10 minute read
DONNA IDA THORNTON
F A S H I O N HOUSE
Donna Ida Thornton transformed a former curry house in Pangbourne into a beautiful home - and now she’s o to start a new project, renovating a listed manor
By REBECCA PITCAIRN
If you ask any woman what item of clothing is the hardest to shop for, I’ll guarantee she’ll say jeans. Jeans are one of those items that most of us wear on a weekly, if not daily, basis so it’s important to find a pair that fits. Yet this fashion staple is notoriously di cult to get right. It’s one of the reasons Australian-born designer Donna Ida Thornton set up a new boutique jean concept 16 years ago. “When I first moved to London in the late 90s I was temping as a PA for the president of a big marketing company, but was desperate to start my own business. I was always in jeans, but really struggled to find styles that
I felt comfortable in and suited my shape.
There were these department stores that had these really amazing denim floors with great stock, but they just didn’t have that personalised, expert service I was after,” explains Donna, who has become known as the ‘Jean Queen’. “My boss’s daughter suggested I open my own store selling only jeans and in 2006 the first Donna Ida boutique opened on Draycott Avenue in Chelsea.” The Donna Ida stores, which could also be found in Belgravia and Guildford, have since been and gone with the business moving online five years ago to focus on Donna’s own brand, which launched in 2012.
“We were originally multi-brand, but it was always in the business plan to launch our own, it just took time to work out what the gap was in the market and that was highwaisted jeans,” says Donna, who names all her designs after women. “Ida is my middle name, but it was also my grandmother’s name and so I name the styles after women she would have liked to have hung out with. There’s Ivy, Eliza, Norma and Edna, so they’re all sweet old-fashioned names although many are coming back into fashion now.”
While the Donna Ida brand may have moved online, Donna hosts regular pop ups and says the ethos remains exactly the same as it was when they had physical stores. “We have a team of amazing stylists on the end of the phone, our clients send us pictures and we facetime them, it’s a really personalised service,” she adds. “It’s easier for people as well – they don’t want to get on the train and go into London anymore, particularly since the pandemic, so really we were quite ahead of the curve going online when we did.”
While Donna has no formal design training, her keen eye for style has attracted a cult following over the years with celebrities including presenter Amanda Holden, Dame Kelly Holmes and model Jodie Kidd wearing her designs, which also include denim jumpsuits.
“I know what I want and I know how I want it to look and so I just work with the pattern cutters to make it work,” she tells me. “I think it goes back to my childhood, I always liked making things when I was a kid, when I was playing with dolls I’d always be making them mini-dresses or even minifurniture for their dolls house. I understand construction and once you understand the engineering behind design, it’s exciting because you can make things look amazing.”
Donna regularly shares snippets of her home life with her 56,000 plus Instagram followers. Until recently, this was centred around the property she shared with her husband, restaurateur and president of the
WITH HER HUSBAND, ROBERT
SHE HAS FIVE CHIHUAHUAS
Restaurant Association, Robert Walton MBE, in Pangbourne. It was Donna’s keen eye for design that helped them transform the pub-turned-Indian restaurant on Reading Road, into a stunning home for the pair and their five chihuahuas; Julio, Fernando, Eduardo, Gonzalo and Emilio.
“The house was an Indian restaurant that my husband owned,” she explains. “It was originally a pub and he bought it from the brewery and turned it into an Indian restaurant and we’d eat there quite regularly. But it was on three acres of land and he decided that actually it would be nice to convert it, so we did. It took two years and originally it wasn’t the plan to live there, but as I got more involved in it all, the more I liked the idea and so we stayed for six years. It’s right on the Thames and I love being by the water so it was wonderful living on the river.”
Donna filled the house with eclectic one-o finds, as well as pieces she found in sample sales and Ikea staples to create a bright and breezy home which perfectly represents her personality – “I’m really into just finding stu , it doesn’t have to be
INSIDE THE PANGBOURNE HOME PANGBOURNE
expensive, I’m a big fan of Homesense in Reading and TK Maxx,” she says with a smile.
While Berkshire remains the home of the Donna Ida brand (the company’s warehouse is in Aldermaston), Donna and Robert have taken on a new, much larger renovation project in Devon. The couple are busy repairing and restoring the Grade II* Listed Jacobean manor house hotel, Langdon Court, in Wembury.
“It’s a mammoth project, but we’re loving it,” says Donna. “It will be an exclusive use venue for events such as weddings or special birthdays so it won’t be open every day, but I think that keeps the house special. Houses like that need to be nurtured and we just want to look after her.”
