piecing it together ep.1
Lauren Power 🩴
Hi and welcome to piecing it together, a new series I’m writing on this substack in which I torment my stylish friends to learn their stylish ways. The interviews are transcribed and slightly edited conversations, like a cross between Bella Freud’s Fashion Neurosis and Nell Dunn’s seminal Talking to Women. I’ve also been tech-savvy enough to attach the audio file of our conversation, so you can listen to it like a podcast if you’d desire (be aware it doesn’t perfectly match the transcription, if you’re following both. Also I promise reading the post won’t take 40 minutes!) This week I’m talking to Lauren Power. I met Lauren at university, working together on our little feminist magazine, That’s What She Said. Now we live together on the other side of the world! Isn’t life strange…
Saskia Kirkegaard: Hello! Thank you for agreeing to let me hound you about your personal style. My first question is this - is there a particular person you model your style on/ look up to stylistically? How did they change your style?
Lauren Power: I think mostly influencers, but also my friends, like Esme [Ingleby] and Maisie [Stephens] [both future guests on this series! Keep an eye out…] have very paintery kind of vibes and very like […] Especially Esme, you know that she's chosen her clothes with like, I don't know, they all have a purpose and they’re all really nice. Also, Nancy [Taylor] always looks very cool she’s very good at accessorising and finding fun pieces. But then also people online as well.
Any particular reference, for those people?
I really like Robyn Gunn. She's really cool. She's kind of a bit more masc, a bit dressier. It's a lot of like… loafers, and caps, and nice jackets. And layering pieces nicely. They’ve just renovated a house with their girlfriend. And oh my god, it’s the most beautiful house ever. I keep sending photos to Kitty [Lauren’s girlfriend], being like, please could we have a house like that?
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Obsessed with that! Also they’re really hot and I like their outfits too.
I feel like there’s other people… I think when I first started thinking about what I was actually wearing, I was looking at Olivia Grace Herring and Lovevie on YouTube. They were really big. and Mathilde Mellor, I used to be obsessed with her.
Me too!
When I was like 16-17, they were the coolest people. And I think they made me more aware of different brands, because I think before I'd been just shopping on the high street. And they made me more aware of brands that were online like Weekday and things like that, and now I buy all my trousers from Weekday.
I miss Weekday so much. I think about it every day. [heartbreakingly they haven’t expanded to Australia!] They would do so well here.
They would! Yeah, them. And also starting to shop second-hand, like, especially Mathilde Mellor is very big into vintage, and going to charity shops, and I think that really influenced how I shop now. So I think they were probably the most pivotal in terms of my style changing. But now I wouldn't look to them as much for inspiration, although I do still like what they wear, and I still follow them on Instagram.
And then how would you describe your personal style?
Hmm. I really don’t know!! How would you describe my personal style?
I actually chose a word for everyone! I said about you, just like simplicity and neutrality. You're really good on neutral tones and… like, that smock top last night was such a perfect example of that. It’s not colourful, but it's so interesting and just a good shape as well. I think you're good on that. And layering as well.
Thanks. [giggles]
And then I was gonna follow on from the one word question, but do you agree with my word? And if you do, where did you get that style from?
I think I do. Hmm. simplicity. I think my style is quite simple, like fundamentally. I'll wear a lot of the same stuff. And also now, living out of a suitcase, I think that kind of makes it easier. I tend to have a bit of a uniform, but I have pieces like that smock top that are a bit more exciting and a bit more elevated. Like my Peachy Den crinkly black top. That, when I wear it with jeans and trainers, looks so chill, but I can also dress it up.
Yeah! Elevated basics is something you’re very good at.
I think that's something I've really taken on from people like Susie Lola, Daughter of a Hoarder, and Mathilde Mellor as well.
Yeah! I never watch her anymore but I was obsessed with her, and her depop hauls.
I don't think she's actually doing YouTube anymore, maybe. I think she’s a stylist.
Wow. That's cool.
