Olivia Hughes-Lundy, 21, and mum Jacqueline, from Hale, have plenty to say about style
Olivia says
I have always enjoyed dressing up and as a little girl spending Saturdays shopping with my Mum in Altrincham, but it was probably around the age of 14 that I really became interested in fashion.
I started buying Elle, Vogue and Grazia on a regular basis, creating fashion boards and replaced the shops of Altrincham with Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. I started to understand brands and after a few years could identify them by sight rather than label. In 2011 I started my fashion blog site. I want to be a fashion buyer and as well as studying at University so I also work part time in the ladies’ designer department at Selfridges in Manchester.
My favourite designers right now are Chloe and Celine. They have that elegant Parisian style with great fabrics and cut. I also like brands ranging from Valentino and Givenchy to Acne, Theory and The Kooples. Sadly my student budget doesn’t reach to those brands but luckily I love the High Street too and shop at Zara, H&M, Whistles and Topshop.
The fashion styles I sport at the moment are minimalistic, fitted casuals using dark muted colours and lots of knitwear and leather. I love both leather and leather coated pants which I team with Zara knitwear. I’m really excited about the 1970’s styles that are on trend for Spring and Summer, with some great fabrics and colours. I might even be persuaded to go bright next season.
Jacqueline says
My fashion style (if I ever had one!) has changed over the years. I always felt most stylish in my student days arriving in Manchester in my Mum’s fake fur coat and my early twenties when I was a size 10. I could spend hours shopping for clothes and managed to put together smart casual outfits with ease. I also managed to ‘borrow’ my elder sister’s outfits who, by then, was working in London and shopping at BIBA. Luckily there was no social media to give me away wearing her outfits!
A corporate career and two children later changed my wardrobe and shopping habits completely. Out went smart casual and colour and in came black and navy. I bought a lot of dress suits from Planet and Linea, which became my office uniform. The only break from this tradition came from a short lived concession in Kendals from the New York brand, St John. I bought a dog tooth black and white check suit and the red suit in the photo. Each costing around £300, 20 years ago, and that’s an investment I have never regretted. While my taste, style and figure have all changed, the feeling I get when I don the red suit has never altered and it has landed me all my best career moves. I teamed it with a pair of red patent Bruno Magli shoes.
While corporate dressing became the norm, I did lose the ability to put smart casual outfits together and whenever I shopped for anything remotely casual, I always seemed to bring home smart black outfits. The Moschino dress in the photo is again 12 years old and bought as a result of a ‘make over’ fashion shoot in Harvey Nichols for the Manchester Evening News.
When I set up my new business up in 2003, I decided it was time to start looking at smart casual once again and while it’s taken a while and I still veer to black a little too often, I have managed to change the balance in my wardrobe from corporate and ‘gardening’ to smart casual with corporate when necessary. I still like Linea, but I now find Phase Eight has the best high street cut for my body shape. Now the children have left home, I can once again indulge myself with some leisurely shopping time and that’s exactly what I intend to do!
Jacqueline Hughes-Lundy is the founder and organiser of the Inspiring Women Awards which will hold its 21st event at the Midland Hotel, Manchester, on Friday May 15th. For details please visit www.inspiringwomen.co.uk
