Vogue uk april_2016

31
Rihannawearsembroideredwool
jacket,toorder,Dior.Strawhatwith
Swarovskicrystaltrim,£695,Piers
Atkinson.Earring,Rihanna’sown.
Getthelook:make-upbyDior.Face:
DiorblushSculptinBeigeContour.
Eyes:DiorshowArtPenEyeliner
inCatwalkBlack;DiorshowIconic
Mascara.Lips:RougeDiorBaume
inEscapade.HairbyKérastase:
DisciplineMousseCurlIdéal
Definition;CoutureStylingTouche
FinaleShineSerum.Hair:Yusef
WilliamsforL’AnzaHealingHaircare
salon.Make-up:StéphaneMarais.
Nails:JennyLongworth.Setdesign:
ShonaHeath.Production:North
Six.Digitalartwork:DTouch.
Fashioneditor:KatePhelan.
Photographer:CraigMcDean
COVER LOOK
>
Regulars
45 EDITOR’S LETTER
51 VOGUE NOTICES
Behind the scenes of the issue
58 VOGUE.CO.UK
What’s online this month
175 CHECKLIST
Pair striking shoes and striped belts
with an understated investment bag
271 STOCKISTS
BACK PAGE MIND’S EYE
Victoire de Taillac of Parisian beauty
brand Buly 1803 lists her inspirations
In Vogue
73 WHAT’S NEW
The people, places, ideas and
trends to watch now
81 COVERSTORYVOGUE’S
GUIDE TO MODERN DATING
How to navigate love’s byways with
effortless chic. By Julia Hobbs
89 LOVE IN FULL BLOOMERS
Charlotte Sinclair on the secure (and
surprisingly sexy) appeal of big pants
95 DIAMOND EXCHANGE
Stephen Webster tells Carol Woolton
about his glittering initiatives in China
Vogue Shops
101 WHAT TO BUY NOW
High-impact skirts and low-key khaki
Vogue View
121 MAJOR PLAYERS
Hannah Nathanson finds the next
generation of theatrical talent
127 WHAT THE NANNY SAW
As Nina Stibbe’s novel is televised,
Chloe Fox meets the author and her
leading lady, Helena Bonham Carter
133 VOGUE 100 FESTIVAL 2016
The date is set: block out your diary
135TOPIC: EXIT PLAN
If the non-doms do flee London,
how will it affect their beneficiaries
in the art world, asks David Jenkins
141 VIEWPOINT:
INTO THE VALLEY
Louise Chunn on the perfect startup
pitch – as taught in Silicon Valley
“The city slicker pairs
Céline’s drop-crotch
pressed trousers with
a sweetly retro Prada
knitted tank”
A WALK IN THE PARK,
PAGE 192
APRIL 2016
insideVOGUE
Vogue Spy
147 EARTHLY DELIGHTS
Meet a warm new neutral: terracotta
149 COVERSTORY
READ THE LABEL
Stay ahead of the fashion curve.
Sara Parker Bowles reveals the buzz
brands that insiders are wearing now
155 BIRTHDAY TREATS
The pieces designed exclusively to
celebrate Vogue’s centenary year
163 COVERSTORY
DECENT EXPOSURE
What to conceal and what to reveal
this season. By Naomi Smart
168 FASHION TRAVEL: BODRUM
Turkey’s coastline blends old
romance and new glamour

32
Features
218 COVERSTORY
PHYSICAL ATTRACTION
The ballet stars causing a sensation
– both on stage and off. By Sarah
Crompton. Portraits by Scott Trindle
226 COVERSTORY
HEART OF THE MATTER
“What can I say? I don’t pick them
very well…” Sheridan Smith opens
up to Emily Sheffield. Photographs
by Alasdair McLellan
232 “I FELL IN LOVE –
WITH HIS CHICKENS”
When Ashley Hicks met Katalina
Sharkey de Solis on Instagram it was
love at first like. Chloe Fox visits them
at home. Pictures by Tim Evan-Cook
238 COVERSTORYIT’S A BUG’S LIFE
Interested in your microbiota? You
should be. Nicola Moulton explains
why. Portraits by Daniel Sannwald
Fashion
182 COVERSTORYTHESEBOOTS
WEREN’TMADEFORWALKING
“I just went mad for her,” says
Manolo Blahnik of Rihanna.
Emily Sheffield finds out how
the pair’s mutual admiration led
to a show-stopping collaboration.
Photographs by Craig McDean
192 A WALK IN THE PARK
Look who’s wearing the trousers.
Photographed by Jamie Hawkesworth
204 SHADOW THEATRE
Spring is feeling nostalgic, wistful –
and a little bit dark. Photographs by
Vincent van de Wijngaard
242 REWIND, PRESS PLAY
Vintage is back in the spotlight.
Ellie Pithers on how to carry off
the season’s “magpie mix”.
Photographs by Liz Collins
Beauty
253 THE NEW PRETTY
“Geek chic” is on the catwalks, and
all that clean-living has paid beautiful
dividends, reports Nicola Moulton
258 McQUEEN’S NOSE
Sarah Burton has finally created a
scent. Vogue gets an exclusive preview
260 BEAUTY NEWS
The new hair-tie, skin-cream winners
and a line of pigment-rich lipsticks
262 STILL GOT THE BLUES
Dive into brilliant aqua eyes
264 SCOTCH LIST
Take the high road to three new spas
267 CALL TO ARMS
This season, shoulders are the focus.
Lauren Murdoch-Smith finds out
how to sculpt them to perfection
insideVOGUE
SUBSCRIBE TO Turntopage102for our fantastic subscription offer,plusfreegift
Ashley Hicks’s house
perfectly expresses
his modernist
grandeur sensibilities
“I FELL IN LOVE – WITH
HIS CHICKENS”, PAGE 232
SHADOW
THEATRE
Page 204
THE NEW PRETTY
Page 253

JUERGEN TELLER
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A curated series of artwork by:
JUERGEN TELLER, BRUCE WEBER,
LIGHTNING by TETSUYA NOMURA & VW of SQUARE ENIX

LIGHTNING

JUERGEN TELLER

45
JAMIEHAWKESWORTH;SCOTTTRINDLE
one of the most rewarding things
that has happened to me during
my career at Vogue is watching the
crowds at our exhibition currently showing
at the National Portrait Gallery. So many
people have approached me as they walk
around to say how much they admire the
work, with many noting that it illustrates
how fashion is a filter for the culture of the
time, and not simply about the clothes.
A powerful point demonstrated on the
walls of the NPG is how the definition of
beauty and style has changed throughout the
decades. From the androgynous flappers of
the Twenties to the womanly postwar and
Fifties models of aristocratic hauteur to the
once again tomboyish girls of the Sixties,
boomeranging into the glamazons of the
Eighties, we come to the present day, where
a new androgyny is stalking fashion. And, of
course, that reflects our current ideas about
gender identity and equality. In “A Walk in
the Park” (page 192), Jamie Hawkesworth
photographs Sophia Friesen (above right)
alongside Stav Strashko (above left) and
Maarten Convens. The way the masculine
and feminine converge both in the clothes
and the models is intriguing and faintly
challenging, echoing a fresh direction in our
definition of what appeals and attracts.
As much as fashion, Vogue has always
been about talent, and Hannah Nathanson
has compiled a story on the young blood
now working in British theatre (“Major
Players”, page 121). Interestingly, although
we live in an age of digital information
and so much of our time is spent staring
at screens, theatre is thriving. Taking part
in a live experience is treasured more
than ever, and this round-up proves that
throughout the field a new generation
is continuing the tradition of wonderful
drama for which we are famous.
The same applies to the ballet, and at
Vogue we were all delighted when two of its
most exciting current stars, Sergei Polunin
and Natalia Osipova, agreed to be
photographed together for the magazine
(“Physical Attraction”, page 218). The duo
– a couple in their professional and personal
lives – have all the intensity and physical
brilliance that is needed to reach the very
top of their profession. And, as Sarah
Crompton’s interview shows, the passion
between the two is not confined to the stage.
Girls who are boys: left, “A Walk in the Park”,
photographed by Jamie Hawkesworth
(page 192). Below: ballet stars Sergei
Polunin and Natalia Osipova (page 218).
Bottom: don’t miss this year’s special
centenary Vogue Festival on May 21 and 22
A different VIEW
Editor’sletter
Finally, don’t miss the opportunity to
join us at this year’s Vogue Festival, a 100th
birthday party on Kensington Gardens’
East Albert Lawns and at the Royal
Geographical Society. Once again we have
a line-up of exceptional speakers and
masses of entertaining treats, meaning that
every moment of the weekend of May 21
and 22 will demonstrate the diversity and
impact of fashion today.

