Laura Bartlett | Founding Editor in Chief at House of Coco Magazine| Speaker & Mentor
I first came across House of Coco magazine a couple of years ago and chose to advertise my fashion brand within it. A gorgeous, international travel and lifestyle magazine with great information about where to go and where to stay. Ever since, I have followed Laura’s amazing career and magazine avidly across social media and she never fails to amaze me with her travelling and happy posts. Laura really knows how to wear her style and always looks phenomenal!
1. How would you describe your occupation and what does it involve?
I am the Founding Editor in Chief at House of Coco which is a luxury print travel magazine sold on the newsstands in London.
I am very lucky because it involves a lot of travel and I created the business just over five years ago to allow me to work remotely and live a laptop lifestyle. Each week varies, so one week I might be working from my home office on client work and projects and another week I might be on an action-packed itinerary around a new country. The team and I are content creators, so we travel the world creating content that inspires our readers to go out and live their best lives.
2. What is your fashion style and how did you find out what works for you?
I live in dresses and heels! For over ten years I didn’t even wear a pair of jeans or trousers, it just became my staple that I would be in a dress every day of the week. However, literally in the last year I have a newfound love for jumpsuits! It’s like a whole new lease of life not wearing a dress and you will literally catch me on ASOS new arrivals every single day looking for yet another jumpsuit, it’s actually formed part of my morning routine checking their latest drops!
3. What is your signature look and why?
I just asked my partner to answer this question and his response was ‘GLAM!’ People always tell me that I look really glam, it’s not intentional but I think wearing a dress and heels ultimately makes you look quite dressed up. I often get asked where I am going because people seem to think I’m quite dressed up most of the time. Often, I am just going to put the bins out lol. It also takes the same amount of time and effort to throw on a dress as it would take to put some joggers on.
4. Do you find clothing empowering? If so, which piece does this for you?
100%. When I wear clothes that make me look good, it makes me feel good too. I think choosing the right outfit can be really empowering, most recently I have loved wearing suits and that makes me feel really empowered. I think it’s really important to wear things that YOU want to wear, I never wear an outfit to impress anyone but myself.
5. What advice do you give to someone who doesn’t know where to start with a new look?
Have a think about your body shape, what suits it? For me, I have wide hips and a smaller waist so wearing a skater dress that nips in at the waist really helps to accentuate the right areas. Be brave, try things that you wouldn’t normally try and experiment with different colours. What’s your skin tone? I am mixed raced so I have a caramel complexion which means I can pull off bright colours but look quite washed out when wearing brown. So, I avoid the latter and like to keep my wardrobe popping with every colour there is! You can do a colour analysis test online if you need some help.
6. Give me a quote from one of your style icons, why does it resonate with you?
"Don't be into trends. Don't make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live." — Gianni Versace.
This resonates with me because I have never followed trends, I like to be my own person and do / wear what pleases me. Also, trends are just created to push people in to buying specific things at specific times and who’s to say the people that set the trends are right anyway? Do whatever makes you feel good about yourself, regardless of what the media are saying is the latest trend.
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