to spend a little bit more and support somebody who could use my money, rather than just pop into a high street shop like I used to when I was younger. I’ve definitely grown up.”
“I have made so many errors in this industry, where I felt like I needed to dress up like a TV presenter,” the Countryfile presenter says with a groan. “More and more, I wear what I like...”
Even though Anita’s approach to fashion has changed, some things have stayed constant.
“I still have a tendency to dress like a 16-year-old boy, which I’ve had my whole life,” she laughs. “So big hoodies, baggy trousers, and a pair of trainers. That’s been my style since I was a teenager.”
Anita took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2015, and while ballroom gowns aren’t what she normally wears, she still enthuses about how much she “loved it, loved it, loved it”.
For Anita, putting on the sparkly outfit was “the moment where you transform from being you into glitter, glam, ready to go and dance. That’s all part of the make believe and the fun, because when else in your life would you ever, ever, ever wear that much make-up, or wear that little clothing?”
Like so many of us this year, Anita did a massive closet clean-out during lockdown.
“It was liberating,” she says – a feeling many of us can relate to. “I just felt every time I opened my wardrobe, the clothes were suffocating me. It felt great to have a big old clear out and then put everything back in, colour coordinated.”
It also caused her to re-evaluate her approach to fashion, thinking about “how much stuff we have and how much we really use and really need”. Now she is passionate about recycling clothes and shopping vintage.
“In the Nineties, we used to buy ‘second-hand’, not vintage – but it was quite normal for students to be in second-hand shops,” she says.
“You just couldn’t afford to go and buy new outfits all the time, and it was much cooler in second-hand shops to buy a vintage T-shirt and then customise it. I think we need to get back to that.”
Anita Rani is supporting TK Maxx’s Give Up Clothes For Good, in support of Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People. Visit Tkmaxx.com for more information.