Episode 28. Dressing for real life, with Anna Newton
I am so delighted to share this week’s episode with the iconic Anna Newton [https://substack.com/profile/8886864-anna-newton] of the Wardrobe Edit. Anna is THE blueprint for a writing & sharing about style online, and I truly enjoyed chatting with her. Recording this episode was the highlight of my month. I truly hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Transcript
Maureen: You’re listening to Intuitive Style, where we believe that everyone has style. I’m Maureen Welton. In conversation with fantastic guests, we explore how to tap into our style intuition so that we can dress authentically and live fully. Today’s guest is Anna Newton [https://substack.com/profile/8886864-anna-newton], OG content creator, published author, YouTuber, and the creative mind behind The Wardrobe Edit [https://open.substack.com/pub/annanewton] on Substack. Anna, welcome to the show!
Anna: Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me. We were just saying I haven’t recorded a podcast for the longest time, and I don’t think I’ve ever done one on fashion.
Maureen: Today is the day to get it started. There are some amazing shows about fashion, so I hope to see you on some more of them if you want to.
So I did want to just say before we get into it that I’ve been following you long enough that I wore the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk on my wedding day, per your recommendation.
Anna: And did you love it?
Maureen: Yeah, I had been wearing it for a while, and I actually got my makeup professionally done. My makeup artist tried to color match me and she was like, “This Giorgio Armani that you have is a better color match and better than what I was making custom.” And I was like, okay!
Anna: Okay. It’s the best. I wore it on my wedding day too. That foundation is such an OG. It’s been in my makeup collection for years. They’ve reformulated it. I don’t know if it’s a worldwide thing, but in the EU they’re bringing out some really strict regulations around certain ingredients, so we’re getting a lot of foundation reformulations, which is kind of exciting. Aside from this, I’d say foundation is my second most exciting pursuit in life.
Maureen: Just wanted you to know that your recommendations are solid.
Anna: I love that.
Maureen: One of the recent series that you’ve been doing that I’ve loved is where you’re working with different personal stylists. Can you share a little backstory on the series and how it’s been?
Anna: Oh my gosh, that has been so fun. So last January, I did a kind of “shop your wardrobe” series. A lot of people do a no-buy in January, and I was like, how can I create content that sits with that and is still fun and exciting and encouraging people to wear what we already have and just have a month of experimenting in a way? Last year I did do a session with Allison Bornstein [https://substack.com/profile/34975750-allison-bornstein]. I’ve done a few sessions with her over the years and just loved every single one. I think it’s quite a scary thing to work with a stylist. It feels quite vulnerable. It’s quite personal, having a meeting with someone you’ve never met before and going into your wardrobe. So I’ve really enjoyed doing those over the years to show people that it’s not a scary thing. It’s not something you have to do when you’re in complete dire straits with your wardrobe.
I think that’s a common misconception, that you only work with a stylist because you’re out of ideas and feeling in a really bad place with your style. It can definitely help with that, but even if you’re in a good place with your style, it’s still valuable. Personally for me, a lot of my friends in my real life are busy, they have kids. Maybe they care about what they wear, but it’s not something they’re writing an online newsletter about.
It’s been really fun to work with stylists in almost having a super stylish friend give you great ideas, come up with new ways to wear old pieces, give you little styling tips and tricks. I thought for this year I would build on that. I already had a session booked in with Allison Bornstein [https://substack.com/profile/34975750-allison-bornstein] and I was like, how about booking with Reva Luft [https://substack.com/profile/26290236-reva-luft]? What about Anna Baldwin [https://www.tiktok.com/@5aldwinanna]? What about Kelly Klein [https://substack.com/profile/35619496-kelly-klein]? What about Angie Uh [https://substack.com/profile/167309046-angie-uh]? It just kind of snowballed from there, and before I knew it my whole January calendar was full with stylist appointments with these people who I’ve mostly connected with on Substack.
I enjoy their content from a reader’s perspective, so it felt really special to be able to work with them on that series. I’m a fangirl of these people, and I got to work with them and showcase their talent. Ultimately I came away with well over 150 new outfit ideas. It’s crazy. My phone is just full of outfits that I can wear. I got to share that with my readers and show them that having a styling session is a really fun thing you can do. You’re supporting independent women who have created their own stylist businesses, and there were so many ideas.
Every single one was different. I didn’t go into each one with a specific spin in my head of who would help me with what, but it was really fun that I have the same wardrobe and each person brought a bit of their own personality and ideas to the table. It was really fun in the hour sessions that we had. By the end of it, I was always writing them before I went to bed. Because of the time difference, I was normally doing them at like 5 p.m., eating my dinner, and then desperate to sit on my laptop and write the post. The post was in me and I needed to get it out. It was really fun to find the different angles with different people and how they all brought something completely unique to the table.
