FASHION

Style matters

Editor-in-chief of British Vogue for a quarter of a century, Alexandra Shulman has a few tales to tell. Melissa Blease talks to her about her new book –a collection of cameos about aspects of clothing and their personal value

I“ am wearing a loose-knit sweater in a disrupted rainbow of faded colours. The sleeves are over-long, reaching to my fingertips, and me but also about a moment in time that we all shared: 9/11, a period where you would have thought everything would change, but people the whole baggy jumper hangs to mid-hip...” were still wearing Juicy Couture – it makes sense, in the book! But at Sound familiar? Probably; after all, the wearing of such the end of the day, anybody could have written this book, because comfortable jumpers is what got us through the days when there was everybody’s got their own stories about their own clothes.” nothing on the agenda and nobody around to care what we wear. It is The daughter of Canadian author and critic Milton Shulman and not, however, the sort of item one would expect Alexandra Shulman – British etiquette doyenne Drusilla Beyfus began her career in fashion the woman who was, for a quarter of a century, the 10th and longest- journalism after taking a job as a secretary at fashion and lifestyle serving editor in chief of iconic fashion magazine British Vogue –to magazine Over 21 in the early 1980s before going on to write for highlight in her book Clothes... And Other Things That Matter as an Tatler and becoming editor of British GQ in 1990. As well as item that, well, matters. publishing two novels, she’s written columns for national publications,

“Neither did I!” says Alexandra, with a laugh. It turns out she’s and was awarded an OBE for services to the magazine industry in 2005 given to surprising herself, though. Leaving Vogue in 2017, she had and a CBE for services to fashion journalism 12 years later. absolutely no idea what she was going to do, which was most unlike On taking to the helm of Vogue in 1992, Alexandra presided over a her. “I’m not a reckless person or a chancer, but leaving was a flash massive circulation increase and a much higher profile for the decision to just jump. I knew that one way or another I’d survive, but it magazine. Remember the Vogue Millennium Issue, with an ingenious was quite a shock to the system and, as the weeks went by, became a mirror-like finish that put the reader on the cover? That was bit nerve-wracking.” But she’d written books before, including Inside Alexandra. What about the 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales Memoriam

Vogue, a diary of the magazine’s centenary year in 2016. “And I’d been Issue, featuring the princess as photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, keeping track of the process of leaving my role and the aftermath – that or the Gold Issue in December 2000, featuring Kate Moss in stark, was potentially the book I thought I was going to write, but for one blacked-out silhouette? Alexandra again. But beyond those covers... reason or another it didn’t make sense to write a straightforward “One of the biggest high points of my Vogue tenure was getting the memoir,” Alexandra explains. “So I sort of fumbled my way towards job in the first place!” Alexandra recalls. “That moment was a

Clothes...; it came about as I was writing it, really.” wonderful one indeed. On from that, a lot of the high points were around very special moments such as the It’s Fashion fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer Relief in 2001, held at the Rothschild’s Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. I had this idea to base it around the Field of The Cloth of Gold summit meeting between the Henry VIII and King Francis I of France in 1520, with pavilions showcasing collections from different designers such as Chanel, Versace, Valentino, Burberry and Armani all in their own little courts, as it were, followed by a gala dinner attended by Prince Charles, Madonna and Kylie Minogue, among others. Amazingly, it happened! And for me that was a huge achievement; a lot of hard work, but well worth it. And in the magazine’s centenary in 2016: to be master of ceremonies as we celebrated 100 years of British Vogue at the National

The result is a highly captivating, intensely personal collection of Portrait Gallery exhibition and realising that I was the custodian of cameos that focus on the items of clothing and accessories that bring such an incredible legacy was beyond amazing. Those are my stand-out meaning to our lives as we negotiate the world from childhood to memories. There were obviously individual editorial moments that romance, motherhood, career and beyond, taking in body image, social were absolutely thrilling too, but it’s difficult to pick just one out.” And commentary and fashion history along the way. Our clothes, you see, the lows? “For every high there were many lows,” she says; “the trick tell many stories – and Alexandra has told many of those in her book. is to remember the highs – that’s true of life in general.”

As we all know, even a straightforward wardrobe clear-out is often There’s much more of that subtly optimistic philosophy woven into too big a task, both physically and emotionally, to undertake without the fabric of of Alexandra’s book... But on a less profound level: what bouts of procrastination; how on earth did Alexandra select which of are the worst fashion trends bugging her now? her treasured sartorial memories would make the cut for the book? “In my opinion, those dreadful prairie-style, smock-like dresses with

“I simply wrote about the pieces I felt I could write something big collars, on a sort of puritan theme. There’s something about the about,” she says. “Red shoes, for example, which is the first chapter in idea of women dressing in this kind of Little House On The Prairie the book. Like many women, I owned my first pair of red shoes in my way that isn’t saying anything terribly good about women. When we childhood, so it was a good starting point. But that led on to the idea of look back on the prairie thing as a major fashion trend, I wonder if red shoes, and how and why women who don’t want to be flamboyant people will connect it with the time when time moved back a bit in other areas will choose to wear them. From there, I found myself because of Covid; back to spending much more time in the kitchen, writing about connections to red shoes such as Dorothy and the Yellow doing the ironing, doing the dusting... and women being dressed for the

Brick Road in The Wizard of Oz and what that meant, and that’s when part? I believe that connection will be made.”