ALL ABOUT THIS MONTH’S ISSUE
VOGUEnotices
David Jenkins discussed tax threats with the country’s
“non-dom” population for “Exit Plan” (page 135).
Many spoke to him on the condition of anonymity,
and Jenkins’s investigations left him overwhelmed
by a sense of relativity: “One person said to me, ‘All
those foreign bankers earning £700,000 a year are
beneﬁting from the non-dom rules, but with all due
respect, they’re not rich…’”
MONEY TALKS
arhinestone cowgirl” was senior contributing fashion editor
Kate Phelan’s inspiration for Vogue’s cover shoot with Rihanna.
“She loved the concept,” Phelan recalls. “Her Denim Desserts
collaboration with Manolo Blahnik is a real fusion of denim and
glamour.” While the singer made no secret of her fondness for a Marc
Jacobs denim jacket adorned with charms, there was one piece in
particular that captured her playful spirit of performance, according to
Phelan: “An incredible pair of thigh-high heeled denim boots with a
rhinestone suspender belt from her new collection” – just 45 pairs will
be available globally. The shoot eventually ended in the early hours of
the morning with Rihanna proffering a champagne toast to the team.
Singing the blues
1990
“Quality in
everything is
paramount,”
said the
designer,
photographed
for the
magazine
by Horst
1974
Hold the
front page:
Manolo and
Anjelica
Huston in
a sunset
embrace in
the South
of France
1996
Time for tea:
Blahnik at
the River
Café with,
from left,
Amanda
Harlech,
André Leon
Talley and
Jasper
Conran
2014
Manolo and
Karlie Kloss
hit the
high notes
at the
annual
Vogue
Festival
MANOLO IN VOGUE
Craig McDean
photographed
Rihanna, left, with
Manolo Blahnik
for “These Boots
Weren’t Made
for Walking”,
page 182
CRAIGMcDEAN;DAVIDBAILEY;HORST;DAFYDDJONES;MAXFARAGO
51

VOGUEnotices
Vincent van de Wijngaard shot in his adopted city of Paris for
“Shadow Theatre” (page 204), styled by Lucinda Chambers.
The Dutch photographer lives there with his girlfriend,
model Saskia de Brauw. “Paris for me still is the capital of
photography,” he says. “Fifteen years ago I rented a room in
Paris, and dreamt of moving there ever since. It still has the
same attraction for me it had back then: you can’t take a step
without being surrounded by its historic, romantic beauty.”
Nina Stibbe’s stint as a live-in nanny for Mary-Kay Wilmers,
editor of the London Review of Books, is reimagined for a BBC1
adaptation airing this spring (page 127). Here, Stibbe shares the
memoirs that have left a lasting impression on her:
1. Giving up the Ghost, by Hilary Mantel: “Mantel’s memoir is
truthful, forensic, comic and grim by turns, and, like her novels,
riveting and beautifully crafted.”
2. The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, edited by Charlotte
Mosley: “I love literary letters, and this correspondence between
the six Mitford sisters spans eight decades and features a cast
that includes John F Kennedy, Adolf
Hitler and Maya Angelou.”
3. How To Be a Woman, by Caitlin
Moran. “This part memoir, part
guide to feminism, part guide to life
confesses, reassures and delights.
I counted the months until I could
pass it on to my daughter. It’s now
her favourite book.”
4. Spectacles, by Sue Perkins:
“Published recently, this is wonderful
and very Sue. Funny – of course –
but unexpectedly poignant, too.”
FROM PARIS
WITH LOVE
Nanny’s favourite
TIME TO DANCE
Inspired by ballet’s most entrancing pair of the moment, Sergei Polunin and
Natalia Osipova, partners both on and off the stage (“Physical Attraction”,
page 218), we unearthed some classical dance moments from the pages of Vogue.
Right: Margot Fonteyn by
Cecil Beaton (December 1947).
The ballerina appears in costume
for a production of Sleeping Beauty
A 20-year-old
Darcey Bussell
by Arthur Elgort,
December 1989
Wayne Sleep, then a principal
with the Royal Ballet, by
Snowdon (December 1982)
Carlos Acosta – who
retires from ballet
this year – balances
on a golden horse,
photographed by Tim
Walker for Vogue,
December 2004
52

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INSPIRED CHOICES
Whether you’re
debating a change
of hairstyle or an
overhaul of your
make-up routine,
the red carpet can
prove the perfect
starting point for
inspiration. Think
of our compilations
of the most
glamorous hair
and make-up looks
from this year’s
Oscars, Golden
Globes and Baftas
as your online
moodboard.
Follow the scenes outside the recent shows
from all four Fashion Week cities, and
discover the off-the-catwalk trends to wear
now. Street style has never been so chic.
Capital dressers
STREET CHIC
ALEXA
INVESTIGATES
Catch up on the
latest of Alexa
Chung’s explorations
into the future of
the fashion industry,
which have seen
her roaming her
adopted home city
of New York and
visiting the London
offices of Vogue
to bring you
the inside track
on the business.
Essential viewing
for anyone who
aspires to a career
within the industry.
As a month of autumn/winter
2016 catwalk shows comes to
an end, it’s time to reflect on
the collections. Consider our
new-season cheat sheet the
only piece of fashion homework
you’ll need for swotting up
on the key trends and sartorial
talking points that will dominate
your wardrobe this autumn.
Collections
consciousness
TRENDS
Don’t plan your weekend before
consulting Vogue’s Arts & Lifestyle
section; our monthly culture guide
encompasses everything from film
releases to restaurant openings, books
to add to your reading list and what to
watch on television. If you’re looking to
get away, then our weekend city guides
are the perfect starting point for ideas,
while those who want to stay closer
to home will find plenty of interiors
inspiration to inform their next project.
Culture club
ARTS & LIFESTYLE
GET AHEAD WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING ON VOGUE ONLINE
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58
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inVOGUE
THE PEOPLE, PLACES, IDEAS
AND TRENDS TO WATCH NOW
NEW
What’s
Edited by JULIA HOBBS
CHANEL
SATIN
HAIRBAND,
£450
alice bands, apron dresses and posy
prints… thanks to Miu Miu, Oscar
de la Renta and Suno, prissy details
are now the overture to modern cool. Get with
the prim, home-making mood and join the
waiting list for Petalon’s flower-arranging
masterclasses and start collecting Matilda
Goad’s flower pressings. As a finishing
touch, rethink the Sloane Ranger’s
ultimate hair accessory: the goody-
two-shoes Alice band is enjoying an
underground revival. Get yours from
Chanel or Emily London.
BIRCH & BROOK CANDLE, £38. THE PERFUMER’S STORY BY
AZZI OLD BOOKS EAU DE PARFUM, £95. NO 22 CANDLE, £38
PRIM
TIME
When it comes to novel fragrances,
we’re in a nostalgic, nose-in-a-book
mood. Bookshelf by new candle
company No 22 has a pleasing
leathery perfume, while Birch &
Brook’s woody-smelling Library
candle was created for “discovery
and contemplation”. Or immerse
yourself in Old Books, an elegant,
masculine scent by perfumer of
the moment Azzi Glasser.
Cover girl
LISA MARIE
FERNANDEZ
GINGHAM SKIRT,
£360, AT NET-A-
PORTER.COM
LIBERTY VELVET
CUSHION, £135
MATILDA GOAD
FRAMED ANTIQUE
FLOWER PRESSING, £95
EMILIAWICKSTEAD
MIUMIU
SUNO
VETEMENTS
PETALON
BOUQUET,
FROM £28
73
JAVIERVALLHONRAT;JASONLLOYD-EVANS;MITCHELLSAMS;PIXELATE.BIZ

CASSBIRD;DAMIENHIRSTANDSCIENCEL&D;EVANBIGELOW;ALAMY;RENEECAREYFORJUNKMAGAZINE
f
rom photographer Martin Parr’s
love letter to the greasy spoon
to photographer and war
correspondent Lee Miller’s stint at the
Cordon Bleu cookery school, art and
food have long been cultural
bedfellows. Now’s the time to edify
your palate: following Damien Hirst’s
newly opened Pharmacy 2 – a redux of
the artist’s former Notting Hill
hotspot, masterminded with his good
friend Mark Hix
in Hirst’s Newport
Street Gallery
– Tate Modern
will be offering
dinner with a
view. The gallery
is unveiling
a ﬁne-dining
restaurant on the ninth ﬂoor of its
forthcoming extension, in June. In
the meantime, add some surreal
creative direction to meals at home,
with the special-edition reprint of
Dalí’s legendary dinner parties,
Les Dîners de Gala (Taschen,
published April 25). LMcG
SEA CHANGE
Still doing the juice
cleanse? Now
it’s about bathing
in murky green
water rather than
drinking it. Soak
up seaweed’s
detoxifying effects
with the Cornish
Seaweed Company’s
Bath Bag or Voya’s
Seaweed Bath. Or
book the Dorchester
Spa for an intense,
spirulina-infused
seaweed wrap.
Look to model and musician Nastassia
“Staz” Lindes (above) for new style
inspiration. This 23-year-old Los Angeles
resident (you probably spotted her in a
shimmering minidress on Saint Laurent’s
spring/summer 2016 catwalk) blends
tomboy sportswear with “anything Poison
Ivy of the Cramps would wear”. The
rock’n’roll edge runs in the family. Staz
is the daughter of Dire Straits guitarist
Hal Lindes, and counts Hedi Slimane as a
fan of her band, the Paranoyds. The rising
star does a glam take on vintage, elevating
boyfriend hoodies and oversized pieces
borrowed from her father’s wardrobe with
a signature red lip (she wears Blood by
La Femme) and vertiginous platform
heels. Start stalking her look.
STAZ LINDES
KNOW THIS FACE
VOYA
LAZY DAYS
SEAWEED
BATH, £16,
VOYA.IE
Visual
FEASTS
Nastassia “Staz”
Lindes and her band,
the Paranoyds
75
inVOGUE

ALTUZARRA
PALE INTO
SIGNIFICANCE
Refresh your
make-up kit. A slick of
Clinique’s All About
Shadow in Sugar
Cane, £16, as seen at
Calvin Klein and
Céline, gives a
wide-awake look and
lifts a seductive red lip.
1
Place a damp white
T-shirt on a flat surface.
Pinch and hold the spot
of fabric where you want
the centre of your swirl
and, with a corkscrewing
motion, twist the T-shirt
into a tube shape.
2
Coil the “tube” of
fabric into a circle
until it resembles
a cinnamon swirl.
3
Start with
the lightest
dye, applying
each shade to a
pizza-slice-shaped
area. Ensure
you get the dye
into the creases
and take care
when applying
it to the centre.
Repeat on the
other side.
4
Pop the
T-shirt
into an
airtight bag,
and leave in
a warm place
for 24 hours.
Rinse in cold water,
then warm water,
until it runs clear.
Leave to dry naturally.
Tiedyehighfive.com
Craft is the unlikely s/s ’16
trend sending high-fashion
followers’ pulses racing.
Take the tie-dye seen at
Altuzarra and Valentino
into your own hands with
east London collective
Tie Dye High Five’s guide
to “swirling”.
IN A WHIRL
CLINIQUE ALL ABOUT SHADOW
SINGLE IN SUGAR CANE, £16
DIY
CELINE
VALENTINO
meet Piotrek Panszczyk
and Beckett Fogg (left)
of Area, the New York
label that’s redefining club wear.
The duo, who previously worked at
Chloé and Calvin Klein respectively,
riff off a hedonistic late-Eighties
mood. “Our name is inspired by the
idea of a blank starting point, but
there was an amazing club called
Area in our Lower Manhattan
neighbourhood before we were born,”
says Panszczyk. Disco-ready lamé,
strands of diamanté and flared sleeves
define the label’s “hardcore feminity”.
It’s an aesthetic made for the dance-
floor. Available at Opening Ceremony
code
Area
Follow in the footsteps of young British boxing
hopeful Nicola Adams and unleash your
fighting spirit in the elite London fight clubs. Join
Fighter Fit or Total Boxer for their high-energy,
low-impact classes. For an intense combat
session, seek out Shane Collins (former Barry’s
Bootcamp Master Trainer) of Kobox, or opt for
the authentic experience at All Stars Boxing
gym’s KO Circuit. This bare-bricked club
comes with hard leather punchbags and
faded posters of the boxing greats. LW
Ring the changes
LONSDALE
BOXING
GLOVES, £22
CALVINKLEIN
COLLECTION
76
inVOGUE
TERRYRICHARDSON;JASONLLOYD-EVANS;
MITCHELLSAMS;PIXELATE.BIZ