Yeah. But yeah, I think I would agree. At first, I was like, oh, I didn't know if my style is simple, but actually, I think when I break it down, it is quite simple. But I also quite like that, I like having a set routine, I like having things I know that I like and that work with my body. I think for so long, I was so worried about my body and how it looked and how clothes looked on it, that now when I find things that I know work and that look nice, I really stick with them. I’ll find them in different colours or in more elevated ways. Like I love a tank top with a boat neck. I've got quite a lot of those.
Yeah, I really associate that with you. You do really suit that boat neck thing.
But then I've got one from Susamusa that has the tie at the back, and I guess the Peachy Den one is like a slightly different version of the same thing. I know that they work.
I'm pretty similar, I think. Finding what you know works and looking for variations of that is such a good way to continue your personal style, because you know what you like! That’s the best thing you can do, I think. Do you have any particular designers, fashion houses, or brands that you like? I mean we've mentioned Weekday?
Yeah, Weekday. But only for basics. Like, for jeans and shorts normally. And then for other basics, probably Uniqlo.
I was in there today, actually.
Soo nice. I always get excited when I'm on depop and something is old label New Look. Or even old label Mango sometimes. Also old M&S, I think [it used to be called] Saint Michael's? Yeah. A few things from that. Also just love Peachy Den and everything they do. Even though it’s ridiculously expensive!
I know I know, I wish they were cheaper. Like the bowling bag.
Yeah.
So good.
So good. I love… [this is] not a brand, but a vintage seller called Vival Studios. Her stock is insane, I literally like every single piece that she posts. But it's all vintage Miu Miu or Prada, it's crazy expensive. But it's so cool. Like she has all these shoes…
I love Miu Miu…
I think that in terms of more luxury brands, I think I really like Miu Miu. Sometimes GANNI, but not always… And Paloma Wool. That was the first sort of big brand I got into.
Yeah, Paloma Wool looks so gorgeous. They do the jumpsuit, don't they?
No that’s Peachy Den - I have the trouser version!
Oh!! They’re so cool.
I wore them to a space cowboy party.
Cool!
With a silver top that I believe is old New Look or old Topshop. So, there you go.
Perf! I think we need a picture of that.
But stuff like this [shows me a piece from Vival Studios]. This is a Prada asymmetric button-up jacket.
Oh. Oh my god, yeah, that's so good. I love the length of that.
And just stuff that’s more interesting. But still super simple. Stuff that’ll go with a lot of things. I like things I know I'm gonna wear forever and that I can incorporate into my pre-existing wardrobe.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's really important. So I don’t have a huge amount of clothes, but the clothes I do have, I wear a lot.
And they all work together. I think that's the most mature level of styling. Like that's what I want as well. Everything goes and you've got every basic you could want. And then you can add more, but the crutch of the wardrobe is really good. I feel like I've never had that..
I feel like I’ve got room to grow.
I guess we all do. Who has the perfect wardrobe? Well, sorry, Daughter of a Hoarder probably has the perfect wardrobe.
But they [that group of Youtubers] are always buying more clothes.
They buy so many clothes! I know! And they talk about sustainability a lot. But I think you can still over-consume even with secondhand, and it's not necessarily better.
Yeah.
Do you think your personal style now is similar to what you were as a child?
Hmmmmm…..
Do you remember how you dressed as a child or if you had outfits that you really loved?
I have some photos where I have… there's this one photo in particular where I have really cool trousers. and I wish that I still had them.
Did you dress yourself?
Um, I don't remember, really. I think I probably did dress myself. Ooh, I have this? This is a photo of me and my cousins and I'm wearing a diamanté high school musical tank top.
Oh my god, that's so good. I had a little baby tee [when I was a child] with a diamanté Hello Kitty on it.
No way.
I was so obsessed with it. It was pale pink. I wish I still had it.
Yeah. And like this jumper is one I wish I still had.
Oh, that's so good.
Yeah, I loved that.
I love the colour. Pink! There's so many questions. Sorry! How are you shaped by gender expression?
Hmm. I think my clothes generally are probably more feminine than masculine? But then I definitely wear more tomboyish things sometimes. and I enjoy that, feeling a bit like a tomboy.
Yeah, tomboy is a good word… What does that mean to you, tomboy?