I saw the shape of the book: personal, but relatable to all. There’s So if that’s the bad news about right here, right now, what, for another chapter about Juicy Couture tracksuits, which is personal to Alexandra, would her favourite fashion era be? “I think everybody ➲

There’s something about the idea of women dressing in this kind of Little House On The Prairie way that isn’t saying anything terribly good about women

loves the era when they were a teenager really, because that was the time you probably felt most passionately about the clothes you chose to wear,” she says. “For me, that would be the 1970s; I loved – and still love – the clothes from that time, and back then I felt so emotional about clothes in a way that I’ve never really felt since.”

As Alexandra told comedian Viv Groskop in a 2012 Evening Standard interview, “my heroines were singers like Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith or Carly Simon; I didn’t think about whether they wore Chanel or not.” But as editor of Vogue, surely such considerations are crucial? “When I was at Vogue I largely dressed for an executive role. But now that I can just wear what I want to wear, I veer back dangerously to the 1970s on a daily basis!”

The 1970s – or that beloved jumper that we ‘met’ back at the start of this interview. “When it came down to it, jammed into a plush booth late at night in a foreign city, I yearned to be back at home with a half of lager and lime in a Hammersmith pub wearing something utterly unglamorous and asexual like my Sloppy Joe,” Alexandra says.

Now there speaks a woman who knows what matters the most. n

• Clothes... And Other Things That Matter by Alexandra Shulman (Cassell), £16.99

What’s in a wardrobe?

A few fabulous West Country faces share the sentiment behind their most prized sartorial items

Adjoa Andoh

My mum handstitched this kaftan herself, from fabric from Ghana in the late 1960s. Mum made lots of our clothes back then. I remember her in the dress, going out dancing and to parties with my father. Mum and dad were a beautiful couple –he always stylish and full of fun, mum bold and fabulous, and both of them fantastic dancers. In the kaftan, almost six foot of dancing joy, with long red/brown hair and blue-green eyes, my mum was a knockout in this dress. That she made it herself, that she stepped out in it with pride, her Ghanaian husband by her side –when I wear this dress now, that’s what I think of: my stylish, courageous, dancing parents!

Lead image: Adjoa with Paterson Joseph in 2013, on tour in Columbus, Ohio with the RSC’s production of Julius Caesar

Image: © Carinthia West

Carinthia West

My choice started life as a floral chiffon dress; £5 from Chelsea Antique Market. Jenny Kee, who ran the shop, used to save items I’d like before a star snapped them up (Brigitte Bardot, Pattie Boyd and Bianca Jagger shopped there). I loved the transparency of the chiffon (who wore a slip when you had a body to show off?) and the gentle pattern. It was so soft I felt as if I was wearing nothing. My mother thought it ‘tarty’ but that only made it more attractive to me! It lived a jet-set life, hanging out with The Rolling Stones in recording studios, on beaches in Barbados with Eric Idle [pictured]. When it became tattered I cut it down to a blouse which looked great with jeans and red boots, so it gained a new lease of life. When it was reaching the end of its days it went to the back of my cupboard. Maybe one day I’ll frame it so my octogenarian self can reflect on the eclectic life the blouse and I have led!

“It doesn’t matter what you wear, just as long as you are there...”

Ian Matthews

I wore a Kooples shirt for Kasabian’s 2014 headline set at Glastonbury. I’ve worn it and worn it. And when it came to going through my clothes, I just couldn’t get rid of it because that was such a special night and a huge bucket-list goal for me as a drummer. I couldn’t face puting it in the charity bin. It still just about fits... which is kind of a miracle after the pandemic!

Lead image: © John Morgan Image: @eljaybriss

Keri Andriana

I bought this leopard-print coat from Camden Market about 20 years ago and I still wear it. It’s one of those pieces that comes back to me religiously each winter, as an amazing staple that you can dress up or down. I love to wear it with the classic jeans and black shirt combo, heels or a cute tshirt and denim skirt with trainers. It’s a piece that always gets compliments and seems to brighten every outfit. I love the contrasting scarf that’s attached to it, which gives an alternative look of separation on what is essentially one piece. I just really love that it’s so old and so nostalgic.