Seek like-minded prey.
Depending on preference, join
the London Library for its
members’ games nights, sign
up for the Ginger Pig’s
butchery course or join
the ICA for regular
artists’ talks
HUNT OUTSIDE
YOUR CIRCLE
ILLUSTRATION:CRAIG&KARL
MODERNDATING
ARE YOU “SOCIALATING”, DATING BY DAYLIGHT AND
DRESSING YOUR RELATIONSHIP STATUS? JULIA HOBBS
ON THE DATING RULES FOR NOW
Vogue’s guide to
It’s now all about “socialating”
(sociable dating). Whether it’s
a low-key supper at Primeur, a
tennis match or a Jamie XX gig,
mixing your date with your best
friends makes for more fun.
NUMBER
CRUNCHING
Remember, love can hit at
any age. Case in point: Jerry Hall
and Rupert Murdoch.
TAKE A FRESH SWIPE
Digital doesn’t mean
digit-all. Avoid sites
where your details are
shared. Instead, join
under-the-radar app
Raya, which connects
the upper echelons of
the creative industries
PHONE A FRIEND
(OR TWO)
Date by daylight.
Book a long lunch
at a ﬂatteringly lit
restaurant. Try table
number 31 at J Sheekey
START EARLY
Newly single? Dress with
intention (a potential date can
pop up at any time). Save obvious
man-repellers – like oversized
leather trousers – for dinner
with girlfriends and opt instead
for simple, alluring silhouettes.
DRESS YOUR
RELATIONSHIP
STATUS
81
inVOGUE

Trump the Friday
night cinema outing
and upgrade your
Netflix-and-chill
with a home movie
projector and an
on-demand delivery
from Lucky Chip
Wear Cartier’s
diamond Juste
Un Clou pendant
necklace in reverse
against a bare back
NO CRYING SHAME
Ask him when he last cried.
Psychologist Arthur Aron found
that this intimate question boosts
the chances of falling in love.
SPARKLE
THEIR INTEREST
GLOWING REPORT
First impressions count:
the key to dressing for
the first date is to wear
the more casual look
you would pull out on
the second date. Try:
• Altuzarra’s button-up
dress (unbuttoned a few
fastenings above the knee)
• Each X Other’s
leather biker skirt
• A Jacquemus off-shoulder
knit in fire-engine red
• A Hillier Bartley scoop-
back dress (for the walk to
the bathroom)
• A failsafe crisp
white Sunspel T-shirt
• Malone Souliers
lace-up stiletto
booties
Dressing
TIPS
STAGE A HOME
MOVIE NIGHT
Blushing? Cute.
Heavily blushed? Not
so much. Try the Face
Gym at Selfridges
for a natural,
make-up-free glow
EASY ON THE
“LIKE” BUTTON
Scoping out a potential
beau online is prudent (call
it research), stalking is not.
If you know his aunt’s name
and what each of his sisters
studied at university, or have
added his ex to your Instagram
feed, you’ve crossed the line.
Wrap him around
your (neat) little finger.
Hands are the first
things you notice about
a prospective date so
be sure to banish chips.
Keep nails short and
sweet with a lick of
Essie Ballet Slippers.
KEEP NAILS
PRETTY
IN PINK
Show your adventurous
side on an outing with a
difference. Hit Vauxhall for
gallery openings, Walthamstow’s
Lighthouse Indoor Market
for a weekend stroll, or
keep it lighthearted with
a comedy show at the
Soho Theatre
SEEK OUT
EXPERIENCES
TO SHARE
LISTEN UP
Remember, loud music
kills cocktail hour. Say
yes to the Swans Bar
at Maison Assouline, or
Duke’s Bar, to whisper
audible sweet nothings
while your martini is
mixed at your table.
CANDLELIT
CULTURE
Do the gallery show after
hours. Sir John Soane’s
Museum holds candlelit
tours on the first Tuesday
evening of every month.
SAY IT, DON’T
OVER-SPRAY IT
Spritz Malle’s Carnal
Flower – with a light
hand. Over-zealous
use will snuff out
even the finest first-
date conversation
ALTUZARRA
MALONE SOULIERS
LEATHER BOOTS,
£485
ILLUSTRATIONS:CRAIG&KARL.JASONLLOYD-EVANS;MITCHELLSAMS
82
inVOGUE

Post-date: turn off Read
Receipts – you have four
hours maximum to reply.
The only games a grown
woman should play are
pétanque, backgammon
and bridge…
• Rule out any hiccups.
Sober is now sexy. Lose the
booze entirely, or stick to a
maximum of two French 75s
• Cut the slack. Running five
minutes late builds anticipation,
30 minutes signals disaster
• Don’t talk work
Evening
ETIQUETTE
WHEN IT HASN’T
WORKED OUT…
Take a deep breath and step
back into the real world.The
tangible solution? Nothing
soothes an aching heart like a
new pair of Céline shoes.
MOUTH TO MOUTH
Kiss like it’s going out
of fashion, safe in the
knowledge that it never will
•Refine, rather than eradicate,
traces of your ex. The snap
from that big birthday three
months ago can stay
• Agree your online parting
etiquette. A swift mutual unfollow
will help to take the sting out
of a looming separation. If
you’re aiming to stay friends, use
Eternal Sunshine to temporarily
hide all trace of your ex from
your feed without permanently
erasing anything
• No matter how tempted
you are, don’t ever publish
your message thread to
TextsFromYourEx
• Silence is golden. Designated
Dialer will stop you calling
during that first crucial month
Breaking up in
the ONLINE
WORLD
THE “GET OUT OF
JAIL FREE” CARD
Need a potential date escape route? Download
SMS Scheduler to automatically text three of
your closest friends to call you one hour in.
BOYFRIEND OR BFF?
Most modern relationships
are undefined. Enjoy the
friendzone if that is all that
transpires. It can still offer
lots of benefits
KEEP YOUR
OPTIONS OPEN
Shopping around is a
recent perk. Don’t assume
it’s exclusive for the first
five dates: he’ll still be looking
and so should you.
FAIR PLAY
YOU’VE
FOUND
THE ONE
Do you dare tag
him in Tiffany’s
Instagram feed?
#IlltakeaclassicTiffany
CELINE
TIFFANY
DIAMOND
RING, PRICE
ON REQUEST
84
inVOGUE
ILLUSTRATIONS:CRAIG&KARL;JASONLLOYD-EVANS;MITCHELLSAMS

JOSHOLINS;JASONLLOYD-EVANS;MITCHELLSAMS
i
moved house recently. There is
nothing more effective at making
you understand what you actually
like and wear in your wardrobe than
having to clear the whole lot out. Not
to mention your unmentionables: the
drawers in your drawers. Somehow I
had accumulated about 30 G-strings.
Thirty seems an unholy number,
especially when, like the rest of us it
seems, I stopped wearing them years
ago. Excepting a couple of the nicest
styles, the expensive frilly French ones
– the ones that relate to an image
of the woman I wish I were
more than the one I am – or
those that merely work well
under outﬁts where VPL
would be unacceptable, I got a
bin bag and dumped the whole
lot. (Well, what else are you
supposed to do with
unwanted knickers? The
charity shop? Surely not.)
Perhaps it was also a
question of timing – I
recently had a baby and
had become rather
attached (too attached,
my husband would say)
to the extra large,
elasticated knickers my
friends recommended
as essential for the post-
natal ward. Except, by
the time we moved
house the baby was
four months old and
the granny pants and
I had entered a deeply
symbiotic relationship.
For once, however, fashion is
on my side. Iterated in Fifties
high-waistersatDolce&Gabbana
(decades-long champions of the
fuller knicker) and Burberry, a
AS THE COMFORT, STYLE AND – YES –
SEX APPEAL OF BIG PANTS GROW EVER
MORE ALLURING, CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR
PRESENTS THE CASE AGAINST THE THONG
LOVE
IN FULL
BLOOMERS
pair of proper pants visible
beneath body-skimming layers
is now an established style
code for eveningwear. By
example, Beyoncé, Taylor
Swift, Kim Kardashian and
Amber Valletta have turned
the red carpet into an exercise
in VPL. Bloomers bloomed
on the catwalk at Emilia
Wickstead, Dior and Fendi, and
big knickers strutted fully
exposed at Isabel Marant.
A look that connotes a
tomboyish appeal – as if you’ve run
out of clean pants and slipped on
your boyfriend’s Y-fronts – the
grundie, or grunge undie, has made
a return, most successfully at Acne,
whereitsgender-neutral,dun-coloured
version is a sell-out. A similarly
Nineties aesthetic has edged back into
the mainstream with capacious briefs
with branded elastic by Calvin Klein,
Paco Rabanne and Moschino. Once
again, CKs are decorating the most
fashionable waistlines, including those
of Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid.
Even M&S, that sturdy barometer of
trends in British knickers, has reported
that fewer than one in 10 pants sold
now are G-strings.(Rosie Huntington-
Whiteley’s bestselling range at the
store is almost entirely high-cut,
maximum-coverage knickers.)
It’s not hard to see why, especially if
you’ve had the horrifying experience
of seeing yourself wearing a G-string
in a three-way changing-room mirror.
G-strings are unkind to the majority >
ISABEL
MARANT
DOLCE&GABBANA
89
inVOGUE