Maureen: Yeah, it’s been such a fun series. I’ve been lucky enough to work with both Allison and Angie myself, and I’ve had different stylists on the podcast. I couldn’t agree more as far as the value you can get from working with a stylist, especially in a short-term way where it’s a one-off session and you’re just styling in your closet together. I think it’s so helpful to get out of your own head of what you might do and try out things you might not have tried before. Your series is obviously great because you put in so many photos, which is so helpful because we get to see how everything comes together. I know I was inspired by how you were styling a flannel shirt. I lived in Seattle, so it has a very specific meaning to it. Seeing you wear a flannel shirt in a totally different way, I was like, okay, you can give new life and new stories to garments. I thought that was particularly fun.
Anna: The flannel shirt was an interesting one because I think every single stylist gravitated toward it and used it in an outfit somewhere.
Maureen: Really?
Anna: Yeah, I’m pretty sure in every single session we ended up using it, but everyone used it in a slightly different way. Kelly did this trick where we tied it around the waist. Allison did a trick of wearing it open and using it as a sandwich layer between a white shirt or white T-shirt and a leather jacket. In every single one it was funny to see the same pieces styled in different ways. It’s almost like my true personal style is an amalgamation of all of those looks that everybody made. You could almost take pictures from each of the sessions and know which person did which. I think that’s fascinating when you’ve all got the same base material.
Maureen: I’m curious, have you felt different getting dressed since doing the series?
Anna: I’ve just written a post on this. It’s going to be out next week because I was like, I should hope so. Five hours with some of the best in the business, and we overran quite often, so it was more than five hours in a huge way.
I think it’s actually shifted more than I thought it would. I thought I’d just do these sessions and then have a roundup post at the end and be like, here are the 10 tricks that I’ve employed since. But it isn’t so much the styling tricks that I learned, although there are definitely things I’ve put into practice. It’s been a bigger shift in terms of what I have in my wardrobe and how precious I feel about it. That’s maybe not the right way to say it, but in my session with Reva Luft [https://substack.com/profile/26290236-reva-luft] she said, “Your wardrobe is precious real estate. If things are in there, they deserve their place.” I ended up doing this massive wardrobe cull out of nowhere. One day after one of the sessions, I was like, right, I’m not wearing this. I’ve got this because I feel like I need to fulfill this category rather than actually using it and wearing it. It’s taking up space. So I got rid of almost 20% of my wardrobe. It sounds very extreme, but there were a lot of things that needed trimming out. It’s left me with fewer things, but things that are all fitting together more easily. It’s tricky to explain. I had this post in me that I was desperately trying to get out because I needed to put it into words. It’s been a different shift to what I thought would happen.
Maureen: When you say that you culled 20%, I hear clarity in your voice. Were there specific pieces that you knew you wanted to cull? Or did you feel friction with those specific items during the sessions? How did that go?
Anna: Yeah, I think they fell into a few categories. There was a category of things that just didn’t fit. I was like, but they’re vintage Levi’s and we love vintage Levi’s. And then I thought, if I’m saving them for days where I’m really feeling myself, that is not happening. I’ve got so many jeans, but I do love what I actually wear. Again, it’s taking up space and creating that decision fatigue around too many options. I’d rather just have the options that I like and that fit. Then there were things that I kept coming back to as problem pieces. I had a pair of burgundy cords, and in every single styling session I’d always be like, how do I style this? Then I was like, oh my gosh, it’s taking up a lot of space and a lot of time. I’m using time in these sessions to try to find answers to these burgundy cords, which when I checked my index stats, I think I had worn maybe three times in the last two years. I just thought, this is so silly. It’s obviously not a piece that’s working for me. There’s friction there. Take it out of the equation. In the past, I’ve been quite hasty and just boom, put it on Vinted or Vestiaire and gotten rid of it. Whereas now all this stuff is sitting upstairs, and I’m moving things in and out a bit slower than I’m used to. A few things have trickled back in. But I almost knew in my head which pieces had to go.
Maureen: I wrote a piece a year ago that sounds exactly like what you’re saying, the distraction of the wrong thing. If you have a garment that you have to force or really think about, it takes away the fun of putting together an outfit when you have to work really hard at it. I think Angie talks about this a lot too. She probably has a different word for it, but she wants everything in your closet to be seamless. If it’s really hard to style, aside from whether it fits you, it’s just not fun. It’s heaviness and it takes away the joy that I think everyone in this space is looking to achieve.