If Donna’s experience building a successful brand, creating a beautiful home and looking after her customers are anything to go by, there’s no doubt she’s going to do a great job.
You can shop the latest Donna Ida collection at donnaida.com and sign up for news on Langdon Court at langdoncourtmanor.com
PHOTO: KATE GORBUNOVA
Style council
Donna Ida Thornton’s top fashion, beauty and home tips
“The secret to finding a great pair of jeans is knowing your own body shape and if you understand that, then you’ll find the right jeans for you. People get frustrated because they want to look like their cousin or their sister, but everyone is a di erent shape. Focus on your own body, pick out the bits you like about yourself and find styles that accentuate that.”
“I love a good blow dry, it just finishes o a look and you get to feel like you’re being pampered for an hour. I love going to Adam and Eve at Yattendon for a blow dry, co ee and a good chat.”
“Flowers really make a house feel like a home. I find Green and Gorgeous Farm, literally just across the border in Wallingford, is great for flowers. They’re literally picked that day.”
SHE'S A FAN OF PINK HIMALAYAN SALT
Get to know… DAWN RUSSELL
Q What originally inspired you to launch 8GREENS?
A When I had cancer at age 25, I got a bone infection which prevented me from having chemo or radiation. After travelling the globe for four years searching for alternative therapies, I returned back to my home and began with the basics of food. Greens literally were the only food that not only stayed in me, but they started to bring me back to life. Literally. After learning first hand the power of greens, I set out to do something with all my hard earned knowledge. For five years and 264 prototypes I worked on creating the first 8GREENS product. My sole goal then and now is to get REAL greens, not extract or essence of, into anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Q What greens do you use?
A I am obsessed with our Blood Orange Daily Greens fizzy tablets that I put into water every morning. Throughout the day I inhale almost an entire jar of our 8GREENS skin gummies. On holidays I seem to devour our lollipops.
Q Why do 8GREENS tablets work?
A Because they are made of real greens that are simply dehydrated without heat. We were and are the world's first REAL greens fizzy tablets, gummies, lollipops, etc.
FOUNDER OF 8GREENS AND BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LOCAL
Q When you first launched, what was the response like?
A It was explosive. Everywhere we launched, Nordstrom or Amazon, we sold out in hours. It was playing catch up for the first few years as the demand was literally mind blowing.
8GREENS GOODNESS
Q What does it mean to you to have so many celebrity endorsements?
A I am grateful. I am equally thankful for all our customer reviews. It means more people are getting more greens everyday.
Q How excited are you to be launching in the UK?
A I have lived here for the past 23 years so it is hugely exciting for me. The demand in America has simply been so extreme, we kept having to postpone the UK launch. Now that we are a fully functioning, stable company, we have the bandwidth to properly launch in another country.
Q When you get a chance to relax around Buckinghamshire, where do you like to visit?
A Blenheim Palace is my favourite go to in Buckinghamshire as the owners are friends. The way the buildings are lit at night is truly magical. Also the Little Shop of Cheese – it was the best cheese stand I went to when my son was at boarding school in the area.
THE LITTLE SHOP OF CHEESE WAS A WINNER BLENHEIM PALACE
Q Any other health tips for us as we enter 2023?
A An apple cider vinegar shot (with the “mother”) a day – keeps the doctor away! Apple cider vinegar with the “mother” is a powerful combination of healthy bacteria, yeast and enzymes that promotes gut health and really cleans your liver. I do an apple cider vinegar shot every morning. To elevate the taste, add a tea bag (mint or citrus are my favourites), or add a squeeze of lemon and heavy dust of cinnamon.
Think pink! Swap your standard white table salt for Pink Himalayan Salt. This naturally occurring pink salt boasts many more minerals and less sodium. It contains the same 84 trace minerals that are found in the human body, including calcium, potassium, and magnesium to create electrolyte balance, increase hydration, improve circulation and alkalize the body.
Then there’s Flaxseed. Sneak more fibre and brain boosting omega 3 fatty acids into your family’s diet by adding flaxseed to just about anything and everything (cereal, pancakes, desserts, etc). The seeds act as a natural laxative and are also one of the reasons my kids’ hair and nails grow like weeds!
We all want our kids to eat salmon, aka “brain food”, thanks to it being a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. But, boy do they complain! To make it tastier, try making a marinade of five spoons of soy sauce, two spoons of honey, ginger, half a lemon, salt and pepper and mix all together. Marinade salmon in it for two hours. Cook for eight minutes at 350 degrees. My kids gobble this up.
