the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 5fashion
iterations transform the shoulders
of its otherwise pared-back coats,
denim jackets and sweatshirts or
— in button form — give
just enough of a lift to a
longline black blazer (£395,
motherofpearl.co.uk). “I felt we
had to own pearls, but do it in a new
way,” Powney says. “How do we make
them more interesting, more modern?”
This, with the exception of an
off-the-shoulder column dress that
has done the red-carpet rounds, is
not statement dressing. It’s more
suggestion dressing. To wear Mother
of Pearl is to intimate that you have it
all going on without needing to resort
to shoutiness. “I don’t like fashion that
makes you a beacon of attention,” is
how the designer puts it, “but I think
it’s really important to feel like the
best version of yourself.”
If, like Powney, neutrals are your
happy place, this is the label that
delivers them in such a way as to make
sure that they, and by extension you,
don’t look, well, entirely neutral. Ihereby posit that one of its pearl-
shouldered coats — the Webb or the
Wren — may just prove to be the best
investment you ever make (from £495).
I am not just thinking in terms of
its subtly look-lifting potency, either.
Because Mother of Pearl, which was
founded by Maia Norman, Damien
Hirst’s former partner, is one of the
most sustainability-focused brands
I have come across.
“Sustainable fashion isn’t just,
‘Look at my new organic
cotton T-shirt,’” Powney says.
“It’s a mindset for how you
approach your entire business.
Every day I go into the office
and think, ‘What are the best
decisions I can make? What is the
best fabric, the best supply chain?
Is this piece going to have longevity
in someone’s wardrobe? Is it good
enough quality? Is it seasonless?’”
To try to shop more sustainably
can be baffling. The Mother of Pearl
website goes to considerable effort
to make it less so.
A few years ago Powney eschewed
the mainstream fashion system of
catwalk shows and seasonality. “That’s
the antithesis of what sustainability
is. Now I don’t need to think about a
concept. I can just concentrate on what
women want. On how something that
looks great can also be comfortable.”
Forty per cent of the Mother of Pearl
offering is what is known as core,
carried over from season to season.
Isn’t it a problem for her that if
a customer buys one of her coats,
say, they probably won’t be back for
another one for years? “We could do
with increasing our sales just a little
bit, to make life easier,” she replies,
with characteristic straightforwardness.
“And to be more dominant in the field
so that we can make sustainability a
bigger conversation. But I feel uneasy
about creating so much stuff.”
It’s perhaps not surprising that her
approach should be at odds with the
mainstream. Hers was not the kind of
childhood you come across often in
the fashion world. Her parents worked
on a farm in Lancashire, and she spent
several years as a teenager living in
a caravan in a field.
“I didn’t experience things the way
other children do,” she says. “We didn’t
get to just turn on a tap and water
come out, or turn on a light switch and
the electricity come on. I also worked
on the farm as I got older. Now that’s
ingrained in me, the understanding
and the respect. I don’t walk into a
supermarket and think stuff started
there. Cutting cabbages in a field at
7am gives you that.”
Back to that wonky veg box again.
Instagram: @annagmurphyfit closely sit better underneath the
cuffs of jeans and trousers; roll these
up so the narrowest point of your
ankle is visible.
I like Arket’s elasticated chunky
Chelseas (£190, arket.com) and
Carvela’s sock-like Sincere style (£189,
carvela.com), both with modish and
tractor-like lug soles. If you want
something a little more slim and
classic, look to the independent brand
Dear Frances — its Park combat boots
are more officer class than bovver boy
(£480, dearfrances.com).
The outfit of spring 2022 so far
seems to be a miniskirt with tall boots
— if you have a pair of classic riding
boots they’ll be perfect, but the ones in
the shops right now tend towards
chunky. I’m in smug-shopper heaven
because a pair I spent too much
money on ten years ago then hardly
wore are cool again, but if you didn’t
have such supreme foresight take a
look at Flattered’s Frances style (£299,
flattered.com) or Aeyde’s Tammy
(£490, mytheresa.com). Much cheaper
are Zara’s rubber take (yes, technically
wellies, but matt black) now in the
sale at £25.99 (zara.com) and Mango’s
black leather tall legs (also discounted:
£89.99, shop.mango.com).
I’d wear these with short skirts or
with skinny jeans tucked in — this
classic Sloane Ranger styling trick is
a great way to get extra weekend
wear out of smart-feeling tall boots.
If yours are quite streamlined they’ll
be perfect with midis, but beware that
anything too wide beneath longer
hems can look a bit stocky.
Cowboy boots are set to be big again
this spring, so dig yours out and tuck
your jeans for now; they’re great with
bare legs when the weather warms up.
If this is your first rodeo, try Penelope
Chilvers’ Cassidy ankle boots
(£259, penelopechilvers.com) in the
knowledge that you’ll be pulling them
out for ABD in ten years’ time too.
Twitter: @harrywalker1COVER & BELOW: EDWARD BERTHELOT; CHRISTIAN VIERIG/GETTY IMAGES; NATHALIE GABAY
A
my Powney is not your
usual fashion designer. The
new collaboration between
her label, Mother of Pearl,
and another British
boutique operation run by a woman,
the jewellery brand Monica Vinader,
is proof of that. “It was inspired
by the idea of the wonky
veg box,” she says of the
12-piece collection,
which launched
yesterday. I can’t
imagine hearing
that from the likes
of Tiffany.
Powney chose to use
so-called galaxy diamonds,
beauties in different shades of grey
that, unbelievably, “used to be thrownaway because they aren’t clear”. (A
multistrand ring designed to look like
stacking rings, with four contrasting
stones, is £195, monicavinader.com.)
She also went for baroque pearls that
used to get binned as well, before they
became fashionable in recent years. “It’s
all about sustainability, and an aesthetic
that’s quite natural and wobbly.”
My two favourite pieces, a necklace
and a bracelet, juxtapose pearls with
gold vermeil beads that have been cast
from the pearls using recycled silver
and gold (£275 and £170 respectively).
These are a great move-on for the
twinset and pearls brigade but would
also, as Powney, 37, puts it, “add edge
for the T-shirt and jeans girl”.
That’s what Powney is brilliant at
when it comes to clothes too, creating
pieces that are almost classic but that
have something interesting about
them that ensures they could never
be mistaken for dull. This is partly why
she has such a diverse customer base.
You can wear her clothes if chic is
your bag, but also if cool is. Famous
fans include the actresses Phoebe
Waller-Bridge and Carey Mulligan,
and the model Arizona Muse.
Pearls are something of a
touchstone. The brand is called
Mother of Pearl, after all. Outsize fauxThe woman who makes
pearls for cool girls
She already dresses the
A-list. Next? Jewellery.
By Anna Murphy
Ring, £195,
Monica Vinader x
Mother of Pearl at
monicavinader.comPhoebe
Waller-
Bridge in
Mother of
PearlRight: the
Monica
Vinader x
Mother of
Pearl
collaborationCreative director
Amy PowneyBracelet, £170, and
earrings, £140, both
Monica Vinader x
Mother of PearlChelsea
boots, £159,
mintvelvet.
co.uk