Anna: And I think there’s almost the misconception of, well, then you’ve stripped it back and you’ve got no personality pieces and no fun pieces. But I do have fun pieces in my wardrobe that I actually find quite easy to style and easy to wear. So I think it was showing me that I’d rather be wearing those and almost going back to basics in a way, feeling really good, feeling like my outfits are clicking and coming together, rather than grabbing something and going, I don’t like how that fits, or I only ever wear that with a black top and I’ve got no other ideas. So I think clarity was a big lesson that came out of having five-plus hours with professional stylists.
Maureen: That’s awesome. This is kind of an off-the-cuff question, but one thing I continue to struggle with is that I’m still buying the wrong things sometimes. I’m trying really hard to buy the right things and pay attention to how I feel in my clothes and make sure they feel effortless and go with things. Then I look back and I’m like, what was I thinking? Do you feel that’s inevitable?
Anna: Yes, I do. I think we’re all so hard on ourselves with this. Even the people who are the best in the business, even Allison Bornstein would stand there and say, I’ve bought some really messed-up things that did not work in my wardrobe, that did not look good, that did not fit.
For me, and this is really lazy, but something arrives and I think, it’s okay. It’s fine. If I breathe in, if I wear it with these shoes. From doing these sessions with everybody, it’s made me be a better shopper, which definitely wasn’t the point. It was called Shop Your Wardrobe Month. I wasn’t meant to go out and buy lots of new things. I did end up buying a few new things.
And I think it made me order the jeans in three different sizes. Even this jumper I ordered, I was like, the sleeves are a little bit short on it, is that right? So I ordered the next size up, and then that lost the fit around the body. Then I realized I wanted to keep the original size. It’s made me much more conscientious. It’s given me discernment around the fact that sometimes you just need to make the return. You need to get up and make the return instead of letting it sit there.
And you need to try things in different sizes. That was a big thing for me, that “oh, that’ll do” mentality. Not realizing that actually one size up in that denim would give me a bit more comfort and bagginess, which is what I was looking for. That’s been a big learn for me. I know Allison and Reva are both big on the “make three outfits” rule. Reva, in our session, was like, “Do you make three outfits with new items?” In my head I was like, no. She said, “You need to be doing them in your wardrobe.” She’s right. I’ve done that with every parcel that’s come in. If I haven’t had time, I leave it to the side until I can do that kind of styling session myself. That has definitely helped. I’m saying this while the pieces are fresh in my wardrobe and I’m really excited to wear them, but I do think it’s inevitable. There are things you can do as insurance, but inevitably we’re going to make some not-great purchases sometimes.
Maureen: I don’t know if you ever do this, but sometimes I’ll have a new item and I’ll try it on with different outfits and I won’t like the outfits, and I keep the item anyway. I’ll put together an outfit and think, I’m supposed to like this. It technically works, but it doesn’t feel good. And I’m like, well, it’s staying.
Anna: I have so done that. Or shoes not fitting. It’s always shoes. Or a pair of shoes that are so uncomfortable, but you’re like, if I just walk 10,000 steps in them they’re going to break in. No, they’re going to make your feet bleed. There’s going to be actual blood in the back that you’re trying to get out before you put them on Vinted. It’s just no.
Maureen: Well, all that being said, when I think of your career, you’ve worked with some huge brands, which from my perspective looks like a lot of options as far as what kinds of clothes you can bring into your closet. I’m curious, how do you stay consistent to yourself and your vision for how you want to dress when you have so many options? It feels like it would be even more difficult. How do you know when something is in your wheelhouse versus maybe not?
Anna: That is such a good question. I do donate a lot. I have this with beauty as well. I have one face. I am one human. I’m a single person. Through doing Indyx, I’ve worked out that when my wardrobe starts to go over 200 pieces, which for some people might seem tiny and for others might seem huge, I start getting really overwhelmed and I hate what I’m wearing and I hate my style. So I’m very careful about what gets added to the daily rotation.
I’m really lucky that quite often with the brands I work with, it’s a bit of a “you do you” situation. I don’t work with people who are like, you have to wear this top with this dress. That doesn’t work for me. I’m lucky to be at a place where I get a free pick of things. Whenever I’ve worked with Net-A-Porter, it’s literally pick off the website. I actually loan a lot of stuff from brands as well. Quite often it’s not necessarily things coming permanently into my wardrobe. It’s things I get to play with. To me, the ultimate is getting to work with a brand like Net-A-Porter where I loan items. Sometimes it’s really sad because they get sent back. Or I try things and then I’m like, oh God, now I need to buy this. It’s not as clean cut as that. But loaning is a really good way for me to play around with items. The brand is happy because it’s new-in-stock items I’m showing, but the ideal for me is when I get to incorporate them with what I already have. That’s ultimate.
