Gucci seem to be sporting a Wild West theme for Spring/summer, going extreme vintage by bringing back cowboys and Indians!
I get a definite Western vibe from all the feathers, neckties, and denim seen on the runway.
I’m loving the creativity of combining high fashion fabrics and patterns with Wild West infusions. Taking the old embroidery, suede and fur but giving it a modern twist.
Double denim is definitely making a comeback! Again, an obvious cowgirl theme being seen here – simple denim and accessorising with colourful neckties. Give them a cowboy hat and a horse and they’ll be sorted in no time!
I met Vanessa in the City. She is fashionable, warm, friendly and passionate. I came to interview her about her amazing site for women in the City: wearethecity.com. A place where women can find help and advice with their work, life and careers.
Vanessa Vallely: “There are three core values that I had in mind when I set it up that hold true. One, that we provide a platform for female entrepreneurs to get their products to market on the basis that it fits into our members’ demographic. We do that by taking away hefty advertising fees for them and to give female entrepreneurs a bit of a leg up. We are also a conduit to charities to get to high net worth women. We will actively promote any network or any organisation that is free that will develop skills for women. So probably 40% of what we do on the website falls into that value set, that is really important to me.”
Frost: First of all, what are you wearing? You look great.
VV: “I am wearing a Britt Lintner dress with my normal Gucci shoes and scarf. She is a fantastic designer. She set herself up a couple of years ago doing dresses and managed to get her collection into Harrods, although she’s taking some time out because she’s raising some small children.”
When did you know you wanted to go into business?
“I left school at 16 with just a couple of GSCEs and headed out into the city with 15 pence and a bag of ambition because I wanted to change my lifestyle and my mum’s as well. We come from a very socially and economically-challenged background, so I knew that I wanted to be successful, I knew that the financial district was two miles away from where I lived and that was where I was going to start.
“I actually realised I wanted to develop the website three years ago due to my frustration with not having a site that covered everything in my life. There needs to be a bit of lifestyle in there because let’s not hide it, I am a woman. I need to eat, I need to have my hair done, I need to find a dentist. But I also wanted to upskill myself outside of my corporate environment, so how was I going to that?
“Women’s networks, courses I could go on – for me it’s frustrating. If I Googled that information, I would spend hours on the internet. I wanted to find it all on one site so my husband said, ‘Why don’t you create a website for women?’ and we built it together.
“So that’s when I knew that I wanted to work for myself. I love my corporate job and run the website outside of work.
“My aspirations in 10 years time are to be the CEO of a charity, because I do a lot for charity still.”
Tell me about being a Pearly Queen?
“It has been in my family for 100 years. The Pearly Kings and Queens were started by an Orphan called Henry Croft and he used to sew buttons on his suit, he was a rat-catcher in the markets.
“If you think about London 100-odd years ago it was still markets, no superstores or anything. So he used to hang around the markets with the costermongers who were the apple sellers. They used to sew buttons on their suits and were called flash boys.
“If the costermongers were down on their luck, their entire family was affected if someone was ill. There was no social security then, so he used to raise money in the markets for his fellow orphans. Eventually he was so much in demand, he couldn’t be at all the markets, so he made head Pearly Kings and Queens of each of the 20 boroughs of the London of the time and they’d raise money for individuals in that borough. My granddad was pearly King of East London and he passed that title to my father and my father passed it to me.
“I have been a Pearly Queen since I was three years old. I was Pearly Queen of Hoxton until this year when I gave that title to my 11-year-old daughter and I have taken the City of London from my dad. So we still go out and put our buttons on for various charities. I don’t quite sing and dance the way I used to, but it is a lovely part of London heritage and we are as famous as the Chelsea Pensioners, so why not do it? The fact that I have a profile in the City helps because it could die out with people getting old.”
I read that you could see the city from….
“I could, from my tower block window. I lived on the 18th floor and could see NatWest tower. I used to say to my mum, ‘I am going to work there one day and I am going to change how we live’. My first job was in that building.
I drive past there now and I look up at that tower block and I think, That’s where it all began’. We were broke half the time. There were lots of people with challenges and me and my mum were one of them, but bit-by-bit we made it out through sheer hard work. Most of my childhood was spent going to school and then cleaning betting shops until 11 pm. I don’t know if my mum still has it, but I think there’s a picture where I am holding a mop that is bigger than I am. I still love to clean – mopping and stuff like that.”
