I came across Hannah’s work about a year ago, and immediately fell in love with her sense of style. On Graham St, a passion project she started with her fabulous mother Sue and her childhood friend and talented photographer Alex, she shows the world that women can be confident and stylish no matter what their age. After going down a rabbit hole on her blog, I asked Hannah if she would take me on as a client for a day of personal styling. She was warm and personable, and I immediately felt like meeting up with a friend. The experience was transformational, and completely changed the way I view my personal style and my relationship with colour and clothes.
Hannah doesn’t give many interviews, so I am beyond excited and humbled to be able to share this brilliant and inspiring woman with you all.
Before we begin, I would like to share some notes that will give a better context to this interview. I had the pleasure of having Hannah over for lunch, with the intention of recording our conversation so I could transcribe it at a later stage for this article. The conversation flowed effortlessly and I was so enveloped in it that before I knew it, an hour had gone and I realised two things. One, that to summarise a whole hour of conversation would have been no small feat: it had to be heavily shortened, and would likely not do justice to the full conversation; and two, that the actual audio was too good not to share.
So I set out to create an impromptu pilot of what I call my accidental Podcast, which you will here and also on the Podcast tab of my Substack page.
What you will read below is a (very) condensed version of our conversation. I tried to stay true to Hannah’s words as much as possible, but had to make some edits in order to synthesise the content. I would highly encourage you to listen to the full interview, if you can: Hannah is such an eloquent and interesting speaker, and I’m sure you’ll find her as enchanting as I did!
So, without further ado… here’s our conversation!
I thought we'd start by talking a bit about your background. How did you get into fashion? And what was the journey that led you to create Graham St?
I've been a fashion stylist now for about 15 years, but I actually studied sociology at Bristol University. I have always been interested in society, what makes it tick, and cultural trends…which in some ways relates to the fashion work I do: I am interested in clothes and how they make people feel, on a more academic level, as well as a practical one.
After uni, I started working as a PA to the publishing director of Vogue, which was my first insight into this world. From there, I got a job as a fashion assistant and worked on magazines for the next five years until I was asked to work on a Fashion TV show. I ended up having to cover for the main stylist, so I got to do it all on my own which became the start of my career as a celebrity stylist.
The job involved A LOT of time in the shops and on the high street and I started noticing how the industry was missing a whole demographic. It didn't make sense to me, because I was walking down the high street, and I was seeing women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s looking amazing, yet those women were not being represented by the mainstream fashion brands.
That’s why I started Graham St. I wanted to help women of all ages find clothes that they love. I was also keen to demonstrate that style shouldn’t be about your age, it should be about how clothes make you feel. Mum and I have really different styles, but that’s not because of how old we are – that’s due to our personalities. I’d like for someone in their thirties like you to look at mum and go “oh my god, she looks amazing! I love what she is wearing, I want to wear that!”, for the gap in your ages to be completely irrelevant.
What is the most rewarding side of your job?
I've always thought that clothes have a transformative power. I don't think there are that many people who are immune to the power of a great outfit. Going back to my sociology studies – we dress in tribes; [and] for better or worse, your clothes are one of the first things that people notice about you. Even if you choose to not care about fashion, you are making a statement.
It can feel quite debilitating, when you know how you’d like to present yourself to the world but you don’t quite know how to achieve it. Stylists help people feel empowered. Some of my clients come to me because they feel a little lost, and they need help finding their inner confidence again.
Clients will say to me that they love certain outfits on other people, but that they could never pull the look off themsleves. So I give them the encouragement that they need, and it’s amazing to see their reaction when placed in front of the mirror. Interestingly they don't say “I didn't know that I could dress like this”. They say, “I didn't know that I could be this person”. Clothes not only relate to [both] how others perceive us, but also how we perceive ourselves.
Are there any recurring themes or issues that you've encountered working with people, when when it comes to their confidence or their relationship with clothes?
I have noticed that what people believe about their bodies is very rarely grounded in reality. We women, in particular, have been taught by society that there's a certain body shape that we should all aspire to. [And] If our bodies deviate from that [particular] silhouette, we feel very self-conscious about that particular aspect of our physical body. I don’t think I have ever worked with a woman who hasn’t said something negative about their body. I'm sure lots of men do have hang-ups about their bodies too, but there's a lot less insecurity with men.
With hindsight, that is probably why clients become so loyal to their stylists. It’s a bit like being a therapist – it's more than just putting nice clothes on somebody: you become that person's armour, you become that person's confidence. It's rare that you will work with someone and not hear something quite intimate about that person. Make-up artists and hairdressers often say the same thing. So much of our confidence is wrapped up in our appearance, that when you’re trying to find your personal style, it has to happen at a deeper level than just the physical clothes.
One of the things that attracted me to your style is your unique way of using colour. Can you tell me a little more about your approach to colour, are there any colour combinations you are drawn to? Any no-goes?
It’s interesting because I have always loved colour, but never really considered myself to be someone that uses colour a lot until it was pointed out to me by our Graham St followers. I guess some of it comes from working in TV – you quickly learn that colour translates much better on screen than, say, black or white. I guess colour has quietly crept into my own wardrobe too!
