The Times Magazine 45t’s a bit extraordinary, after avoiding
cameras for 20 years, to spend the day
at a photoshoot, as if, at 63, I am the
stuff of fashion.”
In September, I talked my mum,
Geri, into joining me on a shoot to go
along with a piece I was writing: Look!
I’m a fashion editor and I dress like my
mum. I chose the clothes, which was
apt, because I’ve chosen 80 per cent
of her wardrobe over the past few years.
It started with a few things each Christmas
and birthday and snowballed into buying
duplicates for Mum when I shop for myself.
It’s a pretty safe bet that if I love
something, Mum will love it too. We even
have the same figure, though I’m 3in taller.
For Mum, who works as a consultant in
education and rarely has time to shop, doing
so vicariously has meant discovering new
brands that might not seem sixtysomething-
friendly at first glance. There are 31 years
between us, but age doesn’t have a bearing
on what you feel good in.
The comments after that first article told us
that something resonated with many women
and that, while I might be the fashion editor,
it was my glamorous mum whom everyone
wanted more of. Fair enough. This time, I’ve
picked out a few autumn styles that I was
keen to try – and which Mum wouldn’t
naturally gravitate towards – to see if I could
convince her. I changed her mind about one
thing, at least.
“My biggest take-home from the day is
that I enjoy heels,” she says. “Charlie put me
in block heels and I felt a bit bolshie, a bit
in-your-face and definitely sexier. Why have
I been living in flats for most of the past ten
years? I usually wear a flat platform sole, so
not flat-flat, and they’re a good strong look,
but they don’t make me feel sexy at all.
They’re just comfy and supportive. I have
become comfy and supportive.” Here we go...The teddy coat
“I couldn’t stop stroking the coat,” says Mum- no surprise, since hers was plush shearling
(mine was a vegan-friendly high street
iteration). “It reminded me of wrapping myself
in my mother’s musquash as a child and so
it felt both familiar and now illicit. When
Charlie turned up my jeans, my immediate
thought was that it would shorten my leg, as
if people will really think I’m taller if I have
two more inches of cloth on!” I turned up
mum’s jeans to show her ankles, which draws
the eye in to the narrowest point of the leg
and stops jeans from swamping you, especially
if you’re not very tall. My M&S teddy coat was
cosy and super-lightweight, though I wished
it were an inch or two longer.
Mum’s rating: 4/5.
My rating: 3/5
The velvet trouser suit for parties
Mum still talks about a men’s trouser suit she
had in the Nineties. She doesn’t own one now,
because she thinks they suit only those with
boyish figures or the very slim, so I wanted to
prove her wrong with a less masculine cut and
a softer fabric that drapes. “The velvet trousers
slipped on easily and felt fabulous,” she says.
“I didn’t even look in the mirror. I just wanted
to wear this suit regardless of how it looked.
Velvet is another thing I’ve forgotten about
and putting on that suit I regretted I hadn’t
been wearing it every day. Charlie’s sister is
getting married in May and I was thinking
of a tailored trouser suit and now I’m thinking
maybe velvet. I’ll try these trousers with a
shorter jacket and maybe a silky bodice.”
I’ll be lobbying to wear this white suit as
maid of honour too.
Rating: we both gave our party suits 5/5.The PVC mac and white jeans
I thought Mum might take a bit of convincing
about this jacket, though I know she likes the
cut because I have the same style in camel
cotton and she’s asked about it before. It was
the white jeans that she needed coaxing
into. “I haven’t worn white jeans since theSeventies,” she says. “These are a much better
fit, of course, than jeans ever were then. I used
to put mine on about three in the afternoon,
have a bath in them and then stand about
drying until my date came so they’d look less
gappy and loose.” I rolled up mum’s jeans to
show her ankles again (and because she thinks
raw-edged hems like mine look scruffy). As
for the jacket, “I loved the fisherman chic of
the jacket,” she says. “It’s a nod to the wet look
I adored in the Seventies, but it looked more
rain mac on me than chic.”
Mum’s rating: 2/5
My rating: 4/5.The minidress
“I picked up the navy lace double-breasted
jacket from the rack and was looking for
the trousers when Charlie informed me
that the garment in my hand was, in fact,
a dress. A mini. The staple of the mutton/
lamb wardrobe. Something I wore back then,
but certainly not something I’d wear now.
I would never have glanced at it online or
in a store and I would certainly never have
tried it on.” I looked for a mini that was
unmistakably for grown-ups. This dress is
tailored, subtle, in an expensive-feeling and
looking fabric, and not clingy or tight. It was
out of both of our comfort zones, but black
opaque tights acted as a security blanket.
It was perhaps too smart for my inner scruff
bag. “I unexpectedly felt a bit badass in it
and a tiny bit beyond the pale, which was
delightful,” says Mum. “I’ve been making rules
just like my mother did, not nearly as many
as she did, but I’ve somehow lost the knack
of playing with fashion. All right, Charlie,
pass me those hot pants.”
Mum’s rating: 4/5
My rating: 3/5. nTEDDY COATS Geri wears: coat, £999, and jeans, £99,
baukjen.com; T-shirt, £19.99, mango.com; belt, £65,
sezane.com; sandals, £575, gucci.com.
Charlie wears: coat, £59, marksandspencer.com;
T-shirt, £19.99, mango.com; jeans, £99, baukjen.com;
loafers, £225, russellandbromley.co.uk; necklace, £235,
missoma.com.
PARTY SUITS Geri wears: blazer £250, and culottes
£150, nrbyclothing.com; necklace, £235, missoma.com;
belt, £120, black-brown.com; sandals, £155, sezane.com.
Charlie wears: jacket, £225, and trousers, £195,
ghost.co.uk; necklace, £179, missoma.com; sandals,
£155, sezane.com.
PVC MACS They both wear: mac, £175, sezane.com.
Charlie wears: jumper, £110, boden.co.uk; jeans, £239,
motherdenim.com, sandals, £155, sezane.com.
Geri wears: jumper, £29.50, and jeans £29.50,
marksandspencer.com; sandals, £155, sezane.com.
MINIDRESSES They both wear: dress, £345,
uk.claudiepierlot.com.
Charlie wears: boots, £475, lkbennet.com.
Geri wears: boots, £315, uk.sandro-paris.com‘
I
STYLING: CHARLIE GOWANS-EGLINTON. HAIR AND MAKE-UP: JULIA WRENAT CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT USING CLARINS AND T3 HAIR TOOLSThe MINIDRESS
CHARLIE 3/5
MUM 4/5