Tomboy. I guess it's like a girl that does boyish things. Maybe when I was younger, that's what I thought it would be? Like slightly rougher and messier than like a giiiirrrl. But I don't know, I saw someone describe their style as ‘tomboy femme’.
That's good.
And I thought, that is probably what my style is, cause I do play with more feminine parts. But then I don't know, I love jorts and I love wearing trainers or more outdoorsy clothes. Although I don't like the association that outdoorsy clothes are necessarily more masculine…
Yeah, I mean, gender, like whatever, you know, we're using it in the loosest terms. I get that though. Those silhouettes just tend to be more “masculine”?
Yeah, I think so. I think my style is a bit outdoorsy sometimes…
Bit GORPy?
Yeah, yeah, verging on… Good old raisins and peanuts! Definitely GORPy. I’d say within the way my style has progressed, it’s more aligned with how I’ve accepted my sexuality. I'm way more confident in the clothes that I'm wearing, and myself as a person. I'm more comfortable choosing clothes that are a bit more interesting, or whatever, maybe more than I was before I really accepted my sexuality. I think I played it very, very safe before. And now I'm a bit more experimental.
Did you associate ‘interesting’ with queerness and that was something you shied away from?
Yeah. Even wearing something like jorts. I’d be like, oh, it looks too gay. And the day after I came out to one of my friends on a walk, but before I came out my parents, it was a really hot day, and I wore a mini dress and then I put a beige button-up shirt over it. I had bought it before, but not really worn it, again because I thought oh, it looks a bit gay. But then I put it on the day afterwards and I felt so much more comfortable.
That’s so interesting! Was the walk the first time you kind of admitted it to yourself?
I think so. And saying it out loud to one of my best friends whose opinion I really valued was one of the first times [I admitted it to myself]. And I was like, oh, it’s alright to wear this and the world’s not gonna end!
That's so cool! That’s a great story. Ah, okay, yeah, this is quite a good lead-on from that. Is there an outfit that you feel the most yourself in? One that you would wear every day if you were a cartoon character?
Oh I’d have to have a summer and winter version.
Yeah, you can do that.
Okay. My summer version, right now, is my beige dress, with the stud things.
That's a very good representation of your style, actually, because it's like practical and it's got like outdoorsy elements to it, but it's still feminine…
Yeah. Apart from that teeny-weeny pocket that doesn't really have practical use, but is just quite fun. And then I've been loving my bandana, also because it's good for my head, so I don’t get too hot and overwhelmed. And then my Patagonia cross-body bag, and my Salomons. And a fun sock, like my frilly sparkly ones. And my sunglasses that broke, but before they broke, those.
Horrible. We’re gonna get those guys [the sunglasses company that supposedly does free repairs but is ghosting Lauren].
I know. But before they broke. I feel very like myself in that outfit. It’s quite a new outfit, but I think it's a good one. I think it's gonna last for a while. It’s on my Instagram twice already, so…
Wow. that's good. I love an Instagram outfit repeat. Mine is like the same three outfits.
Yeah, I am really becoming my own cartoon.
That's what I want, like, I wanna be a cartoon character.
I saw someone say that about personal style. Fashion is wearing different things all the time, but personal style is actually wearing the same things. I think there's a more elegant way of saying that, but I mean…
I like that! That gets the job done. And your winter outfit?
Maybe just a plain white tank top probably, and then my dark-wash jeans, turned up the bottom, from Weekday.
Nice.
And then my cream colour jumper. It's the chenille kind of fabric. That’s from depop but it’s originally M&S. I've had that since I was maybe seventeen, and it has lasted so long and it's so lovely and soft and warm. So I’d wear that. And then my loafers, of course. My loves. My shoes that I miss so much.
We need the sunglasses fixed, we need the loafers brought with Kitty to Australia.
And then my green Barbour puffer coat that goes all the way up. Yeah, that’s my winter outfit. And again, a fun sock! I’ve got some stripey Calvin Klein ones that have sparkles on them, maybe those.
Sparkly and stripey! Okay, cool, nice, Do you dress according to your mood or do your clothes create your mood? And similar, but when you're feeling low, do you dress up or down?
