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What the owner of a fashion boutique is wearing this autumn – and news of a super-stylish event

— by Alyson Walsh

Midi dress by Munthe and knee boots Kate’s own

Kate Evans is a former buyer for Harvey Nichols and Harrods, who has worked in fashion for many years and has excellent taste (and fabulous grey hair.) Regular readers might recognise her from my This Is My Style: ideas for all ages story and the Angela Flanders perfume feature. With years of fashion industry experience and a penchant for cool European labels, Kate has come up with a winning formula for her shops. There are two Precious boutiques tucked away in Spitalfields and Columbia Road in East London, stocked with an expertly edited collection of popular and lesser-known international labels. One of the perks of running your own fashion boutique is that you get to wear the clothes, ‘I do like to show something from the current season collection,’ says Kate, ‘but I also love re-wearing clothes from past seasons, our customers love seeing something that they have or remember, being worn in a different way. And this fits with our ethos of selecting items that suit your style and last for many years.’

With this in mind I asked Kate to share her favourite outfits for autumn/winter 2019:

The Marvellous Midi Dress

Preferring ‘tailored modern classics with a few retro 1960s and 70s references thrown in,’ Kate’s first outfit is a gorgeous Munthe midi dress (above) in a striking botanical print. ‘I don’t have a large wardrobe or very much space at home so I am selective and prefer to have fewer pieces that I’ll wear more,’ explains Kate. When buying a new item Kate intentionally chooses a colour or a style that she doesn’t already own,’ I have a couple of shift dresses and have been thinking for a while that I’d like to try the longer midi length but I find it difficult to wear floral prints, somehow they don’t seem to work on me. This large scale leaf print is slightly more geometric – and I love it. I can wear this dress for daytime, as well for dinners or parties over the winter; perhaps with a small jacket or waistcoat worn over it and my suede boots.’

 

Blouse, Primrose Park. Culottes, Essentiel Antwerp. Both Precious. Bag, Mimi Berry. Earrings, A Weathered Penny. Boots, Kate’s own.

 

Chic Culottes

For look number two, Kate opted for chic-as-you-like culottes. ‘As I have a lot of black in my winter wardrobe, I felt drawn to neutrals and camel shades this autumn. The Essentiel Antwerp culottes have already been a mainstay for me, either paired with boots or trainers.’ As Kate suggests, choosing one or two pieces to give your wardrobe extra mileage makes excellent style sense. ‘I just love the Sandy silk shirt from Primrose Park it’s an easy shape and I’ve also been wearing it as a tunic style over jeans.’

BOOK SIGNING AND FESTIVE FASHION EVENING
On 20th November, I’ll be joining Kate in her beautiful Spitalfields store for an evening of style. There’ll be fashion advice and festive drinks. The event runs between 6pm – 8pm; we’ll be discussing what to wear for various Christmas occasions, and I will be signing copies of Know Your Style. Hope to see some of you there. Tickets for the evening are available HERE

Photography: Claire Pepper

Hair & makeup: Louise Heywood. Louise does one-to-one makeup lessons in her south London studio for ‘women who like to keep it subtle’.

More autumn style here:

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