REXFEATURES;JASONLLOYD-EVANS;MITCHELLSAMS
of female figures. More than that,
there is an increasing sense of ennui in
the sight of a parade of Victoria’s
Secret models with their bottoms
bouncing down the runway in
cutaway thongs. G-strings feel
old-fashioned and obvious.
They’re underwear as
performance – male fantasy
disguised as female choice.
Knickers bring out the
territorial in men: they have
opinions. If women dress for
women, apparently their
underwear drawer is for men.
Or, more explicitly, for sex.
Granny pants, most men
would agree, are not going to
get you laid. But more fool
them since big pants equal
comfort, which equals a
woman who is relaxed and unworried,
which surely equals more sex per wear?
G-strings, by contrast, feel very
early Noughties, very pre-crash,
pre-smartphone, pre-Hillary for
president, pre-Angela Merkel, pre-
Nicola Sturgeon, pre-a new level of
seriousness and power in women’s
lives and careers. Not to mention the
great discomfort of actually wearing
them. Frankly, who can be bothered?
this is not to say that a pair of
proper pants can’t be properly
alluring. “I love them when
they’re done in a very sexy way. I really
love light, wispy, lacy full briefs that
have that Fifties shape,” says Dita
Von Teese, a woman who knows her
way around a knicker drawer (to the
extent that she now has her own
lingerie range). “I like a larger brief
because I like the big reveal. You
have much more impact taking off
something that covers more.” After
all, bottoms are the new erogenous
zone, and big knickers can
be, Dita confirms, “a real
bum showcaser”.
Daisy Lowe is also a
fashionable fan of the
big knicker; rare is the
paparazzo shot of Lowe
where she isn’t wearing
visible high-waisters under
some fabulous full-length vintage
frock. Length is key to the look –
conveying a sense of moral rectitude
despite the very-much-on-show pants
winking through all that chiffon – as
is cut. (The effect should be more
coquette than vamp – vamp is also
good, but not for 3.15pm on a
Tuesday.) “I always pair them with a
dress that comes
in at the waist to
create a continuous line,” she says.
“Finding the right height of pants is
important – if they touch the waistline
ofthedressitlooksmorestreamlined…
It’s about lengthening your legs.”
Of their charm, Lowe says, “I think
they’re really feminine. They have
that Bettie Page, Marilyn Monroe,
Fifties Hollywood starlet vibe that
is incredibly provocative but also
embracing of the female form.” Big
pants can also be great for a smaller
frame, having a magic ability to add
curves.(You can also hide some serious
control-panel action in a pair of fuller
briefs.) A woman’s relationship to
her knicker drawer is,Lowe continues,
intimately connected to her sense of
self. “The more comfortable I am the
better I feel and the better everyone
thinks I look. And maybe we don’t
want a string up our backsides?”
A quick scoot around
Net-a-Porter’s underwear section
confirms Lowe’s point. Eres has
cornered the market in high-end
high-waisted briefs
that manage to be
both frivolous and
functional, while
labels such as
ID Sarrieri make
a very persuasive
case for the sex
appeal of bigger
knickers, with pants that
use the gauziest lace to
provide full “coverage”.
(Lace is extremely
flattering, softening the
look of dimples and
wobbles – like candlelight
for the bottom.) Maria Williams,
senior buyer for lingerie at Net-a-
Porter says, “Women used to think
that bigger briefs would give you a
visible panty line. However, current
designs feature raw edges and are
made from silk and satin to create a
seamless look. As waistbands on
jeans, trousers and skirts have risen,
so have our knicker waistlines.”
Marie-Paule Michelli, designer at
Eres, asserts, “This style is much
sexier than G-strings. High-waisted
panties are very chic.” Indeed, the
inspiration for Michelli’s designs
could not be chicer or more exacting:
“the sophisticated Parisian woman”.
The curator of the V&A’s exhibition
Undressed:ABriefHistoryofUnderwear,
which opens in April,offers a historical
context. At the museum’s archives,
Edwina Ehrman and Susanna Cordner
show me an exhibit from the show: a
pair of sizeable frilled knickers from
the Fifties. Ehrman says, “The lace
frills were worn on the front of the
pants to lend a curve to the stomach
and soften the hipbones. War was
grim, and this marked a return to
luxury and femininity and sexiness.”
She traces a history of full-sized briefs
through the Sixties – “What are Mary
Quant hotpants if not big knickers?”
– to the present day. “I think for
some women they’re a political
statement. Women are using their
purchasing power to say we
don’t want to wear stereotypical
sexy underwear, we want
underwear that’s comfortable
and that we feel great in.”
It helps that this particular
political statement comes
wrapped in satin and ribbons.
The return this year both of
Bridget Jones and of Lena
Dunham’s Hannah Horvath
in the new series of Girls –
pin-ups for the more capacious
pant – cements the cultural
moment for the unbrief-brief.
Confidence is key. “I went out
recently in a sheer dress and big
pants,” says Daisy Lowe. “I wore a
little trench over the top so that
when I was walking down the street
it wasn’t quite so ‘flasher’. But then
I forgot what I was wearing and
opened up the front of the jacket, and
people were giving me very, very
odd stares.” Lowe’s bodacious body
notwithstanding, it seems to prove
the point that: a) what works for
fashion might not translate to reality;
and b) a pair of giant pants can be just
as provocative as any G-string. And I
know which I’d rather be wearing. Q
“What are
Mary Quant
hotpants
if not big
knickers?”
BALMAIN
DIOR
BURBERRY
PRORSUM
Brief encounter:
right, Amber
Valletta in Vionnet
in January; below,
Daisy Lowe last year
90
inVOGUE

T H E E S S E N C E O F T H E J E W E L L E R
D I S C O V E R T H E N E W E A U D E PA R F U M O N B V L G A R I . C O M

REGENT STREET SLOANE SQUARE
BROMPTON CROSS MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET

CREATING ICONIC FOOD
AND BEVERAGE CONCEPTS VOGUECAFE.COM
Moscow
Kiev
Dubai
BangkokINTERNATIONAL | RESTAURANTS

rumours of an Asian economic
slowdown are swirling around,
thick as Chinese smog, as
Stephen Webster and five emerging
designers – each selected by Webster
to exhibit at London Fashion Week’s
Rock Vault – survey the spectacular
skyline of Shanghai’s Pudong district
across the Huangpu river. Initiated
by the British Fashion Council,
Rock Vault provides support and
showcasing schemes to help jewellery
designers develop profiles and
business around the world. The
designers – Alice Cicolini, Jo Hayes
Ward, Jacqueline Cullen, Imogen
Belfield and Tomasz Donocik – are
here to present a project they have
created for the Chinese jewellery
giant Chow Tai Fook, using the
company’s Hearts On Fire diamonds.
For all the talk of economic torpor,
Webster’s own future in China shows
no sign of a slowdown.The Rock Vault
venture aside, he has also become the
first and only non-Chinese member
of the Gems & Jewellery Trade
Association Jewellery Designer
Committee and has a five-year contract
with ChowTai Fook as creative director
of its first diamond collaboration,
White Kites, launching this month.
Founded in 1929, Chow Tai Fook
is the go-to family jeweller for the
Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking
world, which makes it the biggest
brand you’ve probably never heard of.
Valued at HK$11.4 billion (about
£1 billion) on the Hong Kong stock
exchange, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery
is just a part of a conglomerate that
also spans property development,
hotels and transportation. It acquired
Boston-based Hearts On Fire a
couple of years ago.
More jade, gold and diamonds are
sold in Chow Tai Fook’s stores across
China and Southeast Asia than are
sold anywhere else in the world. To
give you an idea of the importance of >
From far left:
Stephen Webster,
Jo Hayes Ward,
Jacqueline Cullen,
Imogen Belfield,
Alice Cicolini and
Tomasz Donocik
photographed by
the Huangpu River
in Shanghai.
Photograph:
Algirdas Bakas
AS THE WORLD’S LARGEST JEWELLERY CONSUMERS, THE CHINESE KNOW
A THING OR TWO ABOUT GEMS. SO WHAT COULD BRITISH DESIGNER
STEPHEN WEBSTER BRING TO THEM? HE TALKS TO CAROL WOOLTON
Diamond
EXCHANGE
95
inVOGUEHAIRANDMAKE-UP:SERENALI