Was it hard getting to where you are now? Any reinforced ceilings?
“Yes, in the City I was different in a time when diversity wasn’t really appreciated. I didn’t speak the right way, I didn’t look right, and had a bit of an attitude. I was quite precocious and quite a forceful individual because I wanted to get ahead. I never had a college network to back me up, I never knew anyone, so I had to fight my corner a little bit harder.
“There were individuals who I worked for along the way who told me I can’t do what I have done. They said I’ll never succeed or I’ll never cut it or I’ll never get that job. I love people like that because they fuel my fire and I love to say to them, ‘Well, actually, you were wrong’.”
It’s all connections isn’t it?
“Absolutely. And I spent the past six years building those connections, not just for me, but for other people. I find people jobs, I mentor, I connect businesses, source providers. I spend probably 30% of my week connecting people to others. That’s why my strapline is ‘Make The Magic Happen’. They can go off and do stuff together. They call me a ‘contentpreneur’. I enjoy doing that and enjoy hearing about what other people have done as a result, because I feel like I was part of it.”
I heard that you were the most connected women in London….
“I do know a lot of people. I do agree that there are only three degrees of separation. I can get to most people if I need to. But I don’t call on favours often. I only call on them when I need them. I am more likely to be found giving favours or doing stuff for other people. That’s my model and I enjoy doing it.”
What do you think made you successful?
“Passion and drive. But also I open most conversations with, ‘what can I do for that person?’ and I think what you end up with is thanks. You are good to other people and they want to help you back. Also volunteering for things other people didn’t want to do. People would say, ‘oh, I don’t want to do that’ if there was a project that was really messy. I was the first one with my hands up, because I think you learn so much as a consequence of being in a mess, fixing it, and getting yourself out of that mess.
“I have always volunteered for projects that other people don’t want and for things I don’t necessarily have the expertise for. There are things I have worked on when I’d have to come home and study. I would read books and call on my network, saying, ‘Can you help me understand this stuff?’. I am not a hugely academic person, but I get things done and I have people skills. I get along so well with people. I think if you approach it a certain way, then people will help you.”
What do you think about the global economy?
“I think we’re in a tight space. I think we have been in a tight space since 2008. You look at what happened with the banks out there, Northern Rock and stuff, it has had a knock-on effect. It’s wider now, it’s countrywide, Portugal, Greece, Ireland.
“I think it’s a tough place to be. I think it’s a tough time for businesses, but I also think tough times are the best place to grow sometimes. You are starting from a very low point. I think there are people who will thrive as a consequence, but we have to watch what we are doing. It’s difficult. It’s difficult for public services, schools, I mean I do a lot of work within charities who have had their funding cut. I think the whole world is feeling the pinch. It’s a scary place to be.”
What was the original idea behind Wearethecity.com?
“It was my frustration that there wasn’t really a website for women. There wasn’t something that showed me a one-stop shop where I could make a change. There are now 20-30 charities that we promote and we have over 200 writers.
“These are girls that have never written for publications before and are amazingly talented. Some of them want to share their experiences and they are writing about a myriad of things, those problems that women face in their careers, life, childcare, elderly care, career aspirations, setting up a business. We are giving them the opportunity.
Wearethecity has grown from being a website that was built on an £8 a month web builder tool that anyone can get off the internet to a website that gets a million and a half hits every single month.
“Let it be noted that I have not done it on my own. There wouldn’t be a me without my husband. He built the website, he is the technical person, he has a full-time job, he believes in the power of women, he believes in me and it is a very supportive partnership. That enables me to do what I do. It is shared responsibility. Yes, when the kids are away we have an argument about whose week was more important, but he is a massive support, I couldn’t do it without him.”
How do you juggle kids with a career?
“Again, it’s a tough one. The kids come first. They have to come first. You have to spend quality time with them and it is quality time. I get up at 5:30 in the morning, generally I am pulling letters out of school bags, I write a few cheques, and I get prepared. I have a childminder that comes at 6:30, I literally hand over as I am walking out of the door. I get into work at 8:45 and I do my full day job. I see people, I do work on wearethecity on lunch breaks or after work, so I don’t mix the two.