I feel like in the morning when I get dressed, I think more about the weather rather than how I'm feeling. And what I’m doing in the day. But then when I'm in the outfit, I tweak it based on how I’m feeling, I think. Like, earlier today, I put on a tank top and then actually I was wearing it for a bit and I was like, hmm, it kind of doesn't feel right today. So I put this T shirt on instead.
So it's a bit of both, I guess...
But then sometimes I'll wake up and I’ll know exactly what I want to wear!
Do you ever plan it in your head the night before? I do that sometimes. And I get really excited. I'm like, I can't wait! But then sometimes I look at it in the mirror and it's bad.
I’ve done that so many times. I feel like I always do that whenever I imagine wearing my loafers and shorts, like other people just seem to make it work, but for me it just doesn't. Maybe it does work and I just can't see it for myself.
I feel like socks are important in that, like how long your sock is. Because the other day, do you remember, I was wearing jorts when I tried to put on my socks with [ballet] shoes and it was really weird.
Yeah.
But then I took my socks off and it was fine. So I wonder if that's it. When you get [the loafers], you can play around with it.
Yeah.
Is there a particular item in your wardrobe that you only wear on very specific occasions? Including your extended wardrobe [back at home] as well. For example, I used to own a cardigan that I only wore when I had a headache. Because it felt right and then I just started wearing it whenever I had headache, which is kind of weird.
I don’t think so… I guess my swimming costumes I’ll only wear when I go swimming? [giggles].
I know, yeah. [Silly question]. That’s more just me wondering if other people do that. I'll collect the data and let you know.
Yeah. I guess my red gap hoodie is like fleecy? That’s always very comforting to wear. So sometimes if I feel like I need a hug I wear that, maybe.
Yeah, I have a kind of depression jumper I would wear when I was really depressed. But then I stopped wearing it, cause I started associating it with depression. And it didn't make me feel better, it made me feel worse.
I think I had that a bit. I haven't had that yet with that hoodie, but I have worn it with other things and at other times. But I did have an outfit I wore in first year sometimes, it was this grey hoodie and then I had this really big bright blue three-quarter zip that I put over the top, and then jeans and my air force. And I think the combination of the hoodie, which isn’t a baggy hoodie, it fits, and then the three-quarter zip is quite big over the top…. That felt almost like a weighted blanket, but to wear, like it felt quite heavy on me… I was protected almost, but still really comfy and cozy. So I think I've worn that a couple of times when I felt really sad, but still had to go out and do something.
Yeah, that's nice, it's like a survival outfit. I have those too! Okay, what is your dream personal style? And is it different from how you dress now?
Hmmm. I think that's hard because I guess it would feed into what my dream life would look like, and I don't really have a particularly clear version of that. I feel like I have different versions of myself. Like myself when I live, you know, in London and I have a massive townhouse, or like I'm in the countryside, or in rural Ireland, or somewhere in the South of France. I guess it kind of depends. But I think my dream style is probably similar to how I dress now, like taking the same kind of fundamentals of things that I know I'm gonna love and wear forever. And also things a bit more like… elevated basics and incorporating those into my outfits. But I think with my dream style, I would have unlimited funds and I could buy whatever. I could buy all of the Vival Studios stock.
Awww. Yeah.
All of Peachy Den.
You could buy all of Prada if you had unlimited funds!
Yeah, that's true. That's true.
Yeah, but then I guess if you did that, your philosophy [surrounding fashion] would have to change because you’d have so much stuff.
Too much stuff, yeah. But I think, yeah, the fun is to be able to buy, like I don't know, a cashmere jumper or like, I don't know.
A piece that stays with you forever, yeah, yeah, that’s the dream.
Yeah.
To be actually able to shop fully sustainably, like [to] know that even the vintage you're buying was sustainably made. Okay, how do you feel about accessories?
Accessories! I feel like I incorporate them more into my outfits now than I used to. Especially wearing jewellery, when I was a teenager I never really wore jewellery that much. But now I wear jewellery every day, and I tend to go periods where I wear the same jewellery every day, and then one day decide to change it. So for a long time I wore four necklaces every day. I wore a gold chain, my Tiffany necklace from my parents and then a swirl that's my mum’s, and another chain that’s also my mum’s. All my jewellery is from my mum.