jewellery in China – where
it is associated with good
fortune,longlife,safekeeping
and emotion – an average
Chinese street might boast
three Chow Tai Fook stores, and
in vast shopping malls you will find
double-decker boutiques, the walls of
which groan under the weight of gold
and jade. Newlyweds receive large
pig pendants for fertility, a new baby
prompts gifts of simple jade bangles,
worn next to the skin for protection,
and no one attends a wedding or
christening without a 24-carat gold
present wrapped in red paper.
“I have a dream,” says Kent Wong,
managing director of Chow Tai Fook
Jewellery, “to bridge the jewellery
culture between East and West.”
Thinking about the future, Wong has
placed many stores in China’s
“second- and third-tier cities”, to
capture the vast emerging middle
classes, who, in his opinion, are no
longer so set on logos but are
increasingly interested in “high-
quality Western design, personal
connections and storytelling”.
Webster intends to spend
a great deal of time in China
(he has a new office in Beijing).
“I’d be crazy not to,” he says,
looking across the misty grey
Huangpu, bustling with fast-
moving tourist boats and
working barges. “It was a much
older woman who was buying
jewellery when I started out
30 years ago,” he continues,
“but now the power has shifted
and the new, young Chinese
buyers are providing the next
round of opportunity.”
i
nside Chow Tai Fook’s
2,280 stores, a 35,000-strong
army of Wong’s employees,
dressed in smart black uniforms,
stand behind display cabinets of gold
coins and ingots. I am in one of the
seven branches of Chow Tai Fook on
Hong Kong’s Canton Road – where a
constant stream of buyers peer at the
jewels displayed in low, brightly lit
cabinets. How much is a gold bar
about the size of a pack of cards and
engraved with the year of the monkey?
“Five thousand Hong Kong dollars,”
pretty Becky Tung replies, adding,
“The price of gold dropped today.”
She is one of a group from Hong
Kong and mainland China sent to
Las Vegas recently to attend the
Hearts On Fire “diamond university”,
and she talks with evangelical fervour
about “the champions”, who sell
HK$1 million or more worth of
jewellery annually, and share their
secrets in Oscar-style speeches to rapt
audiences that are hoping to emulate
their success.
The ardent work ethic comes from
thetop;Wonghasamodestdemeanour
that the ancient philosopher Lao Tzu
would be proud of – unlike many
European CEOs, there is no flashy,
complicated watch peeping out
beneath the cuff of a designer suit. In
fact, with his low-key manner he could
pass for a primary-school teacher
instead of the man steering a
multibillion-dollar company into the
future. A lifetime’s total immersion (as
a 14-year-old apprentice, he slept at
night in the store where he worked)
has given him an understanding of
the market that’s second to none,
combined with the advantage of
investing in technology decades ahead
of conventional jewellery retail.
In real time, Wong monitors all
store activity and current stock on
his smartphone, while a Whatsapp
group of 50 colleagues keeps him in
touch with any news, including big
purchases or problems. Frequent daily
stock-takes are performed by waving
a device resembling a small steamer
iron around the store, and the results
ping into Wong’s phone within
seconds. Every jewel here has a price
tag containing a microchip that
instantly conveys information to the
salesperson, such as carat weight, the
largest stone, the price of gold that
day and how many other similar
products there are in nearby stores.
(It’s also a useful anti-theft device –
a red alarm discreetly shines if an item
is removed.) There’s even a valuable
trend-tracker providing data on how
many times customers are drawn to
touch a particular design.
Sales techniques, too, are closely
monitored, such as how many pieces
are sold and by whom, and the total
duration of each individual sale. It’s all
calculated – and sometimes results in
another training stint.
Although White Kites is the first
all-diamond collection Webster has
created, his dark, edgy, rock’n’roll
signature is clearly recognisable.
Its abstract, fashion-forward look of
sharp lines and swooping suggestions
of birds – both beautiful and
menacing – will be new to the loyal
Chow Tai Fook customer. The Rock
Vault designs have also been produced
for the Asian market, exactly as they
were displayed at London Fashion
Week. “They want our aesthetic,
they came to me for that reason,”
explains Webster. “After all, they
have about 70 great designers
already, but they want what I’ve done
and invested into Stephen Webster.
They want a bit of that.”
And what can the designer learn
from the Chinese? Webster talks
animatedly about his recent visit to
the Gallery of Chinese Ancient Jade
in the Shanghai Museum, where he
viewed the work of contemporary
artist Qiu Qijing and the extraordinary
craftsmanship and painstaking detail
that he applies to jade. “Each carving
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DENISE GOUGH, ACTRESS, 36
When Denise Gough got her
most recent role – as Emma, an
actress addicted to drugs and
alcohol, in the smash-hit play
People, Places and Things – she
says she cried every day on
her way home from rehearsals:
“I was about to stop working as
an actress, then I got that part
and I was so grateful.” That part
has been hailed as career-
defining, and Gough as “one
of theatre’s secret marvels”.
It also left her physically bruised:
“Emma has a very specific way
of moving," she says. "The first
three scenes she’s off her head
on cocaine, then she goes
through this detox. A lot of it
happens when I hit the stage;
it’s like being possessed.”
From mid-March the play
transfers to the West End for
a three-month run at Wyndham's
Theatre. Her standout
performance will no doubt open
doors to television and film
offers – expect to see her in the
third series of The Fall – but
Gough says she has no plans to
abandon the stage. “Being
successful in theatre doesn’t
always translate to TV or film,
and that’s OK for me because
theatre is where my heart is.”
Photograph: Linda Brownlee.
Sittings editor: Verity Parker
W ROBERT ICKE, WRITER/DIRECTOR, 29
When Robert Icke was dragged – aged 15
– by his father to see Kenneth Branagh
as Richard III, something clicked. “It
blew my mind and it never went back
to normal,” he says. Icke was so moved
by the production that he wrote to its
director, Michael Grandage, to ask how
he had done it. “I had a couple of hours
one-on-one with him; he gave me
incredible advice and really set me going.”
Several years later Grandage praised
Icke for his groundbreaking version of
the Oresteia, which transferred to the
West End from the Almeida, where Icke
is associate director. “I threw out the
rules,” Icke says. “There were no masks
or sandals or a formal chorus.” He is
currently directing a reimagined Uncle
Vanya, starring
Vanessa Kirby
and Jessica Brown
Findlay. “A lot of
people just want
a polite night
out and dinner
afterwards,
but there’s
increasingly an
army of people
ﬁghting the
other side of the
battle, which is
really exciting,”
he says.
121
VOGUEview
Major PLAYERSAs a burst of fresh talent revitalises British theatre,
Hannah Nathanson has an audience with the actors,
directors and producers who are staging a coup
V CAITLIN McLEOD, DIRECTOR, 26
According to Caitlin McLeod, most
directors are former actors. “We try out
that path and realise that it’s not quite
for us, but we’re totally in love with the
theatre so find another way to make it,”
she says. For McLeod, that has involved
a stint as a trainee director at the Royal
Court, and the hit production Brenda,
an existential drama by award-winning
playwright EV Crowe at the Yard in
London. McLeod was recently named
as one of the Old Vic 12, Matthew
Warchus’s prestigious new scheme for
the theatre, which will see her team up
with a playwright, a composer and a
designer to develop a project over six
months. It will also give her more time to
pursue “heart projects”. “I need to create
three more Brendas,” she says. “It feels
like I’m jumping off a cliff, but I’m hoping
the wind will pick me up.”
“I was about to stop working
as an actress. Then
I got that part”

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MARY FRANKLIN, DIRECTOR, 26
As the artistic director of her company, Rough Haired Pointer,
Mary Franklin describes her approach as “organised chaos”. Her
directing credits include the first major revival of Noonday Demons,
Peter Barnes’s dark comedy about warring saints, which
premiered at the King’s Head in Islington last summer.
This March, Franklin is directing an adaptation of Daisy Ashford’s
The Young Visiters, a Victorian society novel that the author wrote aged
nine. It’s “full of innocent – or not so innocent – sexual and social comedy,
unrequited love and ruthless ambition, and very, very funny,” she says.
ALEX LAWTHER,
ACTOR, 20
Alex Lawther was
16 when he got his
breakthrough role, in
David Hare’s play South
Downs, set in a public
school in 1962. When
it transferred to the
West End, Lawther was
juggling AS levels with
the leading role. “I made
a deal with my mum and
asked her to stop me
going to friends’ parties
– I was such a little
nerd.” It paid off, and
his standout performance
encouraged him to follow
a career in the theatre.
He has been praised by
critics for his “talent for
playing vulnerable roles”.
DAVID MOORST, ACTOR, 23
David Moorst’s gong for his
2015 Evening Standard
Emerging Talent Award sits
on his mum’s mantelpiece
in Merseyside. “I still
can’t believe it, every time
I see it,” he says. He won
the accolade – and was
congratulated by Vanessa
Redgrave and Ian McKellen
– for his performance in
Violence and Son at the
Royal Court, a play about
sexual consent. "It was great
to do something that got
people talking," he says.
Moorst left Lamda early to
make his 2014 stage debut,
as a mining apprentice in
Wonderland, directed by
Edward Hall. He recalls
being overwhelmed by
Hall’s bold vision: “On the
first day, when I saw what he
was trying to do with the
play, I couldn’t believe it.”
“It was great to do something that
got people talking”
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V NED BENNETT, DIRECTOR, 31
As a property guardian living
everywhere from a former police station
to dance studios in Covent Garden,
Ned Bennett is never short of rehearsal
space. “It’s been integral to choosing
a career in the arts in terms of space
and low overheads,” he says. A Lamda
graduate, Bennett was appointed trainee
director at the Royal Court in 2012,
which he calls an “incredible training
ground”. He assisted nine directors on
everything from political dramas to plays
written during rehearsals. Last year he
directed Pomona, Alistair McDowall’s
science-fiction thriller, winning praise for
his ability to illuminate dark subjects.
This year he returned to the Royal Court
with Yen, a coming-of-age drama about
two teenagers who live without rules.
W ELLA HICKSON, PLAYWRIGHT, 30
Before Ella Hickson pens a new
script she writes down one thing that
she’s trying to achieve. For Boys, her
first full-length play, which is about five
young men graduating into the world,
her aim was to be ambitious – which
is exactly what reviewer Lyn Gardner
doffed her hat to. Hickson will do
the same for the five plays that she’s
working on this year – among them
one about
globalisation
commissioned
by the National
Theatre, which
involves a
research trip to
Vietnam, and
a new play about
Elizabeth I
for the Royal
Shakespeare
Company. She will
also be venturing
into new territory
with her first
West End musical,
about the Famous
Five. “It’s a whole
new world for
me,” she says. “I
personally cannot
hit a note.”
W ZOE LAFFERTY, DIRECTOR, 29
Zoe Lafferty’s research trips include
some of the world’s most dangerous
destinations. “I tend not to tell people
where I’m going,” she says. Her 2012
play The Fear of Breathing was based on
interviews in Syria. “We’d walk around
for ages so they could see if we were
being followed. Then you’d get into a car,
maybe cover up a bit, jump into another
car and then eventually meet people,
go to protests and to secret hospitals.”
Lafferty’s work has always provoked
controversy. She began her career with
the Freedom Theatre in Palestine, based
in a refugee camp, and there were
protests outside The Siege, her 2015 play
about Palestinian fighters. “Theatre can
be many different things,” she says. “I love
a musical as much as the next person.”