When I am here in work, I am here in work. I do my emails on the train. I get home at 7. I see the children, the childminder goes. We tend to do a lot of quality stuff. We go to the theatre and we travel a lot because we live in quite a middle class white area and I grew up in the culturally mixing pot that is Hackney. I don’t want my kids growing up thinking the world is flat or white. I want them to have an appreciation of different religions and cultures. We cook a meal from the culture that we are visiting and then we travel there.
“My kids have a huge world map, probably three feet by two feet, that I bought them a few years ago. Every year, we choose two countries and then we go through a process. They do a little project, we talk about it, we cook a meal and we go. My kids can navigate Heathrow airport, Gatwick, Stansted like you would not believe. It has helped them to grow up. I want them to be the kind of individual who would see a person properly, for what they are, not what they look like or what their beliefs are. That is very important to me.”
Do you think the City is a good environment for women?
If you think of where we came from in the last 40 years, from being able to vote and stuff like that, I still think it is sad that we have to celebrate en masse when a women gets a board position. I would rather that was the norm.
“I also think women in my position should be role models and mentor these women because we need to build the next generation – that next pool of talent – or we’ll never get women who are ambitious enough to get onto boards.
It’s a good spot for women. The young girls that I talk to are coming out with different dreams and aspirations, with a ‘why can’t I?’ attitude, which I like because I think women should continue to push boundaries and I fully support that.”
What advice would you give to other women in business?
“Don’t take no for an answer. Try to remove the emotion. With some things that happen, it’s very easy to get a bit deflated. They just have to dust themselves off, get up and keep trying.
“Networking is one of the most important tools. Meet people, even if you can’t see an immediate need for your business. You never know when that person’s name is going to come up, so spend a lot of time networking with the right peer group. Keep those relationships warm, don’t be transactional, keep in touch even if it’s not a close contact. If it’s a peripheral contact, keep in touch every six months. Drop them an email saying. ‘I thought of you’, that sort of thing. That is massively important.
“Don’t give up. If you have a dream in your head, think about, ‘How do I get there?’. You may be back at the start and your dream is two miles ahead, so how do we get to mile one? Who do we need to help us to get there? What do I need to learn?
“Visualise that short-term goal, but keep the long-term one in mind as well. You just have to keep pushing on. It’s not always easy. I’m not perfect. I had times when I put my head in my hands and thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Or when I want to give up, that network around me are the ones that give me the push. You need to push on. That is what I give to my network now.”
I know what you mean, I have times when I think, ‘I can’t do this’.
“But then one of your friends will be strong and they will say, ‘Yes you can’. Then they might have a moment. I think it’s a fantastic time for women, and again, if you hang out with the right set of women who support women, it’s a fantastic place to be.”
It was Madeleine Albright who said there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women [Vanessa finishes the quote with me]
Absolutely. And she’s spot on. She said a lot of profound things. She is one of my women that I aspire to. She’s amazing.”
It is an annoying myth that women don’t help other women.
“I can honestly say 99% of women I associate with are absolutely supportive. If we don’t make a difference, if we don’t support other women, if we don’t tell young girls that they can do it, and influence and navigate….
“I don’t think a woman should ever change her make up. I look back at the pictures of me early in my career and I look like a guy, I have a pinstripe suit on. The only thing that says I am feminine is my hair and a bit of make up, because that’s how I thought I needed to be. In order to succeed, I needed to be one of them. I needed to be a ball breaker, I needed to be, ‘I don’t care. I’ll sack that one and I don’t care’.
But you know what? I am absolutely proud to be a woman. Unfortunately, women get labelled very easily, so if you are outspoken about something, you are having an emotional breakdown. If you react to something in a certain way: you’re sensitive, so it is very easy to slap a label on women, and I am like, ‘Why can’t my outburst be described the same as yours? I have a label and you are just being seen as being passionate. There is no difference.”
It’s like that quote: a women who has an opinion is a bitch, but a man with an opinion is strong.
“Exactly. A man and women can say the same statement and people will go ‘Ooh!!’ to the woman and with a man they just say, ‘Alright’. They see things how they are and won’t bat an eyelid. It is easy for women to be labeled and it’s a shame, it shouldn’t be that way.”
Glamour has Amanda Seyfried on the cover. She gives a refreshing interview inside. She reveals: “British guys are definitely funnier than American guys.”
