Join & Connect

 “I’m not a fashionista - do I belong here?”

“My idea is about photography. Can I still come?”

“I’m so bad at networking… will this be weird?”

These were just some of the things running through people’s heads before this week’s Piazza of Fashion in London. And our answer was always the same: come join us! We didn’t set out to have a ‘fashion event’ – just an excuse to celebrate and share stories and connect on anything and everything to do with style and its impact on our lives.

This week almost 200 women helped us fill Anthropologie on London’s Regent Street with our Dots - sharing stories, connecting to make plans to support each other, and feeling part of a real community.

From a 17 year old sixth form student starting her own fashion line, to seasoned stylists, journalists, and experts in vintage clothing and ethical shopping, the Piazza was buzzing with conversation from the moment the doors opened.

More than one storyteller likened their experience on-stage to therapy – sharing tales of outfits as a disguise or armour; a pair of family shoes that walked WWII; wearable tech; the power of hair (real and fake); fair trade; reconnecting with clothes as a new mother and unleashing that "wiggle of delight" when you find the outfit that’s just right.

Reflecting on the value of fashion in our everyday lives, storyteller Loulou Storey told us: “It’s time to start connecting with your new story and try something different… something a little more beautiful… something a little more sexy and let style save you like it did me.” We couldn’t agree more!

Our wonderful storytellers were:

Sam Baker (CEO and co-founder of The Pool): “Clothes are a great disguise - but not if you're disguising who you really are against your better judgement.”

Kat Farmer (Blogger: Does my bum 40 in this): “Never underestimate the power of a good outfit on a bad day.”

Orsola De Castro (Fashion Revolution): “These shoes were handmade for my grandmother, nearly 80 years ago in Venice. They walked the war.”

Francesca Rosella (CuteCircuit): “People ‘techsplain’ my own inventions to me”.

Mo White: “You know that feeling you get when you find an outfit that’s perfect – when you just want to wiggle with delight.”

Denise Taylorson: “This is what recovery from cancer can look like – transformed and inspired! Never let anyone say fashion is trivial”

Frankie Graddon (Fashion & beauty editor, The Pool): “We are a nation of online shoppers – on average, we take less than six minutes to make an online order”

Cousin Alice: “I like to dress up to perform – forever accessorised with a feather boa and a ukulele!”

Heidy Rehman (Founder, Rose & Willard): “I started my own fashion business because I saw a gap in the market – I wanted to give women in the city the chance to wear clothes that reflected them as women – feminine but bold – and helped reflect their identity.”

Loulou Storey (The Styling Storey): “If you want to change your story, start telling a new narrative. Get creative”

Sarah Byrne (Open for Vintage): “Fashion is so much more than the clothes we wear – it evokes memories for me and it’s the foundation of my business.”

Alice Wilby (Novel Beings): “Nothing prepared me for the heartbreak of discovering my favourite highstreet brands manufacture in dangerous sweatshops.”

Sophie Dunster (Gungo Ho): “If our clothes tell us so much about our personality, why can’t they also stand for what we believe in?”