EMILY DOBBS, PRODUCER, 31
The former Central Saint
Martins building on Charing
Cross Road is being put to
good use thanks to Emily
Dobbs, who is currently
running it as a theatre called
Found111. Her first production
there, The Dazzle, which was
inspired by the Collyer
brothers, who died in 1947
under mounds of their own
junk in their Fifth Avenue
apartment, starred Andrew
Scott and played a sold-out
run. “My trademark is
relationships, functional or
dysfunctional,” Dobbs says.
“I like work that tests the limits
of human character.”
CHLOE LAMFORD, COSTUME
AND SET DESIGNER, 35
Chloe Lamford’s sets include a
giant neon rainbow for The World
of Extreme Happiness at the
National, and a show powered by
bikes in Berlin. “The visual world
of plays is as talked about as the
words,” she says. “We need to be
brave.” As artistic associate at the
Royal Court, she’ll design the set
for Katie Mitchell’s Ophelias
Zimmer this summer.
W NICK PAYNE, PLAYWRIGHT, 32
When he was writing Elegy, which opens at the Donmar in
April, Nick Payne sent an early copy to former Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams. “He was pretty positive,” Payne
says. “He’s so alarmingly clever that of course he got what the play
was trying to do.” Elegy, which deals
with the possibility of extending life,
was on Payne’s mind for a while but
was written in a “quick burst”.
His first play, If There Is I Haven’t
Found It Yet, received rave reviews
during its 2009 run at the Bush
Theatre and transferred to New
York, where it starred Jake
Gyllenhaal. The Hollywood
actor also took the lead in Payne's
blockbusterhitConstellations.
WPHOEBE FOX, ACTRESS, 28
For Phoebe Fox, who admits to being
“cowardly shy”, being on a stage is
the ultimate escapism: “I can shed my
inhibitions, it’s so exhilarating.” She’s
just ﬁnished an epic run of Ivo van
Hove’s award-winning production of
A View from the Bridge – she played
17-year-old Catherine, alongside Mark
Strong – which went from the Young
Vic to Broadway via the West End.
It’s going to take a while for her to
recover from the experience: “We all
talk about how Ivo’s slightly ruined us
for other directors, even Mark Strong.
We’re all freaking out about who we go
to next,” she says.
STELLA POWELL-JONES, DIRECTOR, 28
Yale graduate – and step-granddaughter
of Harold Pinter – Stella Powell-Jones is
conquering both the West End and Broadway.
In London, she was associate director of Florian
Zeller’s tragic farce The Father, which transferred
from the Tricycle to Wyndham’s Theatre last
year; in New York she will direct the world
premiere of The Healing, set in modern-day rural
Idaho, by acclaimed new playwright Samuel D
Hunter. Other future projects include a new play
by Jason Kim, who writes for HBO’s Girls.
“You have to say what
people don’t want to hear”
PAUL JELLIS, PRODUCER, 34
Recasting a play in 24 hours,
juggling four productions at a time
and getting audiences to crack Morse
code are just some of the challenges
that Paul Jellis has faced as an
independent producer. His speciality
is immersive theatre, and this year
he is working on an interactive piece
that explores gang culture.
LINDABROWNLEE.SITTINGSEDITOR:VERITYPARKER.CHARLENEWEARS
DRESS,ACNE,ATHARRODS.TRAINERS,ADIDAS.JOHANPERSSON;AMITAND
NAROOP;ALEXBRAMALL;KATEPETERS
CHARLENE JAMES, PLAYWRIGHT, 33
This is a big year for Charlene James.
Cuttin’ It, her play about two Somali girls
going through female genital mutilation,
which helped launch her career, is touring
Britain's most prestigious theatres. Her
inspiration is her own community – for
Cuttin’ It she spoke to Somali women
working in a Tower Hamlets primary school
– and her aim has always been to represent
the unrepresented. “You have to say what
people don’t want to say and what people
don’t want to hear,” she says. Her next
project will explore mental health: “It’s
something that’s niggling at the back of my
mind; it keeps coming up.”
124
VOGUEview

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alking arm in arm
down a leafy Camden
street, writer Nina
Stibbe and actress Helena Bonham
Carter – both slightly wobbly on
impossibly high heels – could be
mistaken for the best of friends. In
reality, they have only met a few
times, but their friendship has been
fast-tracked by a book: a slim, witty
collection of letters that became the
surprise publishing sensation of 2013.
Set in the Eighties, in the heart of
literati north London, Love, Nina
is made up of real-life dispatches
written by Stibbe during the time
“I had pottered on
quite contentedly
for 50 years before
this happened…”
Writer Nina Stibbe
with Helena
Bonham Carter.
Portrait: Benjamin
McMahon. Sittings
editor: Lucy Bower
What the
NANNY
SAWNina Stibbe’s letters home from
the heart of literary London were
a publishing sensation. Now
“Love, Nina” is a television series
starring Helena Bonham Carter.
Chloe Fox meets them both
that she worked as a nanny in the
Gloucester Crescent home of Mary-
Kay Wilmers – the long-time editor
of the London Review of Books.
Stibbe’s charges were two boys, Will
and Sam, the young sons of Wilmers
and her former husband, the film
director Stephen Frears.
Stibbe was just 20 when she moved
from Leicestershire to take up the
position – one she almost didn’t get
because the boys didn’t like the fact
that she supported Leicester City
football club – and had no experience
of nannying, and even less of the
highbrow, literary London milieu in
which she found herself. But her
everyday, often hilarious, observations
provide a window into a rarefied world.
Friends and neighbours are constantly
dropping by, notably Alan Bennett –
a regular feature at the family’s
Gloucester Crescent dinner table –
and biographer Claire Tomalin.
Stibbe, who ended up living with
the family for five years, is no Mary
Poppins: she dents Ms Wilmers’s car,
dodges Tube fares, and encourages the
boys to play in an empty skip. But she
is relentlessly funny. A Samuel Beckett
play is described as “people talking
nonsense in dustbins and making
127
VOGUEviewNINA’SHAIRANDMAKE-UP:CAROLYNGALLYER.HELENA’SHAIR:JONOTHONMALONE.MAKE-UP:LOUISECONSTAD.NINAWEARSDRESS,ALEXANDERMcQUEEN.JACKET,STELLAMcCARTNEY.
SHOES,JIMMYCHOO.HELENAWEARSDRESS,ALEXANDERMcQUEEN.COLLAR,HELENMOORE.SHOES,STELLAMcCARTNEY.THANKSTOCECILSHARPHOUSE,NW1

Faye Marsay as
Nina and Helena
Bonham Carter
as Georgia in the
BBC adaptation
funny noises”, while mothers, she
comments, are constantly “cold and
annoyed” because they have to walk
around supermarkets.
By virtue of its charm, Love, Nina
spread like gossip through every book
club, bookshop and bus ride in the
country. Those who had discovered
its secret laughed out loud and proud,
and those who hadn’t yet longed to.
At the time, Helena Bonham
Carter never quite made it to the
party. “I remember reading reviews
and thinking, ‘God, if I ever have a
life, I’ll read that book,’” confesses
the actress, with a roll of her
beautiful china-doll brown eyes.
Wherever Bonham Carter went,
she says, the book seemed to
follow her; a friend of hers, who
was living as Mary-Kay Wilmers’s
lodger, told her that the book was
being adapted for television and
that she would be perfect for the
part of Mary-Kay. And then the
director SJ Clarkson – with whom
Bonham Carter had worked on the
BBC adaptation of Nigel Slater’s
autobiography, Toast – called to ask
if she would play that role. While
Bonham Carter was considering,
she went to a party and shared
a cigarette with Stephen Frears.
“I told him I’d been asked to play
his ex,” she remembers. “And he
said, ‘Oh, good Lord, two of you?
One’s enough.’ And then he said,
‘You’d be absolutely bang on.’’’
Meanwhile, from her home in
Cornwall – where she lives with her
partner Nunney (the same man who
was her cool, left-wing boyfriend in
the book) and their two children –
Stibbe (who has since published a
novel, Man at the Helm, and is
currently working on another) was
quietly “having a nervous breakdown”
at the mere thought that Bonham
Carter might star in the adaptation.
The very fact of there being a major
television series of her book, with a
script “by Nick Hornby, for heaven’s
sake!”, was enough.
Everything about the success of
Love, Nina was a happy surprise
for Stibbe, who still has all the
irreverent spark and warmth of her
20-year-old self. “I had pottered on
quite contentedly for almost 50
years of life before this wonderful
thing happened to me.” The letters
on which the book is based – sent to
Nina’s sister, Vic, who had kept
them in a Pedigree Chum box in her
attic for about 25 years – first
surfaced when the novelist Andrew
O’Hagan was compiling tributes for
Wilmers’s 70th birthday. Stibbe, who
couldn’t think of anything “clever or
funny” to say, ended up sending
him some of the letters, which were
duly read out at the party. When
publishers expressed an interest in
seeing more, Stibbe emailed Mary-
Kay – a woman who “in the quietest,
most dignified way, shuns any kind
of attention” – to ask her blessing.
The answer, unequivocally, was no.
It wasn’t until a few years later, when
Nina was asked to read out more of
the letters at Sam’s 40th, that Mary-
Kay finally relented.
In the BBC adaptation of Love,
Nina, names have been changed,
largely at the insistence of Alan
Bennett, who asked politely not to
appear. Thus, he becomes local
author Malcolm Tanner (played by
Jason Watkins), Mary-Kay becomes
Georgia and the boys, Sam and
Will, are now Joe (Ethan Rouse) and
Max (Harry Webster). The rest, fans
will be relieved to hear, is the same,
full of all the amusing conversations
and domestic quandaries that make
the book so magical. Nina remains
Nina, in name as well as humour,
and is played by Faye Marsay (The
White Queen, Game of Thrones). “She’s
just perfect,” sighs Stibbe, whose
visit to the set left her thrilled by
the rightness of it all. “Everything
was perfect – the performances,
the colours… Even the kitchen
utensils were right.”
Which isn’t to say that the
filming experience was necessarily
harmonious for all involved.
“The book is full of lies, you see,”
Bonham Carter deadpans. “So poor
Faye had practically contracted
pneumonia within the first week
of filming because Nina pretended
in her letters home that she was
barefoot all the time.”
“I was barefoot, I was!” laughs
Stibbe. “At least, I think I was
anyway…”
For Bonham Carter, all sorts of
unwanted problems came with
playing Mary-Kay, who has since
become a friend. “I suspect I became
a little bit too much like her, ” says
the actress, who is also a single
mother of two. Thus Mary-Kay’s
headaches became Bonham Carter’s
headaches (“I was popping pills
fairly constantly for six weeks”), and
Mary-Kay’s introspection became
Bonham Carter’s, so much so that
she didn’t “actually want to appear
in front of a camera half the time”.
“She’s so like her, you wouldn’t
actually believe it,” half-whispers
Stibbe. Just talking about her book’s
transition to the screen threatens,
momentarily, to overwhelm her.
To this day, she counts Mary-Kay,
Will and Sam (who has a bit part
in the adaptation, playing neighbour
Claire Tomalin’s son) as family. “I
watched the first episode this morning
and I had tears streaming down my
face,” she says. “There it was, my life,
and it was just so incredibly moving to
me to see it like that. And do you
know what I thought? I actually
thought ‘I can die now and I’d die
happy.’ Because I would. I really would
be completely, perfectly happy…
Although I would be quite annoyed
that I was dead, of course.” Q
“Love, Nina” begins in April on BBC1
“I told Stephen Frears I’d been
asked to play his ex,” says Helena
Bonham Carter. “He said, ‘Good
Lord, two of you? One’s enough’”
128
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TWELVE PORTRAITS FOR SS16
K A RENMI L L EN.C O M