Maureen: And you do that very, very well.
Anna: Thank you. That to me is ultimate because it’s authentic. I say to brands, we’re not wearing head-to-toe one brand. We’re mixing it with vintage, with secondhand, with a pair of jeans we’ve had for the last five years. That’s always the aim, to show people how these new pieces work with what I’ve already got and what you’ve already got, rather than head-to-toe looks. I think brands are realizing that’s the most authentic way to blend in these items instead of everything being brand new and pristine. It looks very clean, but ultimately people want to see the real-life application of things.
Maureen: As a viewer and reader for so long, I’m very active in the personal style space, and I’ll see creators go to fashion week and every day they’re wearing a head-to-toe look. All the looks are fabulous, but none of the pieces are interchanged from day to day. Every single day it’s totally new items. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more jaded to that. Anyone can make seven incredible outfits with brand-new pieces seven days in a row. It’s so much more interesting to see how people make use of what they already have, style it in different ways. It’s harder.
Anna: It’s harder. I think people love a capsule as well. That was so hot back in the day. I definitely fell down that rabbit hole. But it is more exciting to see that real-life remixing. I think that’s also why Substack does really well. A lot of people on Substack have jobs in marketing, they’re stay-at-home moms, they’re coming from all different walks of life, and they’re just showing what they genuinely wear every day. Not at a fashion show. They’re showing what they wear to drop their kids off, what they wear on their commute to work. That’s where Substack is a really fun place to play around with personal style. There are so many people. I follow well over 100 Substacks, and whenever I look at my inbox and think there are so many, I can’t edit them down because I genuinely love reading them once a week. That’s why it’s such a fun place to engage with personal style content, because people are just living their everyday lives and documenting what they actually wear. That’s what we want to see. That’s always at the crux of what I want to do. I never want to put on an outfit and not wear it out because that’s not really an outfit. That’s a work-from-home look, which is also fun to share. But I really want to be sharing those everyday, realistic outfits. I’ve got my sweats on right now. I snapped a little picture before this. It’ll be in my post on Sunday.
Maureen: I took a picture too. I was like, I need to document what I wore to talk to Anna.
Anna: I love that. That’s what we do, right?
Maureen: So, I just feel like you’re so articulate in this space. I wanted to hear your take on the idea of intuitive dressing. When you hear the word intuitive, what does that mean to you and how does that show up in your life, if at all?
Anna: I actually love this phrase. I know this is kind of your spiel, and I love it. I think it’s such an interesting phrase because everyone’s answer will be different. For me, and this has been the biggest shift in the last four years, probably since I had my son, it’s practicality. Intuitive dressing is dressing from a place that is very functional, but you also love your outfit at the same time. It’s marrying those two things together: practicality and functionality, but also feeling absolutely fantastic in it. I think sometimes people assume that if you have one, you can’t have the other. And I’m like, no, you can have both. Whenever I feel like I’m not dressing intuitively, or I’m not feeling my outfit, or it doesn’t feel authentic to me, maybe I’ve gone a bit too trendy, it always boils down to me also feeling uncomfortable in those outfits. Things are too tight. I love how fit comes up all the time for me. I’m like, girl just needs to buy jeans that fit.
Maureen: Same.
Anna: But I think it’s that something’s too tight or scratchy. Like you said, when you keep those things that deep down you know are a bad purchase but you keep them anyway. I do the same. A collar scratches or I don’t like how everything’s bunching up. It’s quite sensory for me. I really need to be comfortable in my clothing. I want it to be practical, but I also want there to be a bit of fun. Sometimes that’s what my style has been missing over the years. It’s the leopard print jacket, the vintage cuff, putting on some rings. Finding ways to add personality. That’s the bit that makes me feel cute while also wearing my rain boots. That’s the part that feels functional.
Maureen: I have a theory and I’d love your take. I feel like in the 2010s, for us millennials, we’ve had to do a lot of unlearning, especially around the trends that were popular when we were coming of age. When I was in high school and college, comfort was not a priority at all. Your pants needed to be as skinny as possible. Practicality was not a priority. It was almost a bad thing. You should be wearing heels. I wore heeled boots to my college classes, walking everywhere. Practicality being important is something we’ve had to teach ourselves and give ourselves permission for. It wasn’t a mindset that was present. That’s why it feels radical and difficult for me. When I look at my mood board, all the shoes are super dainty. I want to give myself permission to choose less dainty shoes, but I still don’t quite have that mindset. I’m curious about your take on that.