It is Glamour’s Men Issue and they have 25 pages of men
In the Dos and Don’ts, Jimmy Choo re-release their greatest hits, men in uggs, ipad covers, Lucy Liu becomes an artist and Prince William is heading the fund-raising to help homelessness, Diesel clothes, Children in Need turns 31!,
Louise Mensch tells Glamour readers how to succeed in a man’s world. Louise is inspirational and she gives good advice.
What a man is thinking on the first date, work habits that are making you sick, Career tips from jewellery entrepreneur Jessica Herrin, Food versus Exercise; which is better for you? , Is being single making you broke?, How to be single, are you in drinking denial?, Celebrity tenants. You won’t want one after reading the article, Your right to abortion (a very good article, laws are being passed quietly all of the time to take away women’s rights),
50 Sexiest Men: Robert Pattinson takes the top spot again, Taylor Lautner is second.
Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Matt Smith, Ashton Kutcher, Justin Timberlake, Darren Criss, Prince Harry, Zac Efron are also on the list.
Katherine Jenkins tells of the friend, Polly Noble’s, battle with cancer. A very inspirational story. Polly has a book out, The Cancer Journey, that I think will be brilliant after reading the article.
What a man wants in bed.
James Cordon protests that men have feelings too, and he’s right. Well written.
Gabrielle Bernstein gives her happiness guide.
Arianna Huffington has written a brilliant and informative article on the economical climate, explains what happened and if we will recover.
Steve Jones is interviewed by Celia Walden in the lunch date feature.
The rise in broody men.
Guillaume Henry tells Glamour readers how to get Parisian chic.
Julia Restoin-Roitfeld’s celebrity look book.
Bad beauty habits to kick.
Five reasons to love Emma Stone.
The truth about your lady parts: everything you want to know about your vagina.
Charlotte Ronson shows Glamour around her home.
Tatler has Isabel Lucas on the cover, and an interview with her inside.
Anna Dello Russo talks front row fashion.
Frida Giannini, Gucci creative director, gives Tatler her mood board.
Emily Blunt’s brother Sebastian joins the family business.
Sam Leith shows how not to make a speech.
There is an amusing article on fancy dress parties, and lots of pictures, Marc Jacobs dressed as a pig? Why not.
David Sedaris interview.
Super Tutors to the rescue, if you have the money, get the best with Tatler’s guide.
The wonderful Francis Wheen writes about Private Eye’s 50th anniversary, and to the next 50!
Gallerist Maureen Paley.
School pranks.
Camel Racing.
The richest man in Britain: Alisher Usmanov.
The worrying trend of parents taking drugs with their kids. Jeez….
Keith Vaz profile.
Emma Freud’s technology reviews.
Jonathan Yeo interview.
An editorial on Britain’s funniest comedians. Al Murray in the nude (!), Laura Solon, Tim Key, David Armand, Rufus Hound, Miles Jupp, Lucy Porter, Jack Whitehall, Greg Davies (as Christine Keeler, so funny).
How to keep your money safe. Clue: buy gold.
Dynasties of Dynasties: A profile of the Rothschild dynasty.
How to sleep better.
The virtues of Crème de la Mer.
Tatler homes: Scotland’s Linzee Gordon’s.
Ralph Lauren interview.
Solange Azagury-Partridge tells Tatler what she loves.
Ciara Parkes travels to Botswana.
Rosamund Pike is on the cover of Instyle, she is interviewed inside and says: “I find award ceremonies so often the low point – people delivering trite lines in a pretentious manner”.
Sexy perfume adverts.
Nicole Roberts gives her Style IQ
The wonderful world of Christian Louboutin.
15 minutes with Diana von Furstenberg
Chloe Sevigny’s fashion genius.
You can tell people are tightening their purse strings as Instyle – and other magazines- are giving advice on how to do things on the cheap or by yourself. In the ‘your look’ section they tell you how to fake a facial, become your own hairstylist, make your own jewellery.
How to stay original when people keep buying the same clothes as you.
Instyle sits down with Gucci’s Frida Giannini to celebrate Gucci’s 90th birthday.
Jessica Chastain models and is interviewed.
Inside the Kardashian sister’s wardrobes. Envy alert!
How to wear a hat.
Olivia Wilde is this month’s beauty crush.