Oh, that's so nice.
I just pinch stuff, and now it’s like a recurring joke that if I buy her jewellery for Christmas she’s like, okay, this is gonna end up in your jewellery box in a few months… Yeah, I like accessories I think, and I think I'm starting to appreciate them a lot more than I used to. Because even with sunglasses - before I came on this trip, I had one pair. [Well], I still technically only have one pair. I’m back to one pair of sunglasses.
You went up and then you went down.
I know, I had one pair of sunglasses, which were from depop, from MONKI, that I got second hand. I think I was 16 when I bought them. So a long time ago now.
Good that they've lasted that long! Sunglasses never last that long!
So long!! Then, my Cotton On pair that I got and the other ones that I got. [Both of which have broken]. So, yeah. But now I’ve realised the joy of actually having, you know, two pairs, three pairs. Maisie [Finlayson] packed seven pairs for Australia, but no swimwear. Thea, Lara and I had great fun trying on her different sunglasses in Sydney.
Yeah, they're kind of like shoes, sunglasses. It's like, you could just have one pair. And they could work with every outfit. But like, the more you have, the more you want. Yeah, I like having two, cause…
For different occasions... Yeah, I feel like [with] bags, I’m limited to what I packed, but most of the time I feel like my selection of bags here is pretty good. My Patagonia one is pretty good for every day, and then that recycled plastic one.
Yeah, that one's really great. For if you've got lots of things in the day, yeah, and you know you're not coming home again.
Packed lunch and stuff… That’s a really good big bag, which I haven't really had at home, I haven't had a bag that big.
Did you get that here?
Yeah. Yeah, got it in Brisbane, actually. In the museum. Because I had my big backpack, my Patagonia bag, and then I had two small bags and it was just annoying having that many bags, so I got one bigger bag. And then my brother's Barbican tote bag. That he doesn’t know I’ve got…
Let’s hope he doesn't read this. I’ll bleep it when you say that. Do you have any clothes that make you feel as though you're playing a character?
Yesterday I sent Kitty a picture of my outfit with my smock top and skirt and my flip flops, and I was wearing the necklace she got me. And I had my hair slicked back, and I sent her a video and I said, do you think I look like a monk in this?
Monk! What did she say?
And she said, yeah. Hot monk.
Hot monk [giggles].
Yeah, I felt very religious yesterday in my outfit. I think also in that smock top sometimes I feel a bit like a painter. I think my Peachy Den skirt is sooo… big and like swishy that makes me feel quite… [shimmies her shoulders], I don't know what this shoulder move is, but you know what I mean.
Like a princess, maybe? Or like, fancy?
Fancy, yeah. probably the word.
Okay, and then the final one is: are you looking for any particular pieces to fill wardrobe gaps right now? Have you got like a kind of an inner list going when you're shopping around?
I mean, obviously I have my list that we made yesterday [of clothes for Kitty to bring with her to Australia].
But yeah, but in the dream world…
Yeah. I miss a lot of my clothes from home, but I think stuff I don't have at home and I don't have here would be blue denim jorts. In maybe a middle wash, not super light or really dark, somewhere in between.
Like my ones?
Yeah.
They are so good. I wear them all the time.
They're great, yeah.
And they've lasted me since 2021, four summers!
Wow!
Which is crazy.
That's really good. Where are they from? Weekday?
Um no, I got them vintaaaaaggeeee.
Awwww.
In that weird skeezy vintage shop in the middle of Bristol.
Ah, yeah. Wow.
I know, random. Oh, and no, sorry, 2022 then. Because I got them in summer of first year.
I see. Um, yeah no, those, and then always white tank tops... I do really like that one I have from M&S, it's a boat neck one. But it's gone a bit gross in the wash. And every time I wash it, it comes out dirtier than when it goes in, so I'm not really sure what to do about that.
I can’t help you with that, I don’t know how to wash my clothes [giggles].
Maybe I should just soak it in Vanish forever….
Yeah, until it vanishes.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, I’d say those two. Which are pretty key items of clothing, I feel, for a trip to Australia, but here I am without them. Well, I have one [white tank top].