Anna: Absolutely. That’s such an interesting take because I had the exact same thing. My first office job was in London. I don’t live in London, so I had over an hour on the train and a 20-minute walk at the other end. And I was still doing that in exactly what you’re talking about, a heeled boot. I would never do that now. My toe boots are comfortable, but not for that every day. You’re right. It was sort of hammered into us. I would never have thought about comfort, function, practicality. It almost felt like a dirty word. Maybe it’s an age thing. My life now is very different. But there is a big amount of unlearning.
I think it also comes from where we get inspiration, like Pinterest. It’s very city. Very London, New York, Paris. It’s quite posed.
“That’s actually why I love Substack so much. I do so much of my screen-grabbing now from Substack because I live in suburbia. The other day I went down the road in my pony hair leopard print jacket and my neighbors were like, ‘Where are you going dressed like that?’” - Anna Newton for Intuitive Style
So it’s about marrying that aspirational version with your real-life environment. Pinterest can be tricky for that. Substack has massively helped me marry those two parts together.
Maureen: You’re making such a good point. Where we get our influences is directly forming our conception of what style is. If we’re consistently focusing on inspiration that’s impractical or purely aesthetic without relating to our real life, that impacts what we feel we should be wearing.
Anna: Absolutely. For the longest time I was looking at London girls holding little coffee cups. You know exactly what my Pinterest board looked like. But that isn’t my life. Having my son made me switch that. I can’t rock up to a soft play — which is basically an indoor play center with cushioned everything — in a blazer coat, tiny bag, and high-heeled boots. I wouldn’t feel comfortable in that environment. What’s really helped me is finding style inspirations grounded in the reality I’m living. That’s helped me refine where I’m at with my personal style.
Maureen: I appreciate that. I need to work on that. My mood board is moving toward practicality, but it could use more sneakers.
Anna: Add a few more flat boots in.
Maureen: Exactly. So I think we’ve touched on this a little bit, but I’d love to hear more about how you decide what to buy and what not to buy, especially in the context of those styling sessions where you mentioned you purchased a couple of things.
Anna: It was quite ironic that I was doing these sessions as part of Shop Your Wardrobe Month and then I bought about ten things. My husband was like, “Anna, the UPS guy is here again.” I almost needed to buy a lot of things to get it out of my system. I saw a TikTok the other day that said wish lists are good, but they can give a piece a lot of power. You romanticize it. Out of nowhere I decided I needed a pair of Dries Van Noten colored trousers. I found some in the sale, bought them, returned them all, and now I no longer feel the need to buy them. I know that’s wasteful. If I lived in London, I’d go try them on in store. But sometimes you romanticize something and then you try it and realize it’s not what you need.
The most successful purchases I kept were actually from my session with Reva. I keep talking about it because it genuinely felt like the styling session that changed my brain chemistry. We hadn’t worked together before, which made it fun. She’s also a mom of three and lives in Canada, so there was lifestyle overlap. Off the back of our session, she sent me a screenshot and said, “I think these things could be helpful for you.” One was a grey jumper. She said, “You love wearing your grey knit, but your cashmere knit is a slightly different vibe.” When I had my session with Allison, she agreed — it was sportier and more relaxed. I have worn this jumper so much. I was just thinking it needs to go in the wash after this session. So that was a good purchase. But like Reva said, I tried it on with so many things when it came. I also ordered lots of different versions to compare.
I ordered the one from The Great. I didn’t order the Donni one because Donni’s now really expensive to get in the UK. They’ve upped the shipping and the imports and everything. I looked at that, I looked at the Still Here one, I shopped around until I was like, no, I think this is the one. So I definitely feel like I put a lot more research in rather than just, oh, I’ve seen that on someone, click. I really went digging for these. She also suggested a pair of black, kind of crepey trousers. I’ve got black linen trousers and I’ve also got a really nice pair of more dressy trousers, but I wouldn’t really wear them every day. They’re kind of a dressy pair for me. And she was like, the Rogala pants. I was like, oh, you need the Rogala pants. I have never tried the Rogala pants. They’re a thousand pounds. I was like, I just can’t ever do that. But she suggested the Donnie crepe simple pants or something. I ordered them in two different sizes and I’ve returned them. They are not for me. You’re doing a quick Google of them now. They’re just like a loose fitting black crepe trouser, a bit more all-season.
