Rule Brit Anya pages

‘ handbags, leather craftmanship and the moodaltering joy of fashion. I started learning from the Florentine craftsmen and began selling my designs in London and then the business expanded abroad and it grew and grew until we had 65 stores in many cities around the world. I sold part of the business but regretted that and bought it back again in 2019 and I am much more focused on localisation rather than globalisation and have opened a little ‘village’ of stores near to my home in London with a café and creativity at it’s heart. It is fun. I love what I do and the team I work with and we are lucky enough to dream up all sorts of mad products and projects and make them happen.

We enjoyed reading your book - If In Doubt Wash Your Hair - an interesting mix of sound

advice, creative tips and humour. Was it fun to write and will there be other books?

Thank you so much! I have come to understand there is a process for me to go through once an idea has bubbled up and it was the same experience when writing the book. It goes something like; ‘I love it, I’m nervous, it’s hard, I’m not sure, it’s too hard, actually it’s okay, I like it, in fact I love it.’ It is always best to hang on for the journey if you can and this was a great project to put my mind to over lockdown. For a private person like me, putting so much of myself down on paper wasn’t easy but I felt it was the right thing to do. It is for all those women who have approached me and told me about their fears. I am so often asked what my best piece of advice would be for a busy woman, and I nearly always reply with, if in doubt, wash your hair. It is the answer that almost every woman seems to understand – at least, it usually elicits lots of knowing smiles. On the one hand it is flippant, even trivial but it literally sums up how much better I feel with freshly washed hair. That small window of time and space to yourself is so valuable. On the other hand, it is about putting yourself first and learning to live a doubt-free life.

About Anya

A passionate advocate of British design and arts,

Anya Hindmarch is an Emeritus trustee of both the Royal Academy of Arts and the Design Museum, and a trustee of The Royal Marsden. In 2017 she was awarded a CBE in recognition for her contribution to the

British fashion industry and has received several notable industry accolades including a British Fashion Award. In 2021, Anya published her first book, If In Doubt Wash

Your Hair which is a Sunday Times bestseller. In it Anya shares what she has learned during her busy and eclectic life as a mother, stepmother, entrepreneur and businesswoman, what she still worries about, and what advice she has received along the way.

From practical tips and quick fixes, to profound observations about confidence and creativity, this inspiring handbook will show you how to live a little better – and why sometimes, the answer can be as simple as washing your hair.

Brought to book

As well as Anya Hindmarch speaking at the Stoke-by-Nayland Crown this autumn, other recent speakers at Chestnut properties have included author and journalist Ben Timberlake at The Weeping Willow, Barrow; BBC Radio 4 Today show presenter Justin Webb at The Eight Bells, Saffron Walden, and novelist and fashion writer Justine Picardie at The Carpenters, Great Wilbraham.

If you were to take one piece of advice from your book, which would you say is your most regularly used?

There are two things that have stuck with me and helped both personally and professionally. The first is a quote from Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself; everyone else is taken.” The second is what Sister Angela, a nun at my convent school, once said: “Girls, you’re never going to be fully happy and if you accept that you will be very happy indeed.”

What is the one bag you own that you cannot be parted from?

That is almost like asking me to choose between children! I am very proud of our Return To Nature collection - it was two years in the making, the leather is from fully traceable skins from Swedish farms and treated using a new natural tanning technique which means they are fully biodegradable. In fact, if you do choose to compost your bag at the end of its natural life, it will positively impact soil health.

Who is your most famous/most exciting client?

Honestly, it brings me so much joy to see people wearing and enjoying my designs to this day. They are intended to be beautiful, useful and share a little joy. People always ask me about Diana, the late Princess of Wales, and I can say she was utterly charming. We always joked that the clutch bags we used to make for her were her ‘cleavage bags’ as she found them very useful to cover herself from the paparazzi.

In your book you talk about employing people you would enjoy going out to dinner with – who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

I have a lot of fun with my team. So they would be top of the list. But my other family - my husband, kids, parents would need to be there, plus I have a very strong group of formidable girlfriends who are my rocks.

Clockwise from above: The Anya Hindmarch Labelled

Store, one of the five stores at the Anya Village in Chelsea; a model with a Return To Nature Tote, £995: The Anya Cafe, 9 Pont Street, London; Anya Brands Baileys sequin tote (£995) and Baileys charm (£175); The Return To Nature collection, made from fully compostable leather; Eyes Crossbody in AH logo velvet, £395 each

You design plenty of incredible concept stores, such as Anya’s Café and Ice Cream Parlour, but if you were to design a pub, how would you put your unique stamp on it?

Well, we did actually open a pub. It was called the ‘Bag & Bottle’ and it was in a famous old pub where the great train robbery was planned. We brought in an incredible chef for the best British classics like ‘ham egg and chips’ which is surprisingly delicious if the ingredients are exceptional. We had a darts champion and Richard E Grant was in charge of the pub quiz and Barbara Windsor was behind the bar and pulled the pints. I could go on…

And finally can you tell us about your ideal staycation . . . where you’d like to be, what you’d like to be doing.

I am always at my happiest at home, ideally at the kitchen table surrounded by friends and family – roast chicken, a good bottle of wine and those I am closest to. I never get to spend enough time there.