The Women’s Room Salon, Women Of Substance – our readers!

Possibly the absolute best happening from our Women Of Substance Salon was meeting our readers, all of whom felt like immediate friends.

With me bullying relentlessly a little gentle persuasion, we managed to photograph a few readers for posterity and I’m really pleased we did because how gorgeous are you all? We are always hearing women over 35 say they hate having their photos taken because they don’t like the way they look/hate their hair/feel too fat/whatever. But twenty years from now we’ll all look back at photos of ourselves and go ‘weren’t we gorgeous!” So let’s live in the moment a little more and relish how amazingly lovely we are now.

Another great moment came when we met virtual friends we admire, two of whom are above. On the left is the wonderful Maggie Alderson, writer and blogger who tweeted that her life felt complete when Jane Shepherdson checked out her outfit (she’s wearing Whistles). She is wearing what was the hot accessory of the night, the statement necklace. On the right, in what actually might be a coup unveiling for TWR is Helen Walmsley-Johnson, AKA The Invisible Woman, writer of The Guardian’s fashion blog and a very witty users of 140 characters.

One thing’s for sure about our readers, not only are they fabulously chic, but they really know how to rock good hair and accessories.

Below left is Joanna who gets my vote for the most elegant look of the night, and on the right is Aggie MacKenzie, who is wearing trousers that I need in my life (where did you get them Aggie? Are we talking J Crew?)

Below left is Kate Evans, owner of Precious boutique in Spitalfields and panelist Angela Flander’s daughter, she is never anything other than beautifully turned out (I have terrible hair envy over Kate’s beautiful thick grey locks). On the right are friends and bloggers Alyson Walsh from That’s Not My Age and Navaz Batliwalla from DisneyRollerGirl who know a thing or two about dressing well.

Dog supremo,  Louise Glazebrook below right, with the blonde hair- is owner of The Darling Dog Company, your one stop shop for dog training, hugging her friend Vicki, who works at Grazia. And below right is trend forecaster and blogger Tessa Hannam who is lucky enough to live near my favourite sewing shop Merchant & Mills in Rye.

It was fabulous to see a younger crew of strong and talented women in attendance too, all having fun…

Below left is Rae Jones in real life…she is the genius behind the Buckitt Bag and who we have written about recently, she’s is looking pretty nifty considering she’s seven months pregnant. On the right are Alison and Gwyneth..don’t you love Gwyneth’s blush pink vinyl skirt?

Two lovely looks below, that wrap dress on the left has such an elegant silhouette and the biker jacket is a beautifully slender-shaped one, it looks expensive doesn’t it?

If we took your photo and it’s not here, do email if you’d like a copy, as I’ve just put an edited selection up. If you are here and want a higher res copy of the image to keep in order to look at in twenty years time, email me on [email protected].

All images by FCM