The only no-go for me (although there are always exceptions) would be black with a bright colour, like neon green or electric blue. That harsh contrast can be quite jarring if not done extremely well. Other than that, I love interesting colour combinations. I've just been looking at all the various fashion week shows and there are some really exciting colour combinations out there for next season, like olive green with pale blue (so chic) and a really dark, army green, with Burgundy. I always find it reassuring to see the designers using colour because it feels like they feel that there's hope in the world!
A big trend now seems to be colour charts. What’s your view on that?
There is definitely a lot of truth to it, 100%. Some colours suit [some] people better than others, for sure. But I also think you shouldn’t be a slave to it – sometimes wearing a great outfit that makes you feel good is enough, even if the shade of blue is not exactly the perfect shade of blue for you.
The trick is to put “your colours” right next to your face. For example, a light-weight turtle neck top works really well, as you can layer it under a jumper and have the colour that suits you right next to your face. The same goes for scarves, lipstick and earrings.
Talk me through the process of coming up with a new shoot for Graham St. How do you decide what the concept is?
I always start with Mum’s outfit. She will come over, and I'll have all the clothes laid out. She’ll have an opinion on whether the outfit feels like her or not, and it’s really important to me that she feels comfortable and looks like herself. Funnily enough, I have noticed that the more we feel good in our outfits, the more people gravitate and engage with our content.
Once Mum’s outfit is sorted I choose my own. I like the two outfits to tie in together because I am a visual person, so it’s important that both our outfits compliment each other
Alex (our amazing photographer) is an integral part of the team, and we work very closely together on each shoot. We have been friends since we were 11, so we know each other well. Mum is not someone who naturally wants to step into the limelight, but because Alex makes her feel so relaxed and is such a lovely person, the dynamic works really well. We always have a laugh!
Was Sue always into clothes in the same way you are? And have you noticed your mum’s style changing since working together?
No, she wasn’t. She's the least look-at-me person you will ever meet! She likes clothes and has an appreciation for good style but, she’d tell you herself, she’s not into clothes like I am. What mum has always been though, is someone who wears clothes really well.
You could put the most amazing outfit on someone, but if they don’t “get it” and they don’t wear it properly, it just doesn’t look good. Take Kate Moss: she isn’t a style icon just because she is beautiful and chooses nice clothes, she is a style icon because she knows how to wear clothes. Mum has that. She's always had a natural elegance. I remember watching her getting dressed as a kid and recognizing that there was something very elegant about her.
She’s always had good taste, but now she says it’s like I sit on her shoulder whilst she’s getting dressed… she asks herself “What would Hannah do?” haha!
What are your top tips to elevate an outfit?
You don't need to spend a fortune to look good. There are little things that you can do to brighten up an outfit… for example, putting on a coloured sock with an otherwise neutral outfit or adding an interesting neck scarf or a great pair of earrings.
It's amazing how far little tweaks can go. Let's say you're wearing a pair of simple high-waisted jeans and a perfectly alright t-shirt. If you add a pair of statement hoop earrings, you do a little French tuck with the t-shirt to create a waist, maybe you put on a leather belt, roll the jeans so that they're a bit shorter, and put on some coloured socks with plimsolls - suddenly, you’ve got yourself a much more stylish outfit.
What would you say are the basic staples any wardrobe needs?
If you like wearing trousers, always take the time to find yourself a perfectly fitting pair as they're the linchpin to the rest of your outfit. Once you have sorted the trousers, the rest of your outfit will come together.
Shoes are something that can really elevate an outfit, so it's worth investing in high-quality shoes as, generally speaking, you get what you pay for – particularly with leather. You can buy some great designers’ dupes on the high street but they won’t last, not in the same way. Good quality shoes get better with age.
I think where a lot of us go wrong is to think that we mustn’t spend much money on a pair of jeans, but when we go to a wedding for example, we will spend £200 plus on a dress that we might only wear once or twice. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of money but if you're comparing the two, you'd be better off renting a dress, or borrowing one from a friend, and spending that money on jeans that you will wear every single day, and will make you feel good, every time you put them on. If the foundations of your wardrobe fit really well, then the rest of your wardrobe will require less thought.
I love how you use layering in your style…
I love layering! I think it’s because I love clothes so I feel like the more the merrier! When layering, texture and colour is key. Usually, you don’t want your whole outfit to be made up of one type of material (texture). You want to build the outfit with different materials, but by keeping the tones of the overall colour palette similar, the outfit remains cohesive. Obviously, there are always exceptions to the rule but this is quite a good rule of thumb.
Another effective way of layering is to have a pop of colour in an otherwise neutral outfit. Let’s say you are wearing a fine knit polo neck top and a blazer, if you put a bright green cardigan under the blazer and just do one button-up on the cardigan, you get a lovely flash of colour without it being too shouty. Then give the sleeves of the blazer a little roll, so you see that flash of colour at the wrists as well. It just looks a little more finished.
What is the next step for Graham St?
Both Alex and I love the idea of introducing other women onto Graham St., maybe once a month to start with and then see how we get on. We’d love to feature lots of different women with a huge variety of life experiences but with a shared love of fashion. So watch this space…
I hope you enjoyed our conversation! If you did, please leave us a comment below, or share it with your loved ones.
You can follow Hannah on Instagram at grahamst.fashion or view more fabulous outfits on her website, grahamst.co.uk
EP 1: In conversation with Hannah from Graham St