I’ve obviously got a linen wide-leg pair which is very summery, but I just didn’t like them. I took her suggestion on, I tried a few different styles, and I think that sort of black trouser makes me feel like I’m back at school. There’s something about it that feels a bit school-uniform-y for me. I tried them in different sizes and I just couldn’t make them work. That’s an example of something where I was like, someone has recommended this, it’s a bit of a gap, but actually maybe that’s a gap that can just be a gap. I don’t think I need to fill it. I’ve got other things I can wear.
What else did she suggest? Oh, she suggested rain boots. I live in the UK. It rains. It’s literally rained for about a month straight at this point. It’s thoroughly depressing. The weather is awful. She said, cool, what shoes are you wearing to the park when it’s rained? I was like, my Converse? She was quite tough love about it, but in a kind way. She was just like, that is madness. How do you not have a pair of rain boots? She suggested some, the Solomons. She’s also got a snow clog thing. It doesn’t snow that often here, but again, I researched, had a look around, and then I found this brand called Tretorn, based in Stockholm. They’re 100% waterproof. They’re perfect. I’ve worn them so often since.
When I went for lunch with my friends on Saturday, both of them bought them by the end of our lunch. It’s things like that. She really helped me with practical holes in my wardrobe. None of those things are particularly sexy to buy. You wouldn’t be like, buying rain boots is a real game changer. But it has actually made my life easier. I know that sounds dramatic, but I wore them to Pilates this morning at the crack of dawn. I just slipped them on, then after Pilates slipped them on and walked out. It’s those tiny purchases that actually make your life easier. I needed her to say that to me. That’s not a hole I could find myself. So yeah, there have been a few things that I’ve bought and really loved, and then a few things I’ve tried and thought maybe that doesn’t work for me.
Maureen: Do you have any sense of what was preventing you from having rain boots before, or was it just out of sight, out of mind?
Anna: I think I thought they were ugly. I just thought they’re not for me. They almost felt too practical. I was like, I don’t know if I want to go there. I’ve got my Converse, it’s fine. I can put my Converse in the wash. It’s not a problem. I can wipe them down. But it’s about finding the right ones for you as well. Again, I played around with size. I ended up sizing down because my normal size were a bit too big and they looked a bit clumpy. And doing the stylist-approved thing of trying them on with multiple outfits really helped. I put them on and might have been unsure, but I actually like them best with black denim. My go-to is usually a blue wash of denim, but they can look a bit bulbous with that. They almost need something black to dull them down, to quieten them a bit. I’ve worn them so much. Everyone’s like, oh my God, Anna is wearing rain boots. I’m like, I know, check me out.
Maureen: Even the idea of styling them with black pants makes sense for your style with clean lines and seamlessness. That makes sense. I imagine with blue denim they’d look very 2017. I feel like that was the moment. Maybe we’re just in a different place now.
I could share one example from working with Angie. We talked a lot and she was like, I think you would like a black turtleneck. Similar to you, I tried it on with all the outfits and I was like, am I doing something wrong? And she’s like, no, your styling is great. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. What I ended up doing was going into the Intimissimi store near me and I bought one in burgundy. It has a little silver shimmer to it. I don’t normally like shiny things, but I put it with all the same outfits and I loved it. It just had to be burgundy instead of black. So I think you can take the advice of a stylist and then run with it. They’re just giving you something to start with. It’s not rules. It’s just, hey, have you tried this?
Anna: Everything I ended up buying wasn’t actually the thing Reva had said. She had sent over specific models of things and I didn’t end up buying any of those. And that’s not to diss on Reva.
Maureen: No, not at all. It’s totally what you said. You need to find what’s right for you.
Anna: Obviously you’re not a black turtleneck girl, but you’re a burgundy one apparently.
Maureen: There you go. I wear it all the time. I love that. So thank you, Angie.
Anna: We love you, Angie.
Maureen: I feel like working with stylists is so cool, the melding of the minds.
I don’t want to be too radical, but what we’ve been talking about with practicality and making that a priority, I think that’s huge. I think that’s one of the reasons you’re so popular and successful with what you’re doing. I think women want permission to wear things that actually suit their lifestyle and are cool, but not this Instagram aesthetic perfection. Something that doesn’t get in the way of life. I think you do that really well. You’re always talking about how you’re wearing it and why you’re wearing it. It seems like you don’t let style get in the way of living fully.
Anna: I love that. Thank you. I think what I’ve realized through doing this for so long, I started off doing beauty and then had little moments with all sorts of things. Organizing, food, organization, lots of different things over the years. Cookies. I’m more than happy to be known as Cookianna. I’ll take that.
Maureen: Do you still drink Squash?
Anna: I drink Squash constantly. I’ve got it in now. The Squash is me. I am Squash. Cut me open, I am Squash at this point. So I’ve had a lot of different things over the years, but obviously settled on fashion.
