Things I'm looking forward to in #February

Well, 7 days in and I thought - what AM I looking forward to this month...?

1. Pancake Day. Nuff said.

2. Retrospectively my first networking event in London town! I know! This gal took herself off to the bright lights and went to a Hubdot event on the Kings Road. Hubdot is a brand new way of networking built on connections. Instead of the usual "I'm Stephanie, I'm The Wardrobe Angel" intros which go down at most networking events, Hubdot encourages you to connect through storytelling. The event was magical - loads of food for thought and I heard some amazing stories including one from an 85 year old woman who asked us to ...

"remember the value of who you are rather than the value of what you have amassed"

3. The launch of the Bird Board Power Team website. I'm a member of this Power Team and man! This group is powerful. The monthly meet up encourages us members to put on our 'Big Girl Pants' when it comes to business. Check out the Bird Board Twitter account by clicking here. So case is point, I just emailed someone with the words "with all due respect" and sent a piece of work back to them. My big girl pants are ON.

4. I'm going to my mate Sue's house this week for tea AND cake. I am so on board with this.

5. Rich and I have nearly finished decorating. We are 1 sofa, 3 blinds and a couple of lamp fittings away from DONE. The stretch goal is end of Feb. (The more realistic goal is end of March when said sofa will arrive.)

6. Finishing up my "What I bought in the sales" blog post. It's coming!!

Til next time...stay wardrobe happy x

The Wardrobe Angel

Avene, ageing and The Wardrobe Angel

After casting around online for my 'tribe' I stumbled across the 30+Blog Collective the brainchild of London Beauty Queen. Fist pumping all the way to London I went to the panel discussion a few weeks ago hosted in conjunction with Avene skincare. On the panel were Jane Cunningham (The British Beauty Blogger), Linda Papadopoulos, a leading Psychologist and Doctor Sam Bunting, cosmetic dermatologist.

Various charges were levelled at the beauty industry including:

• Fetishing youth
• Considering ageing to be a flaw
• Patronising tone towards older women

So here's where semantics can get you into trouble - what constitutes an 'older' woman? Am I an older woman at the grand age of 35? Apparently so. I'm not a beauty blogger and honestly, I've never bought an anti-ageing product, I don't use eye cream and I have never considered Botox. I use Dermalogica face wash and Nivea moisturiser, I don't drink, I don't smoke and I watch my sugar intake. So in my eyes I reckon I'm in pretty good knick for 35. I have previously looked at anti-ageing products and just accepted the wording describing skin on the boxes purely because I didn't really think they applied to me:

tired, dull, sagging, wrinkled, lined

Then amidst the lively debate on anti-ageing I realised those products were targeted at me and a hella load of other women as well: this homogeneous mass of women over 30 at different stages of life, with different skin needs that the beauty industry has conveniently mashed together in 1 pot for ease. 

Jane Cunningham noted the lack of positive words to describe ageing skin translating into 'flaws' which those products would 'fix'. Claire Roper of  the blog Country Mouse Claire suggested turning those words around and tuning into the benefits of the products instead, highlighting the effects those products would have:

glowing, plumped, fresher, firmer

Bit of a difference, hey? I loved the take Avene had on their latest PhysioLift products which uses all the words above as well as this strapline:

Ageing skin is not a flaw

Ageing skin has specific needs

The blogger Patent Purple Life nailed the essence of the evening in her blog post Ageing is Normal which I urge you to read. 

Til next time...

The Wardrobe Angel x

The Wrong Knickers

I love Bryony Gordon. I know this is all terribly 'fan girl' of me but blame my Mum; ever since she pointed out that Bryony and I were of a similar and age and lead seemingly chaotic lives I felt I had a kindred spirit. 

Reading about her London life in The Wrong Knickers brought back memories of my 20's, chaos being the prevalent undercurrent: moving 10 times in 6 years, crashing headlong into dead end relationships, the all night raves, food poisoning, getting my drink spiked in Ibiza, watching friend after friend waltz down the aisle whilst I was the token class clown. Yet all the while I held down a pretty stressful job and built my career. 

There was a lot of magic in my 20's as well: a houseshare in Manchester which brought me lifelong friends, cooking my first roast dinner, awesome holidays in South Africa, Ibiza and America, completing a Fashion Journalism course. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change any of it. I'm just thankful that in Bryony Gordon writing about it I don't feel so bad about it. 

I admit I skim read some of the chapters, so close to the bone was the writing, that the words took my breath away. My carousel of lurching crisis came to a head after a move to Dubai and back after which I knuckled down, bagged my dream job, saved up and eventually started The Wardrobe Angel. If you've read Bryony Gordon's column in The Telegraph called How The Other Half Lives she used to be the pissed up lass roaring around London, the bones of which are brought to life in The Wrong Knickers. She now resides on the other side of the fence - married with a baby. 

