The parallel paths of our homes and our wardrobes
Over the past few years I haven’t bought many clothes, new or secondhand. Partly because of being in a bit of a mid-life “who am I and what is my style?” fashion rut and partly because my focus has been squarely on the renovation of our house in Margate. Interestingly, as the house reaches a point where the base layer of decorating is mostly complete and my focus is shifting to the fun stuff, the finer details of decorating - lamps, textiles, artwork and so on - my interest in fashion has once again been piqued.
Before I found my love of interiors I was always interested in clothes. As a child in the eighties it was mainly high street favourite Tammy Girl, adored by tween girls across Britain, but because of my mum’s vintage clothing shop I was also introduced to the idea of shopping secondhand. The seed was sown early for mixing new and old and although I didn’t really start doing that with fashion until I was a teenager and I discovered charity shops and second hand markets, it was in my consciousness from a young age.
In the worlds of both fashion and interiors, the idea of shopping secondhand has finally reached the masses. My 21 year old son shops secondhand almost exclusively, for both his wardrobe and his university housing and I know he is not alone amongst his peers. There are influencers made famous for their shopping hauls found at boot fairs rather than Primark and apparently the former Prime Minister’s wife appears to be decorating their 3 million pound home with some boot fair finds.
But the high street (now internet) giants of fashion and interiors - are still going strong, churning out cheaper and cheaper goods for our apparent continuing desire for newness. Not only that, but they are all making the same stuff! Last week I had to be in London for a meeting and I decided that since I was in town, I would also buy a few new pieces of clothing. This is my cycle: retreat from mainstream then feel like I’m missing out and attempt re-entry into society, fashion and popular culture. As you’ll see, the re-entry often fails and I am reminded why I retreated in the first place.
After a few years of favouring a rather dull normcore wardrobe (see below) conducive with renovating a house and my sometimes messy job as a set designer and stylist, but not conducive with expressing a personality of my own, I was ready to add some style back into my wardrobe. Inspired by some of my favourite fashion influencers Jenny Walton, Pernille Rosenkilde and Leandra Medine (formerly of Man Repeller fame) all of whom share a love of fashion and an ability to customise an outfit to reflect their own personality, I was seeking some colour and pattern and maybe accessories to breathe new life into clothes I already own. I was prepared to spend some money and I had a plan.
What I found upon re-entry to the high street was a sea of (tasteful? that’s subjective) beige, cream and black. Greeted by mannequins and displays at the entrance of literally every clothing shop I went into in central London, the message was loud and clear - colour and pattern are out, neutrals are in! I’m either too far behind or too far ahead in fashion terms because the bright and colourful garms had been relegated to the sale racks. Apparently Quiet Luxury was the new Normcore, the non-trend trend we are all destined to be wearing (mainly because it’s all you can actually find in the shops right now?) I left almost empty handed, except for a couple of sensible and long-wearing sweaters from Normcore high street favourite Uniqlo, in - you guessed it - neutral tones.
Back at home I looked around and thought about what I’d created over the past 18 months as we renovated our old bungalow. I realised my home and my wardrobe were more closely linked than ever. With my interiors I’d been building a base of neutrals upon which I could accessorise with interchangeable pops of colour and pattern - cushions, artwork, curtains - as my style evolves. And my wardrobe was populated with more basics than beauties but could be jazzed up with the addition of a colourful silk scarf, a vintage printed blouse or a red shoe.
The raw plastered walls punctuated by a newly painted sea green door seem to mirror the newly bought heather coloured sweater I wore accessorised with a vintage silk scarf in red and blue. The dress I cut up and turned into a skirt is the sartorial equivalent of the handmade shower curtain I recently fashioned from an old bed sheet. There was an obvious symmetry between the way I dress my home and the way I dress my body. This hasn’t always been the case - years ago my house was very colourful and maximal but I wore a lot of black. But right now, these two parts of my life are aligned.
In both fashion and interiors I have always favoured contrast - a cargo pant with a lacy top, a concrete floor with a vintage floral curtain. In my teen years in the late eighties/early nineties it would have been the classic 80s indie combo of a frou frou vintage dress paired with Doc Marten boots. Whatever your style, be it bold and clashing or minimal and elegant - or any one of the approximate 8 billion iterations in between - most of us are just trying to express ourselves through our outfits and our homes and often the two are on parallel paths. As I have written about in all five of my books, all that really matters at home is that you create one you love and that reflects who you are - today, yesterday…tomorrow.
Thanks as always for reading. Emily x
And below, my slow re-entry into colour with a green silk blouse bought at a flea market in Rome. Paired with cargos - old habits die hard. See also my new shower curtain made from an old bed sheet. Full details here.
I’ll leave you with a few of my fashion favourites, women whose personal style shines through (and whose homes also mirror this style).
