Last weekend I met with my friend and mum of 2, Rachele, in her favourite Italian café in Kensington High Street. For some moments, it felt like we were in Rome, her hometown, having a fabulous cappuccino.
Although it was a no-children coffee morning, we ended talking about them all the time!!
On this interview, Rachele tells us how she likes to dress her daughter Beatrice and son Leopoldo, what she likes about living in London and how her passion for fashion became a job helping women and new mums to be confident with their new body and feel beautiful again.
How did you decide to become a personal stylist?
So I am a personal stylist and even if am able to style any woman for any occasion I have decided to focus on two main categories of women under one common lens.
First, I want to empower new mums to feel confident with their new body shape after having had children and after seeing the changes in their body. I want to help them find the right style for this new exciting adventure, feel glamorous and beautiful again and understand that style does not have to be compromised when we have more curves and little ones running around the house.
Besides that I want to support women that suffered any kind of body injury throughout the overall rehabilitation process through style. Why do I think this is important?
When after a car accident I saw big scars in the left leg, one just in the front longer than 30cm I didn’t want to wear skirts anymore. One leg was thinner than the other one, I put on some weight due to my immobility, I was using crutches for almost a year and my confidence was really low.
Through my own re-styling I was finally feeling better and more inclined to recover quickly, to commit to physiotherapy and going out.
This is why I have decided to help women in a similar situation to re-adapt their existing style to new unfortunate circumstances, support from the image point of view and be there to encourage self confidence and hopefully help the recovery process too.
What do you recommend to the mums that ask your advice?
Sustainability and responsible consumption. I am not into just following the latest trends that perhaps look cool but don’t suit you, not about having millions of items in your wardrobe you would wear once or twice only.
I am pro slow fashion, finding the right style for you, invest in quality not in quantity, reinvent your existing wardrobe with perhaps new accessories and wear 100% of it, have a capsule core collection that makes it easy to dress up in the morning and teaching you how to shop so that you will not buy useless items anymore.
How do you define your style?
My style is very girly and feminine but on some days I like to play with a more edgy look like black leather trousers or transparent lace.
On days that I go to the gym I just end up hanging out in my gym outfit which is yes coordinated and maybe pink but still very causal.
When I need a boost I wear high heels and immediately feel a little bit more empowered (weird right?).
And how do you dress your children, Beatrice, 4, and Leopoldo, 2?
Their style is very much a reflection of what I like to see children wearing: children’s clothes. They rarely wear jeans or dark colours.
Beatrice loves flowers and princess like dresses but they have to be comfortable. She likes to match them with a bow of the same colour in her hair, like her favourites from Beatrice and Bee’s that sometimes I steal too!
Leopoldo is our little lord, who likes to wear shorts and short socks even in winter and always opts for his favourite green and blue colours. He also complaints when he doesn’t feel comfortable so I always shave to opt for natural and non-itchy fabrics.
I like to dress them in matching outfits as we did for Christmas all wearing a bottle green outfit.
What are your favourite places in London on a family day out?
Our first choice would be Holland Park for a picnic. Sometimes we go to Science Museum in the kids area or the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs especially.
We have lunch out at Byron’s and then stop for a delicious cake in the afternoon.
If it’s raining we go to the library and can spend hours there as well.
What do you like most about living here?
I love that there is always something to do. London is extremely child friendly. My kids are entertained even when we have to go to the supermarket. I love that you can dress up or dress down as much as you want and no one will comment on this. I love how living around a High Street will make you feel like living in a small village even if you are in such a big city. I love that I never felt a foreigner here because of my Italian accent or because of the way I look.
Do you have any plans for Easter holidays?
Yes, the kids have earned their first trip to Eurodisney, so we will head for an adventure in Paris.
It will actually be our first holiday together as a family of four without any other relatives around. Fingers crossed :)
Discover more about Rachele's work as stylist here.