A couple of years ago when friends were popping kids out all over the place I felt my future on this front was bleak: I was working on my business, a relationship was the last thing on my mind. But reading Bryony's story from single to shacked up gave me...hope. I knew the rest would come, and it did. 

Thanks Bryony. You utter legend. 

How you know when it's time to let go.

We've all got wardrobe favourites that, like a stubborn child, refuse to go anywhere. Mine is a sunshine yellow shift dress from H&M Trend. I bought it when I was the Visual Merchandising Manager of the flagship H&M store in London in the late 00's and man have I LOVED IT. I wore it with polo necks underneath and cardigans belted on top, I wore it on nights out and to work. It worked in winter and in summer, with flats and with boots, with bare legs and with tights. I think the only place I didn't wear it was to bed.

My happy sunshine H&M dress

You can just about see the ink spot 

Looks cool, non?

Then 2 things happened that should have sounded like a klaxon in my wardrobe-attuned ears. Firstly, I got black printer ink on front (to be honest, my Mum did such a good job of getting the ink out that the 'spot' left only a tiny patch of discoloured fabric. But once you know, you know) Secondly, the dress became mildly transparent due to so much washing. Probably around the time a bit of ink got on it....



To solve problem one I got some poppers sewn on so I could attach my fur stole which covered the ink spot - awesome - but this limited when and where I could wear the dress. I was still walking round flashing my pants so to combat the transparency issue I invested in some nude underwear. Now I really was flogging a dead dress. The dress somehow made its way to the back of my wardrobe where every so often I would take it out, remember the good times, and put it straight back. The thing was, even though I knew deep down that I would never wear the dress again, I didn't want anyone else to have it. Sound familiar?

Times move on and fashions come and go. Styles change around you and your personal style will never stop growing with you. I should've left this dress in my twenties where it belonged. This month I am moving into my new home and there is no place for this 1960's inspired see-through dress with its tarnished buttons, biro stained back (lord knows how that happened) and poppers sewn on to the neckline.

So - if you want it, it's yours. Tweet me @wardrobe_angel, hit me up on Facebook or message me via my website.  It's a size 10 and the biro stain is tiny, I promise.

My thoughts on the Ofsted report slamming scruffy teachers

This morning I was invited to go on BBC Radio Humberside to talk about the Ofsted report criticising scruffy teachers at the Acland Burghley School in Camden, London. They had callers on debating whether what you wore was important or not in the place of work. The caller before me said that a more informal style of dress worn by a teacher would make the teacher more accessible and promote greater learning. Wrong. Ofsted had drawn a direct correlation between the state of the teachers' clothing, the presentation of the building and the poor standard of work - the overall lack of pride in the school - to the schools poor level of achievement. The head is stepping down in August.

So what was my opinion? That guidance on what to wear in any business has to come from the top down but in the article in the Evening Standard it says, "Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, said that too many trainees are sent into schools without proper guidance on professional dress." If that is the case did the teachers even stand a chance against Ofsted? So what proper guidance do you give? 

A DRESS CODE which is the level of expectation you convey to your staff about their appearance: simply put it is what to wear and what not to wear.   

I talked to Burnsy on air about the importance of a Dress Code and the work I had done with Raynes Architecture. When the firm expanded, Lisa, the Director, contacted me to help shape their company image and write their Dress Code so that when a new member or staff that was taken on they would be in no doubt about what was acceptable dress in the Raynes work place. I mentioned a great quote on air from the E-myth revisited which talks about why some companies excel and others don't:

“Is it any wonder that McDonalds, Federal Express, Disney …and many more extraordinary companies spend so much time and money on determining how they look? It pays!” (E Myth Revisited)

Enough said! Even if you aren't running a multi-million pound business (and let's face it, how many of us are?!), or are running a not-for-profit business like a school, what your staff wear is a direct result of the management and leadership at the top and a direct reflection of how they feel about the job they are in.  After I bid Burnsy good day I remembered a Julie Walters programme called Ahead of the Class that was based on the failing school in London outside which the Head Teacher Phillip Lawrence was fatally stabbed in 1995. Do you know what the first thing she said  to her staff as the new "super head" brought it to ring the changes ? She  didn't ask them about the curriculum, the behaviour of the students, or what colour they wanted the staff room painting. No, she asked the teachers to dress smarter. 

(If you haven't read about what all the hoo-ha is about then check out the article in the Evening Standard by clicking here.)