Yeah, you have one, and I mean, you didn't have time to buy the shorts or you couldn’t find the right pair…
Yeah. Oh, or my Birkenstocks actually, because I currently have flip flops, but I came on this trip with Birkenstocks, or not actual Birkenstocks, but the T.K Maxx version I’d had for probably five or six years, but they died on this trip.
My sandals died! In Byron. Did I tell you this story? It was in the middle of the street. I bought them in April. I loved them. They were like fake Doc Martens. And the entire sole came off as I was walking. So I had to- I literally looked up, and there was a shoe shop opposite and I had to just go in and buy a new pair of shoes!
Oh my god!
It was so funny. I mean, not funny, like, really annoying. But also quite funny. So I bought fake Birks. Which are good.
Yeah I need to get a new pair.
I can recommend whatever brand I bought in a random shoe shop in Byron.
Yeah, mine died in the Krishna village [that Lauren stayed in]. They were dying in Byron though. But in the Krishna village, they fully went. When we were doing our HariNam and everything else.
You walk a lot more than you think you will, I guess. And your shoes don’t expect it.
So then I bought those Havaianas ones with the gem. They were the only black ones in my size and the gems look a bit weird.
I like the gems!
I told Kitty about them in a voice note and I was like, they're kind of um – Because we were in the Krishna village, I was [whispering] – they're kind of… they're kind of cunty! Hari Krishna, Hari Krishna.
[giggles].
I feel like I can't say that, it felt like he was listening!
I'm sure he’d be okay with “cunty”.
I’m sure he’d understand.
Yeah. Not to make this sound like a job interview, but do you have any questions that you've thought of? That you either have an answer to or want me to write down to ask other people?
I don’t know! Are you gonna do this for yourself?
Ooh, I want to. I feel like I have answers to lots of the questions. I have done an interview with myself on my substack already, cause I thought it was funny.
I could interview you! Or someone else could interview you? Or each person could ask you a different question that you give an answer to each time?
That's a nice idea, I like that. Yeah, and then it's just like a little bit from me at the end. Do you have a question then? That's the hard part.
Uh hmmm.
Or you could ask me one of the ones I’ve asked you?
Oh yeah. Hmm. If you were to pick an outfit from my clothes, what would you wear?
Oh, that's a really good one. Okay. Hmmm.
Or if you could dress me in your clothes what would you dress me in?
Oh!
I didn’t know what was easier.
I mean, I know my clothes more, I guess. I do have an idea of some pieces I would steal from you. Hmmm. No, I know what I would dress you in, though. I think, okay, I’d do my red weekday boat neck top. Classic! [The one] that I wore to the play that we went to in the pub. And then the blue skirt… have you seen this yet? It's been too hot for me to wear this, but it's this navy skirt and it's just perfect. I found it in a charity shop. I was so pleased with myself because I’d had a project in mind that day, I really wanted to find a navy skirt, and I found it. It was the last charity shop I went to. Anyway, it's not denim, but it's still quite a crisp material and it flares out, and I just think they would look really cool together and they would suit you. I think that’s a good silhouette on you. And [the top] is a boat neck! So, yeah, I reckon that, and then ooh, I’d put you in the ballet flats with that, and like white socks. Maybe you can wear your own frilly socks because I think your sock selection is better than mine. I just have all of Maisie’s socks.
Maisie’s socks??
Yeah, she gave me all her socks!
Why?
She was moving out, and I was in her house during our tenancy gap at the end of second year. She needed to get rid of all of her socks and they were all new, or they'd been washed or something. So I have loads of her socks and they all have cats on them. So if you ever see me in those, they’re Maisie’s socks.
Ohhhh.
It wouldn't be weird, but I made it weird because every time someone was like, those are nice socks, I would be like, they’re Maisie’s!! Maybe I’d put you in some of those.
Yeah.
And then, yeah. That's my outfit.
Nice.
Okay, cool! Interview done! Thank you to the imitable Lauren Power for your exceptional service in the name of style. See you next time for more piecing it together!
p.s. if you’d like to be interviewed for an upcoming episode, please just let me know and we’ll make it happen! I hope you are well.
 | A guest post by
|
Ahh this is so fun! Felt like I was with you both again