Fashion & Beauty | The Womens Room

Fashion & BeautyJanuary 8, 2018

Trend Alert: Long dresses and why you need one

By Jane

Long dresses – particularly long printed dresses have never been my ‘thing’. But as we all know fashion has a way of persuading us that something previously filled us with horror can almost over night, become a object of desire.… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 20, 2017

Guest Post: Denim Expert Sue Barrett on The Great

By Amanda

We’re excited to introduce you to the ultra stylish denim expert Sue Barrett, who is our new guest blogger on all things indigo. Sue is one of the trend forecasting world’s most respected denim heads and because she’s a proper… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 18, 2017

Last Minute Present Suggestions: The Vanity Fair Diaries and Vogue

By Amanda

Just in case you are searching around for last minute present ideas, I can thoroughly recommend the gossipy, fast-paced, style-nostalgia trip through the eighties and early nineties that is The Vanity Fair Diaries, written by Tina Brown. It’s a detailed… Read More

Fashion & BeautyDecember 13, 2017

Emergency Cold Weather Sweaters To Consider

By Amanda

I’ve nearly done a whole year of Buying Nothing, I can’t believe how fast the time has gone, but come January 2018 one of the first items on my list will be a piece of knitwear that will keep me… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Health & HappinessNovember 30, 2017

A Scented and Healing Fog Cloud To Help You Keep Sane During Festive Madness

By Amanda

Last week I voluntarily sat in a cloud of delicately scented fog, fully clothed, while listening to an abstract, slightly beach-influenced sound track that gave me a moment of coastal calm in an otherwise mad week. I appreciate this might… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Home & GardenNovember 22, 2017

Cosy PJs and Sleepwear from Gudrun Sjödén

By Amanda

I am a proud ambassador for the Swedish brand Gudrun Sjoden, mostly because I really like Gudrun herself and I am extremely impressed with what she has achieved as a grown up, creative woman who runs a very successful brand.… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutNovember 15, 2017

Seed to Bottle Beauty with Parterre and L’Officine Universelle Buly

By Amanda

A couple of lovely new brands/stores to tell you about today. Firstly a new British fragrance brand Parterre, which is exceptional in that it is growing and distilling many of its fragrance ingredients at its historic headquarters, Keyneston Mills in… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Health & HappinessNovember 10, 2017

A Few Good Reads for Grown Up Women

By Amanda

In the week where the new Vogue was born and the head count of grown up women between its pages reached a heady…..seven, (not including the adverts) we went searching for a few more relevant-to-us reads to keep us busy.… Read More

Art & Culture, Fashion & BeautyNovember 3, 2017

The Sari Series, Inspiration For Textile Fans And Scarf Wearers Everywhere.

By Amanda

Sometimes the stars align in a quietly satisfying way and things fall so neatly into place that you do wonder if there IS an actual big plan. Middleson has (at last, he is 25 after all) left home, he has… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 12, 2017

Frieze Fashion (and a bit of art) 2017

By Amanda

It’s hard to believe we’ve been writing up Frieze London Fashion since 2010, so much art and so many clothes! In Jane’s excellent Frieze Colour yesterday, she mentions she’s a little cynical about the art and the insanely rich people… Read More

Fashion & BeautyOctober 5, 2017

The Year Of Buying Nothing: How it’s Changed My Thoughts On Clothes

By Amanda

The Year Of Buying Nothing is not that far off over, I’m 5/6th’s of the way through and I’m hardly missing buying clothes. I am shocked at myself, if I was a clothes addict, then I’m finding withdrawal a lot… Read More

Fashion & BeautySeptember 29, 2017

Smart Women Chefs: Nancy Silverton Needs The Right Clothes To Cook Well

By Amanda

I’m grabbing some late summer sun in Ibiza this week and reading a mountain of magazines and I was particularly struck by the Nancy Silverton article in Gourmand. I knew nothing about Nancy (I can see our American readers all… Read More

Fashion & BeautySeptember 25, 2017

Burberry at Old Sessions House

By Jane

I’m not usually a huge fan of Burberry clothes, as they feel too commercial in a hideously expensive way. But its most recent collection was quirky and refreshing, blending its heritage pieces with eccentric knits and unexpected fabrics. I love… Read More

Fashion & BeautySeptember 1, 2017

Arket: A Good New Brand For Grown Up Women (And Men)

By Amanda

Hello! Welcome back to TWR. We have had a great summer recharging our batteries, we hope yours was good too. Anything interesting happen while we were away? Well yes, as it happens. Arket launched, a rather good new brand from… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutJuly 26, 2017