HANSFEURER
Exit
PLANTheir vast wealth props up
the arts and the housing
market – but now all the
talk is of leaving. David
Jenkins investigates the
flight of the non-doms
The same went for those with a UK
domicile “at their date of birth” who’d
gone on to claim non-dom status and
then returned to Britain. And these
former non-doms would have in
future to pay inheritance tax on their
worldwide assets.
Well, that got the dovecotes
fluttering at Frieze. “It’s all my friends
were talking about,” one vastly rich
man reported of his stroll through that
huge tent in Regent’s Park. And it’s
what has prompted the beat, beat, beat
of the tom-tom among the ultra-high-
net-worth individuals whose impact
on Britain these last 20 years has been
undeniable; as Gregor Muir, executive
director of the ICA, puts it,“It’s worth
acknowledging there have been keenly
felt benefits in the art world through
non-doms feeling at home in this city.”
Now they don’t. In a Knightsbridge
restaurant, with the babel of foreign
languages ringing round the room,
another very rich man tells me, stony-
faced,“People with,say,£8-£10 million
won’t go. But the big, long-term non-
doms are going to leave.No alternative.
And the reason is inheritance tax; they
can’t come to terms with that. What
was a good tax environment in London
is going out the window. And these
i
t’s 11am on a greyish Mayfair
morning, and 5 Hertford Street is
so packed with the gilded classes
that a foreign-born gazillionaire has
had instead to take me to a booth in
Little House to hymn the glories of
London. “It’s got the greatest quality
of life,” he says softly, as he pours Earl
Grey tea. “It’s got the perfect balance
of commerce, rule of law, the arts, social
life. Wonderful balance, wonderful place
to raise your kids. The British hate to
toot their own horns, but London’s
unrivalled.” And, says Josh Wood, hair
colourist to the rich and influential,“It’s
got an aura about it now. It’s revered
as the hot city to live in. So if they
leave, it’d be like taking a step down.”
Leave? “They”? Who are “they”?
The non-doms, of course, that golden
horde who donate so decisively to the
arts, who so lavishly bid the lots up at
charity auctions, who spend multiple
millions on London houses and who,
Matthew Freud told an audience at the
ICA, are currently seen as the villains
of the London scene;be they Russians,
Americans, Egyptians, Greeks, or Lord
Rothermere, Roman Abramovich, the
Rausings, Richard Caring et al. But
what self-respecting non-dom cares
what Freud thinks? Why would they
abandon what another very rich man
called the “lovely situation”, tax-wise,
they currently enjoy? Why would they
swap the saucy delights of Sexy Fish for
the torpid pleasures of a Swiss canton?
George Osborne is the unlikely
answer, and the inciting incident was
his July statement last year, in which
he announced that as of April 2017
any UK resident non-dom who had
lived in Britain for more than 15 of
the past 20 years would lose non-dom
status and be taxed on any foreign-
made income and gains – they already
pay tax on their income in Britain.
VOGUEtopic
“If your kids are at Eton, do you
really want to go to Venezuela?”
135

“It makes me feel unwelcome.
Look at all the employment I’ve
provided over the years”
are big businessmen. They’re used to
adjusting their tax position.”
Oh yeah, say some. “It’s just people
being panicky,” says Nicky Haslam,
who’s heard this sort of talk before.“It’s
a knee-jerk reaction,”thinks one luxury-
goods heavy who preferred, like many
I spoke with, to remain anonymous. “I
don’t think it’s the end of London as we
know it,” said another source. “What
are the alternatives? Other countries
might not be so exciting. Do you go
back to your original country? If your
kids are at Eton, do you really want to
go to Venezuela? Never underestimate
the power and influence of the family.
There’s tax. And there’s lifestyle.”
Particularly a lifestyle that demands
less security than Moscow,for instance,
necessitates; that so consistently
delivers blockbuster exhibitions, of
which the discerning non-dom can go
to the most private of views; that
pullulates with the high-theatrical
culture Evgeny Lebedev celebrates;
that offers smart shoots on even smarter
country estates; and that is home to a
vibrant, thrilling fashion scene.
Sitting unflurriedly in her firm’s
Mayfair office, Salpy Kouyoumjian, a
partner specialising in international
wealth planning and tax at Boodle
Hatfield, tells me, “I’m not seeing the
new rules having an adverse impact on
people looking to move to the UK.”
Most of her clients are “still very active
entrepreneurs”, and “the big attraction
is London as a financial centre, as well
as education, culture and service
industries” like her own. Can you say
the same for Portugal, or Cyprus?
that mirrors Sebastian Gibson’s
experience: Gibson, of FG
Consultants, “finds expensive
houses and sells off-market,” mostly in
the £5-£20 million range,though he did
have one £56 million transaction in
2014.“At that level, none of our clients
has just one house; they flit across the
globe.” London was seen by his clients
as “a liberal, cultured, civilised society
that works – highly appealing if you’re
bringing up children, particularly.”
One Russian client had said to him,“If
we have to pay [tax], we have to pay.”
That’s not surprising. In tax terms,
this country is still pretty welcoming.
The non-dom will still have 15 years
before his or her non-dom status is
brought to an end; and even then they
may leave Britain, lie low and bored in
Verbier, Monaco or the Algarve for six
years and then return and resume non-
dom status until another 15 years go by.
Many long-termers don’t see it that
way.Taking me for a stroll on Primrose
Hill, his King Charles spaniel at his
heels, one non-dom told me that
many of his kind were feeling “pissed
off and saying, ‘It makes me feel
unwelcome. Look at all the
employment I’ve provided over the
years.’ That’s their attitude. ‘[The tax
situation] is a compact we thought
we had and now you bastards have
done a U-turn. It’s like you never
appreciated us in the first place.’”
That’s right, said one rich man’s
wife, as exotically colourful in her
Erdem lace as the Jenny Holzer piece
on the wall of her Belgravia palace.
Many of her friends were definitely
heading off, she says. And if they’re
“not moving round central London,
they’re going to have less interest in
making donations” to the great
London cultural institutions.
In terms of the art market, though,
“it won’t make a damn of difference,”
says Ivor Braka, London’s pre-eminent
private dealer.“We trade anywhere, and
they need art wherever they’re living.”
But what of a mid-range gallery like,
say, Timothy Taylor? “If Tim’s got a
great Guston, they’re still going to buy
it, whether they live in Geneva or
Monaco,” says Braka. Gregor Muir,
who used to work at Hauser Wirth,
isn’t so sure: the tidal wave of foreign
wealth “would explain why big
international commercial galleries
[Pace, Zwirner et al] have felt the
need to open up branches in London.”
But what about those great cultural
institutions? How will they be affected?
Though Muir is acutely sensitive to
the average ICA-goer’s interest in
the redistribution of wealth, he points
out: “If you look at the patron boards
of any art institution, you can be sure
there’ll be a noticeable number of
non-doms on them.” Nicholas Serota,
too, has defended non-doms from
“the criticisms that have come
from government and others”. And
although James Hughes-Hallett, who’s
chairman of the Courtauld, doesn’t
think any of his donors are “flight
risks”, he has been told by several very
wealthy families, unconnected with
the Courtauld, that they plan to go.
“It’s unproven that they’ll be not as
interested [in donating to British
institutions], but intuitively that’s
what one might assume.”
It’s a worry echoed by Michael
Ward, managing director of Harrods:
“Everything seems to be leaving a
nasty taste in people’s mouths.”
What’s being done – to non-doms, to
stamp duty – is “more a statement of
what the government wish people to
hear as opposed to what’s good for the
economy. We should be trying to
attract these very-high-net-worth
international travellers.”That said, he’s
notclaimingitwillimpoverishLondon:
“This isn’t going to be a material
driver of whether Harrods is going to
be successful. We’re not ashamed of
selling luxury – Harrods is a beacon
of luxury around the world. I wish the
government had the same clarity of
vision.” So does Trevor Abrahmsohn,
the high-end estate agent who’s “king
of Bishops Avenue”. Trading, he says,
has been “less than optimal”, and
part of the reason is “there’s been a
mission to vilify Johnny Foreigner”.
Ed Miliband started it; Osborne’s
followed. “It’s classic. The dead hand
of government applying its medicine,
so the cure’s worse than the curse.”
The fine jeweller Glenn Spiro agrees:
“They’re not here for the weather, are
they?” He sells “superfine merchandise
to well-versed, well-heeled customers.
And the super-rich like coming here.
But once you push people out of the
door a little bit, or give them a feeling
that way, they start looking elsewhere.
One thing’s for sure: when you take
more tax, they spend less” – a truism
that equally applies to restaurants,
bars, clubs, furriers, interior decorators
and the like, even if Nicky Haslam
has his own views: “Let them go and
live somewhere horrid, if they like.”
Nonetheless, the shall-I-stay-or-
shall-I-go conversation is being heard
across London’s costliest postcodes –
although it is, Josh Wood notes from
his Holland Park salon, “very much a
niche conversation. And to be honest,
some of my clients have so much
disposable income, it doesn’t matter
where they live.” And some, who’ve
lived here for years, whose friends are
here, whose children think of
themselves as English, and who are
amused by this green and pleasant
land, aren’t ruled by their Excel
spreadsheets. They accept it:
“Sometimesit’sasunnyday.Sometimes
it’s a rainy day,” says one such rich
man as he’s driven to his private plane.
“What can I do? It’s been very
favourable to me. I’m staying.” Q
VOGUEtopic
136