And I think maybe even five years ago, so not really that long ago, it was very much like, right, okay, let’s get some outfits together, let’s go meet a professional photographer, let’s take some pictures, do an outfit change. It felt like the fashion content that went down really well and that everyone really wanted was quite curated, very aesthetic, very polished, taken on a big camera with a massive lens, that kind of look.
And now that’s really not the case. Everyone loves the little outfit selfie in the mirror that everyone can take. Anyone can do one of those, or just a picture downstairs in my kitchen. Quite often, I was out this weekend at a train thing. I am a train wife. My husband loves trains, my kid loves trains, I am around trains constantly. I was like, oh my gosh, have you been to the Bluebell Railway, which is our local heritage railway? I’m like, honey, I go there all the time. You want to find me? I’m there. But I was there and I just gave my phone to my husband and said, can you just take a quick picture? We were outside the men’s toilets. It was not aesthetically pleasing, but it was an outfit. I wanted a picture of the outfit in the moment as I was wearing it. And that’s what I like to see on other people’s Substacks and Instagrams. I think there’s been a real shift industry-wide. That just feels like what we like now. We want an outfit selfie. We want to see it in real life, situated in real life, rather than very posed aesthetic shoots. I just don’t really do stuff like that anymore because that’s not what I enjoy watching. It’s not what I enjoy doing. For someone who does what I do, I’m like, can you not take my picture? I hate having my picture taken.
Maureen: That’s so funny. I would never have guessed.
Anna: Yeah, it’s really not for me. I’m like, right, we’re done. I always make it the quickest thing ever.
Maureen: That makes me feel better. I hate having my picture taken.
Anna: Do people like having their picture taken? Maybe some people.
Maureen: I think a select number of people who have been professionally trained to do it well.
Anna: True. Yeah, true. And that is not me. And that’s okay. But it is interesting that it feels like there’s been a shift in the way it’s been shot and packaged, and also in the way that we live our lives in style as well. I think we’re moving away from that polishedness, both in the way the reader consumes it and the way people create content.
Maureen: I think I’ve made it extremely clear I do follow you and I’m aware of what you do, but I wasn’t expecting my takeaway from this call to be so clearly continuing to work on melding my personal style with the practicality of my life. I still think I need to work on that. Being in California, I live a very active lifestyle. I’m outside a lot, we’re going on walks. How can I maybe elevate that part of my style a little bit more or mix things a little bit more? I think that’ll be a good direction.
Anna: We need the post of that. We need a follow-up. We need to see it.
Maureen: Yeah, I should do that. I have to style it first. But giving ourselves permission to care about aesthetics without them preventing us from living the life we want to live is powerful. And also just feeling comfortable in every environment that you’re in as well.
Anna: I think when I first became a mom, I was so focused on blending in. All the moms were doing chunky trainers, so I was like, I need some chunky trainers. I went down a slightly sportier path because I thought that’s what new moms do and that’s what I need to be doing. It’s about finding a way of still being you in those environments that you find yourself in often, without feeling the need to adhere to everybody else. You do want to feel comfortable, but it’s like how do you work out your style code for that environment rather than feeling like you need to fit in or blend in? None of my friends are super fashion-y, so I never want to go around my friend’s house in something they’re going to be like, oh, you’re tying a silk scarf around your waist. They’d be like, what are you doing? But is there a way I could maybe tie it around my neck and it would feel more me but still comfortable? It’s finding ways to be in environments where you feel comfortable and like you’re expressing yourself.
Maureen: I’m smiling because this is the reason I started the show and my blog. My ever-present desire to do what everyone else is doing and trying to fight against that, understanding there’s a very social, biological reason we want to dress like other people, but also acknowledging there are limits to that and we can feel suffocated or disconnected from ourselves when we go too far down that rabbit hole. It’s nice to hear that you struggle with that sometimes too.
Anna: I think everyone does, especially when you go through a big life change or you move or have a career change. Something happens and you have to relearn yourself and relearn how your style fits into that. That happens to everybody multiple times in their lives. It’s not like once you’ve figured it out, you never have to figure it out again. That’s not the case. But it does feel good when it clicks into place. When you start a new job and think, this is the kind of outfit I want to wear to this job. Or when I’m at the park and I’ve got my new rain boots on and I’m layered up with my Uniqlo Pufftech jacket actually keeping me warm, I’m like, oh, I feel good right now.
Maureen: I have a question about the Pufftech. I’ve always wondered about this. When you get to your destination, if you’re indoors, do you take the puff off and put it in your bag?