Downton Abbey star Jessica Brown Findlay models evening make up and there is 10 things you need to know about Jessica.
Narciso Rodriguez, Michael Kors, Tamara Mellon, Oscar De La Renta tell Instyle on the inspiration behind their perfume.
Jessica Alba, up close.
Dita Von Teese goes to the Maldives so we don’t have to. Sob.
Melissa Odabash tells Instyle what she packs for her holidays.
Diane Birch shows Instyle the contents of the bag.
Note: Magazines come out a month in advance. September’s magazines are Augusts.
The September issue of Vogue is out and the advertisers have made the issue heavy enough to use as a dumbbell. No complaints from me.
It is the International Collections special and there are lots of clothes to fawn over, Labels and trends to be urban cool, and accessories that make a difference in Vogue’s Big Fashion Issue.
There is a brilliant article on the history of Gucci, Paloma Picasso revisits Venice and talks about her journey to becoming a jewellery designer, Dries Van Noten gives a guide to his Antwerp, up-coming actress, producer and writer Brit Marling is interviewed (Frost loves her), Rifat Ozbek is doing Robin Birley’s new club, Ruperts; Good two page article.
Olivia Wilde talks Haiti and Childhood, there are a lot of autumn clothes that all look too hot, it’s 30c in London at the moment!, Miss V has her excellent social diary, there is a 9 page spread on the turbulent life of John Galliano, Tom Ford on his new cosmetic line and an article on the new David Bailey film. I noticed afterward that in the shops you get a free fashion DVD. However, I did not get this as a subscriber. Bad form.
Emily Mortimer is on the cover of this month’s Tatler and there is an interview inside.
There is a free gift but not for subscribers, grr.
There is a moving tribute to Tatler senior editor John Graham, Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark, A guide to nightclubs, An article on what it is like to stay on Abramovich’s yacht and the Royal Family residences, who sits where at White’s, Secret Cinema, Kate Middleton joins Competitive Princessing, Sir Michael Sorrell, What to wear: looking posh on less dosh, Legendary Lotharios, Rich Kids, a good 6 page spread on Tina Brown.
Guy Pelly, Astrid Harbord and Jake Warren have a new club, 37 year old Sam Leith goes back to school, Diana Von Furstenberg tells all about what she loves.
There is also lots of Travel and the Bystander (the social diary). Kate Middleton makes an appearance at the Derby with William, as does Elton John’s annual White Tie & Tiara Ball.
Frost has been complain that Marie Claire has not been giving its subscribers free gifts because of ‘cost’, and this month’s issue came with a free gift. It would seem someone listened but, alas, no. In the shops you get a free nail polish and a conditioner. I just got a conditioner.
Anne Hathaway is on the cover and interviewed inside. There is a good article on what to wear to fashion week (which I will be listening to!), an interview with Mulberry bag designer Emma Hill, an interview with Katie Holmes, how to get French style, what the New York fashion pack wear, China’s fashion, what men won’t tell you until the third date, Should you move abroad?, 9/11 Anniversary, A good three page article on Stella McCartney, The X Factor, Beyonce, Oh Land, a One Day Special; article on the book and interviews with cast and lots & lots of fashion and beauty.
Vanity Fair has Jennifer Lopez on the cover and her first interview since her divorce inside. She says she is “an eternal optimist about love…it’s still my biggest dream.”
L’Wren Scott gives us the low-down on her stuff, in Fairground there is a lot of lovely picture of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Hollywood attending the BAFTA party.
Also articles on Michael Buble, Private Eye’s 50th anniversary, Agnes B, how the US failed to stop 9/11, Hackers, The 2011 Best Dressed List; Tilda Swinton, The Duchess of Cambridge, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Andrea Dellal, Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis and Arpad Busson all feature, There is a celebrity portraits of Angelina Jolie amongst others, Michael Lewis investigates German attitudes towards money, the actors who play the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are photographed and interviewed for Madonna’s new film W.E, Designers and their muse, John Currin.
Glamour has Mila Kunis on the cover and she is interviewed inside.
How to be a Cavalli Girl, Feminism, Fall in love with your job again, How to eat well if you have £15 until pay day, 9/11 Anniversary article, Career rules rewritten, What sex feels like, Jim Sturgess interview, Are you Destroying your own love life?, Comedian Jack Whitehall, Why do women want to be WAGs?, Fashion’s Hot 100, How to have a great hair month, How to get more energy.