Into the VALLEY
n my first morning in Palo
Alto I walked past a shop
staffed by robots. Which is
what it sells. Screens mounted on two
wheel-bottomed poles, they whizz
about, asking if they can help. Does
anyonebuythem,Iaskedincredulously.
Of course they do. This is Silicon
Valley, where the future is born;
everyone is an early adopter here.
So what was I, a longtime magazine
journalist with a four-series-old iPhone
and a conviction about improving
people’s mental wellbeing, doing in
the heartland of technological
innovation? Where everyone is trying
to invent or invest in the next Facebook
or Uber, planning settlements on Mars
– or just fancies having their own robot?
I am the founder of Welldoing.org,
a website that matches people with the
therapists most suited to them.I’d been
working with a tech developer on an
algorithm that has matched hundreds
of people with therapists for more than
a year, when I was invited to join a
Shoreditch-based programme for
Founders Over 50. It opened my eyes
to the exhilarating effects of being part
of the startup community, so when I
was chosen as the only British founder
on a two-week accelerator programme
at Blackbox, a support business for
startups in Palo Alto, I didn’t have to
think twice: this was my golden ticket.
Filled with the spirit of adventure
(and a few butterflies), I flew to San
Francisco at a couple of weeks’ notice.
Palo Alto itself is a 40-minute drive
south.On first impressions,it’s affluent,
ordered and rather bland, populated
by couples in Lululemon activewear
walking exotic dogs and
clutching Starbucks beakers.
And it was not nearly as
warm and sunny as I’d
expected. Cocooned in
almost all the clothing I’d
packed, I shared my first
breakfast with two other
Blackbox participants – one
from Palestine, one from
Israel – moaning about how
much colder it was than our
home countries.
I needn’t have worried –
that was one of my last
experiences of the outside world.
The Cowper Inn, adjoining Victorian
timber houses in a street near Palo
Alto’s main drag, is where we ate, slept
and – between the hours of 10am and
6pm – absorbed the wisdom of more
than 40 speakers over the next 14 days.
The 18 other Blackboxers were
pretty diverse. Mohammed, an urbane
former banker from Paris, was
spreading the pop-up shop revolution,
while Dave from Dublin wants to
save us all hours of email pain at work.
Canadian doctor Alexandra has a nifty
app for covering last-minute problems
WHEN LOUISE CHUNN’S STARTUP BUSINESS WAS PICKED
FOR AN INTENSIVE BOOT CAMP OUT IN CALIFORNIA, SHE
LEARNT WHAT IT REALLY TAKES TO JOIN THE TECH SET
Top: the
Google campus
in Mountain
View, California.
Above: Louise
Chunn pitching
her startup at
Blackbox
BROOKSKRAFT/CORBIS
141
VOGUEviewpoint

on a Tesla, he predicted that initial
investment might be slow to clinch.
“You should look for someone who
feels affinity with the subject matter.
HaveyouthoughtofRichardBranson?”
By day three, our focus was back on
pitching: the handshake pitch (10
words);the elevator pitch (45 seconds);
the napkin pitch (elevator plus sketch
on a paper napkin); and the three-
minute pitch, which is what we’d be
doing before several hundred invited
VCs, startup founders and press in San
Francisco in nine days’ time. At the end
of the day we took it in turns to pitch
to the group, who then filled in a sheet
enumerating our good and bad points.
I sat in my room poring over their
comments: “Clarify difference from
competition”,“Nice voice, smile more”,
“Where’s the Big Idea?”, “Explain
exactly how you do it”, “Offer ratings
of therapists’ service”. More than half
said if they were potential investors
they’d take another meeting, but
almost all had questions and caveats.
This was harder than I’d imagined.
On day four we went to Google’s
campus, about 20 minutes away. We
were allocated Google staff mentors;
mine was the son of a psychotherapist,
married to a psychology grad.
Genuinely interested in my idea,
Joel’s suggestions focused on product/
market fit. Now we were talking!
I immediately emailed some of his
advice back to my team in London.
Most nights, after eight solid hours
of note-taking and attention, I was
too pooped even to watch a sitcom in
my room, but on Friday I joined half
a dozen handsome young Blackboxers
in a heaving bar for a whiskey sour or
two. Given that I’ll never see 55 again,
it was flatteringly amusing to have to
show ID to enter the establishment.
At all other times, though, it didn’t
seem relevant that I was not the
archetypal twentysomething in a
hoodie. In fact, by the beginning of the
second week, as my notebook filled up
with information and advice, I felt like
I was actually getting younger, leaner,
hungrier (at least metaphorically).
Of all the people I met, I realised it
was the founders who really turned me
on. Older than my fellow Blackboxers,
humbler than the VCs, these were the
guys who’d come from Poland, Spain,
Finland or Germany, had been “in the
Valley” for a few years, and were now
thriving. They’d survived cutthroat
competition, they’d raised money,
they’d got the traction and revenue
that we were all dreaming about.
They made it all seem doable.
Friday was pitch night.We gathered
at a warehouse-style worksharing space
and roamed the room like nervous
dogs. Slowly the audience of potential
investors, fellow founders and press
took their seats in front of the stage,
while four judges sat to one side.
I won’t pretend otherwise: it was
nerve-racking. Think Dragons’ Den
before a live audience, and a long
way from home. As I’m not looking
to relocate to California, it was highly
unlikely I’d find my investors here
but… stranger things have happened
in this valley of unicorns and robots.
I was second up. In my Cos dress
and ankle boots, I climbed on to the
stage and I laid it on them: what
Welldoing.org did, who it was for,
how it would change the world of
therapy, and beyond. I ended to
applause, especially from my fellow
Blackboxers, who hugged and back-
patted each speaker as they finished.
After the pitches, interested people
searched us out, exchanged business
cards, proposed partnerships, Skype
sessions, more meet-ups. Then some
of us headed out for a celebratory
bar-hop, promising to keep up the
Whatsapp group and gather for a
reunion when the first one of us reaches
unicorn status. As Fadi said, building
group support to last us in future years
is a big part of his programme.
Next day I headed back to London,
a changed woman, ready to take on
the world. I’ve a headful of plans, tips
and hacks to “Always Run, Never
Walk”, as one of our speakers signs off
his daily newsletter. Now, who can
introduce me to Richard Branson? Q
with childcare and elderly care, while
Marcelo from Uruguay can alert you to
what’s happening in the streets of your
city before you get tangled up in traffic.
Like kids in summer camp, we soon
got to know each other very well.
Some were the tech cliché of head
down, fingers tapping as they kept
their businesses ticking over in the
breaks;others were picking each others’
brains, or testing out their product or
sales pitch. Fadi Bishara, founder of
Blackbox, says that startup founders fall
into three types: the hustler, the hacker
or the hipster. And we had them all.
The first day got off to a swift start.
Our chief speaker, a bluff guy called
Bill Joos, said the induction was “like
drinking out of a firehose”. I was just
hoping some of it would soak in. Joos,
a former air traffic controller turned
sales and marketing consultant, was
teaching us to pitch. First off we each
hadtogivea10-minutedemonstration.
Most of the others had clearly
done this dozens of times before. But
I hadn’t done it once. I thought my
years of being the public face for five
different magazines would sustain
me, but I was wrong. That evening
I Skyped my husband, who said I
looked like a rabbit in the headlights.
I went to bed battling the kind of
negative thoughts that send people to
see a therapist. The irony…
I greeted day two by joining a
pre-breakfast running group, led by
Ana, our delightful course organiser.
Half a dozen of us jogged through the
sedate streets of Palo Alto, taking in
the homes of Larry Page of Google
(large, modern, with the tallest TV
aerial you’ve ever seen) and the late
Steve Jobs (Cotswolds cottage-style
with Hobbity features and an orchard
of – what else – apple trees to one
side) before settling down for a day
with the venture capitalists (VCs).
These are the guys who back startups
when they are little more than concepts
without revenue or users. The risk is
high, but for some the rewards have
been astronomical. Their super-casual
wardrobe of jeans and untucked shirts
disguises the tens of millions of dollars
some have made. Right now, with
rumours of a bubble, they are all fixed
on finding “unicorns” – startups valued
at $1 billion before they even go public.
I’ve always thought that my idea
could extend far beyond therapy and
Britain, so I was delighted when our
first VC, British-born Keith Teare,
agreed that I was a potential unicorn.
Before I could put a down payment
The prospective
tech entrepreneurs
on their first day
at Blackbox
It was nerve-racking. Think
Dragons’ Den before a live
audience, a long way from home
VOGUEviewpoint

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The value of investments can fall as well as rise. You may not get back the amount originally invested.
© UBS 2016. All rights reserved.
Should I start my
own business?
Would it be successful?
How could I protect my vision?
Starting out on your own is exciting. But you need
to think ahead.
Funding the business yourself gives you control
but could put pressure on your personal finances.
And if investors provide funding, they might
challenge your vision. We can help you find a
balanced approach that’s right for you.
For some of life’s questions, you’re not alone.
Together we can find an answer.

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