Anna: Yeah, and it’s a real conversation piece. You take it off and people go, oh, is that from Uniqlo? It is. It is from Uniqlo. I wore it to London the other day and I actually ended up getting quite hot. It comes with a little bag, but I hadn’t brought the bag with me. It’s so small, I literally just rolled it in my hands into a ball and put it in my bag. I think I might even have put it in my pocket.
Maureen: The reason I ask is where I live, that is the outerwear because it’s warmer here. To me, that’s not my outerwear of choice. I would think of it more as innerwear. I was just curious what your take on that was.
Anna: I would personally whip it off. My husband would rock it and look great, that’s totally his vibe. I would personally take it off. But it is quite funny when you take it off. You’re just like an onion shedding your layers. You’ve got so many layers on.
Maureen: I could have used that back in college when I had this paper-thin black trench coat that I wore for an hour bus ride and then a 15-minute walk to a job interview. I’m freezing cold and I’m like, cutting us to Puffetech.
Anna: I think it’s something we have to learn. My mom is now so happy that I’m wearing practical clothes because for years she was like, you’re cold. You’re cold. And I’d say, no, I’m not cold. I was freezing. Now I finally have some thick layers in my wardrobe.
Maureen: Well, I’m happy to hear that. We can grow in all sorts of different ways. I’ll just finish up with this. We all turn to you for advice, but what advice would you give to someone who is trying to build a wardrobe that feels intuitive and authentic to them?
Anna: I feel like I’m going to be a broken record and repeat myself because this has been a common topic of everything we’ve spoken about today. We all sometimes need to search for inspiration. Everyone, even the top stylists in the world, are finding inspiration in different places from different platforms. But when you’re looking for it, try to find inspiration that naturally fits somewhere within your lifestyle.
For me, I’m looking for work-from-home outfits. I’m looking for more practical outfits for pickup, drop-off, those casual errand moments. I’m not looking at party wear. I’m not looking at super chic London style. I go to London maybe once a week or once every two weeks. It’s not something happening on repeat for me. So trying to search out inspiration that feels realistic for you is a really good starting point.
Otherwise you’re going to end up with a mood board that doesn’t align with your lifestyle at all. Or maybe you do find things that don’t align with your lifestyle, but you’re looking at the shapes and the colors and different elements rather than thinking you need to recreate that outfit piece by piece. That’s been a big game changer for me. Substack has been a really good place for that because it’s full of real women showing their real outfits that actually work on a daily basis. I save them all in my Indyx collections folder and if I’m ever feeling dry, I’ll have a look through and see how someone’s put that jumper with those jeans and that jacket and think, I’ve got similar pieces that can work in that way. That has been such a game changer because I’m putting outfits on and they work, rather than trying to dress up. I’m actually repeating one of my most-read Substacks, which is why do we keep buying clothes for lives that we don’t have?
Maureen: That’s a good post. I’ll link that. Absolutely, if someone somehow missed that one.
Anna: Thank you. Yeah, that’s a good one.
Maureen: Thanks, Anna. I have a job to do. I’m going to update my Pinterest board. I’ve been working on it, but I’m probably going to call a couple of things out. It’s time. Realistic inspiration has been a real source of cracking my personal style and getting dressed every day in a way that feels relatively easy.
Well, this was so fun, which I’m not even remotely surprised by. You’re such a delight. And for how successful you are, you always manage to be very yourself and fun and enjoyable. So thank you for chatting with me and sharing your wisdom and your experience. I just really enjoyed this.
Anna: Thank you. That has made my day. Thank you.
Maureen: There’s going to be links in there, but where can listeners find you?
Anna: You can find me over on Substack at The Wardrobe Edit. I also share quite a lot of style stuff over on Instagram. I have about 16 years’ worth of YouTube archives. If you ever fancy knowing what I looked like at 20, you can go find me there. That’s over at The Anna Edit. I think that’s everything.
Maureen: And some great vlogs.
Anna: Very, very old vlogs out there if that’s your thing.
Maureen: I’ll make sure that’s all linked in the show notes. Thank you so much, Anna!
Outro
Intuitive Style is produced, edited, and hosted by me, Maureen McLennon Welton [https://open.substack.com/users/46564061-maureen-mclennon-welton?utm_source=mentions]. Our theme music is by Tim Reed and Jacob Welton.
In case you missed it, Intuitive Style the podcast is an offshoot of Intuitive Style [https://open.substack.com/pub/maureenwelton], the newsletter. Head over to Substack, and search Intuitive Style to read the newsletter—which covers reflections on personal style, guest features, and encouragement that there is no wrong way to get dressed.
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Thanks
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