Guest Blogger Elena Bowes: Stephan Janson, Milan’s Best-Kept Secret

By Amanda

Our roving reporter Elena Bowes has been in Milan, where she spent an afternoon with a designer you’ll likely never have heard of, yet whose influence is extensive; Mr Stephan Janson. Here he offers up a very grounded view on… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 24, 2017

Willowberry: A New British Skincare Brand To Consider

By Amanda

Willowberry is a new British skincare brand that uses 100% natural or naturally derived ingredients alongside super-food style ‘boosts’ provided by rosehip oil and chia seed. It’s also the brainchild of Jenni Retourne, someone we’ve known almost since the beginning… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 21, 2017

Style Icon: Celine (and not the brand)

By Jane

This new video directed by Gordon Von Steiner, featuring Celine Dion wearing six styles from the most recent Fall 2017 couture shows, was commissioned by Vogue. Maybe the new editor is already having an effect and moving away from the… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 19, 2017

A Couple Of Good Summer Throw-Ons From East

By Amanda

The heat! Man, this has been an unusually warm summer so far, at least where I’ve been sitting here in Barnes. Not only have we had gloriously sunny hot days, but now we’re having muggy, overcast hot days too. If… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 12, 2017

When did fashion get so expensive?

By Jane

Reading Lucinda Chambers honest account of her sacking, the state of the publishing world and how the fashion business is more about profit than creativity, got me thinking. Over the last few years the fashion cycle has becomet even faster… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 10, 2017

Adding A Layer Of Invisible Style With Some Niche Summer Scents

By Amanda

Most of us have been busy peeling off layers of clothes to cope with the magnificent heat we’ve been experiencing in the UK recently, but today I’m suggesting you add another -invisible – layer of style. Scent is a useful… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 5, 2017

Lucinda Chambers Tells It Like It Is. Everyone Gets Excited.

By Amanda

The wonderful and now ex fashion editor of Vogue UK, Lucinda Chambers, caused a mini fashion meltdown on the internet yesterday when she spoke her mind to the cerebral sartorial website Vestoj. She revealed that she’d been sacked somewhat brutally… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJuly 3, 2017

A new brand to love: ByOcular

By Jane

Caren Downie has been a influential figure in British fashion for many years – as former buying director of Top Shop, fashion director of Asos.com and most recently the brains behind Finery, the online fashion brand. Caren left Finery at… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJune 30, 2017

Dresses That Travel: The Best Of The Sale

By Amanda

Oooh, not sale shopping is tough. I LOVE sale shopping. Years of experience combined with insider knowledge have honed my skills. My favourite time to buy is just before the final markdown, it’s like a game of sartorial cat-and-mouse between… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJune 26, 2017

A Better Approach To Beauty Products? NIOD and The Ordinary.

By Amanda

I thought you might like to know about my recent trial of some of The Abnormal Beauty Company’s products, in particular the Niod range, which is a bit more grown-up-woman that the more Millennial based stuff and The Ordinary, which… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutJune 21, 2017

Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent at Somerset House

By Amanda

Exciting news for perfume fans, Somerset House is hosting a wonderful exhibition looking at ten key contemporary scents and why they are important. Regular readers will know that I launched a fragrance website We Wear Perfume a while back due… Read More

Fashion & Beauty, Out & AboutJune 16, 2017

Older Models At Evans Bikes

By Amanda

Well done Evans Cycles on using this image of a stylish grown up woman – Anne, apparently- on their A Match Made In Evans advertising. Good to see. I’m a keen urban cyclist, although I rarely do distances longer than… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJune 14, 2017

A new brand to love: Arket

By Jane

If you are reading Amanda’s attempts to buy ‘no new’ clothes with interest and are considering the amount you buy, you might want to check out the new H&M brand Arket, which is hoping to pioneer a conscious approach to… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJune 12, 2017

The Women’s Room at Portobello Market

By Amanda

Anyone with nothing much to do on Friday and Saturday this week (16th and 17th June) should come find TWR at Portobello Market, where I’ll be sharing a stall to sell all my redundant clothes. I am both terrified and… Read More

Fashion & BeautyJune 2, 2017

Older Models Are Beautiful, Why Don’t We See More Of Them?

By Amanda

I was going to write about my trip to the Venice Biennale art show today, but that will have to wait, because Harper’s Bazaar needs a big pat on the back for its July photo shoot, featuring two beautiful, older… Read More

Fashion & BeautyMay 24, 2017

Burts Bees Now Do Lipsticks

By Amanda

Just a quickie today, as I’m in Venice this week attending the Biennale, do follow us in instagram @thewomensroomblog if you want a tour of the arty highlights while you are at your laptop. Anyway, the lovely Burt’s Bees lip… Read More