Phew!
Red has Laura Bailey on the cover and has a free bodywash. Laura is interviewed inside. There is a good article on no kids and no regrets, the original supermodels and what they are doing now, an article on people’s on/off duty wardrobes,
My City, My shopping guide, The looks that sum up a city. Anjum Anand show Red around her life, 8 Lessons in love and loss, four women reveal the moment they found their dream property, Dominic Cooper, Adele, Tom Ellis, Will Young, Colin Farrell, Fiona Neill, Jo Whiley’s Festival Guide, 4 ways to update your face, How to get radiance, there are a lot of good recipes, cooking with in season vegetables , paella, home made curry, global shopping guide, find your health/life balance, what is causing your breast pain and Audrey Tautou tells all about the best things in life.
[This page will get updates as more magazines come out. Thank you.]
Stella McCartney has announced the expansion of her ecommerce business to 28 additional European countries.
Already well established in the US and UK, the designer will now aim to attract computer-savvy customers in fashion-conscious France and Italy, along with Ireland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. She also has Scandinavia firmly in her sights, targeting Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, while Greece, Cyprus and Malta will allow the designer to show off her outfits for warmer climes. Meanwhile, moving east, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary will also welcome her.
The website on http://www.stellamccartney.com is now previewing the new Winter 2011 Stella McCartney ad campaign shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott featuring Natalia Vodianova. Also available to download is the second issue of the Stella McCartney iPad App on iTunes.
The online shop, which recently re-launched in the US and the UK last Autumn, aims to enhance the digital retail experience with improved customer interaction and special retail functions such as “Reserve in store,” which enables the user to reserve an item online and pick up at a store location of their choice. All online orders are beautifully gift packaged for the shopper’s convenience, and free standard shipping and returns are offered to all customers. Additionally, the in-store “Private Wardrobing” service, a personalised concierge style in store service, is available to book online.
The new App features an edition of Stella’s World where customers can browse through news, photos and videos about the brand, along with a gallery of images from the recently launched “Linda McCartney, a life in Photographs” book by Taschen personally selected by Stella. The app also offers a behind the scenes documentary of British Olympiads from the latest Team GB ad campaign shot by Jacob Sutton, a first glimpse backstage at the Winter 2011 show in Paris, a sneak preview of the Spring 2012 collection presented in New York this summer, a making of video of this year’s MET Gala dresses and new playful interactive functions.
Shopping on http://www.stellamcartney.com is now available in 30 countries worldwide. The browsing experience of the website will be compatible on the iPad App and for the first time shoppable in September.
Stella McCartney launched her eponymous fashion label in 2001 in a joint venture with Gucci Group. A lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her designs. The brand’s luxury women’s ready-to-wear, accessories, lingerie, beauty and performance range with adidas are available through 15 freestanding stores including London, NY, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Milan and the soon to open location in Rome, as well around 600 wholesale accounts in key cities worldwide.
Gemma Arterton says it’s hard to find clothes that suit her curvy figure.
The stunning actress admits she sometimes struggles to find outfits that flatter her hourglass body and can’t just wear anything so often relies on Italian fashion house Gucci.
She said: “My shape means I can’t throw on an outfit. Gucci tends to design best for my hourglass figure.”
Gemma is also a fan of tailored jackets as they go with any outfit.
She told Britain’s Vogue magazine: “I wear my tailored jackets to death – Armani, Givenchy and Margiela.”
As well as wearing certain clothes, Gemma also sticks to the same perfume and make-up.
She said: “I do love a red lip – Nars Jungle Red is my favourite.
“My scents always have hints of Jasmine. Right now, it’s Balenciaga Paris – it’s floral, light and musky.”
Gemma has previously admitted she likes to keep her style simple.
She said: “For me it’s kind of simple really. I don’t really go for anything too embellished or fancy or frilly or girly and it has to be easy because I haven’t got time for anything that’s too difficult!
“I just like putting on a pair jeans and jacket and going, although I do like heels – I’ve got a passion for shoes, but I always end up wearing the one same pair of shoes. But it works with my lifestyle because I’m always running around so it doesn’t work for me to wear tight skirts and corsets, or whatever it is! Jeans are definitely the way forward.”
