Brown Thomas Presents…

This week we speak with Hayley Menzies, who takes us through the wonderful journey of her eponymous brand. Hayley Menzies' fashion training began in the London College of Fashion where she studied design and styling. Her career took a meandering route through London’s wild rave scene to running a nightlife business, via yoga training in Thailand. It was in these years as a rock n’ rolling stone that Hayley’s unique aesthetic took shape.
In 2011, Hayley Menzies set up a stall in Portobello Market and from there the brand has grown from strength to strength. Just launched with Brown Thomas this season, the brand specializes in creating knitwear and lasting treasures made for life’s maximalist souls.

In today’s episode we are celebrating International Women’s Day with a very special guest, Anne Pitcher. Anne is MD of the Selfridges Group, a collection of 5 iconic global brands - Selfridges in the UK, Holt Renfrew in Canada, di Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland. Anne is renowned for her cutting edge & experiential retail strategies over the years and in 2020 Anne was awarded the coveted Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to retail. Anne discusses females in industry, her rise from ‘shop girl’ to where she is today, and how the Selfridges Group plan to reinvent retail through sustainability, creative vision and relentless innovation.

This week we speak to the founder of Ground, Peigín Crowley. Ground Wellbeing is a collection of natural aromatherapy oils and balms with interwoven wellness rituals to encourage mindful selfcare. Having spent over 20 years in the world of Spa and Wellness, Peigín has helped her clients create award-winning spas. During 2020, after a very simple realisation that we need to slow down and mind ourselves more, Peigín launched her own wellbeing brand with natural aromatherapy balms and oils for the face and body, which help to bring focus, ritual and intention into our daily lives. Peigín discusses starting her own brand whilst navigating the pandemic and how we can create mindful selfcare for ourselves and our families.

We speak with muse, model and fashion designer Harris Reed. Harris talks about growing up with an early love of fashion, having a supportive Mother who encouraged experimentation with gender fluidity, and the new M·A·C collection that celebrates freedom and self-expression.
Working with a number of high profile clients, Harris talks about having Harry Styles as a client as well as working with Sam Smith and Florence Welch. We find out which lucky celebrity is next on Harris’ wish list to dress and we hear about the most recent celebrity customer to shop the collection – Miley Cyrus.
Harris describes the process of creating makeup to truly represent who you are and explains the way in which the Fluid Beauty Collection from M.A.C is creating a moment in history.

This week Louise is joined by John Molloy, co-founder of Memo Paris. John talks to Louise about his Irish heritage, building a family brand from scratch with wife Clara and what the future looks like for Memo Paris. John talks about how beauty is at the core of the brand, with memory as the driving force. We learn about the art of fragrance and the way in which it can offer us a welcome escape, transporting us to exotic locations from Paris to Brazil. We also learn about the importance of sustainability in the industry and how investment in rich, high quality ingredients is key.

In today’s episode we speak to Sean Barron, Co-Founder of cult brand RE/DONE. RE/DONE was born online in 2014, with their first batch of jeans selling out within 12 minutes and from there the brand has grown from strength to strength. Sean discusses how RE/DONE is more than a luxury label, RE/DONE is a movement to restore individuality to the luxury fashion space, to keep heritage brands relevant and to create sustainable fashion.

In this episode we speak to journalist, broadcaster and author Sali Hughes. As the only girl in a household full of boys, Sali fell in love with beauty and luxury skincare from an early age. During the podcast, Sali reminisces on how her love for beauty began with her first Clinique lipstick given to her by her brother. We get an insight into how Sali goes about testing and trailing different products, what her skincare regime looks like and the skincare ingredients she can’t live without. Sali also talks about how she protects her integrity in the world of social media through trust and transparency.

This week we talk to CHANEL ambassador and makeup artist Zoe Taylor. Louise talks to Zoe about her amazing life as a CHANEL ambassador, how she got into the world of beauty and her journey so far. Zoe shares with us her insight on how the world of beauty is changing, the essential beauty ingredients she needs as part of her daily routine and the importance of clean beauty and traceability. We also hear some of Zoe's pro makeup and skincare tips and her advice to those who want to break into the industry.

This week Louise is joined by Kilian Hennessey, the man behind luxury fragrance brand Kilian Paris. Heir to a long line of cognac makers who were pioneers in luxury, Kilian decided to take up the torch of family tradition. Kilian talks about his Irish heritage and what attracted him into the world of fragrance as we delve into themes such as the language of scent, storytelling through fragrance and the way in which perfume can provoke emotion. We also get an insight into Kilian’s inspiration for some of his iconic scents, including Love, don’t be shy, Angels’ Share and Good Girl Gone Bad.

In today’s episode we speak to Asya Varetsa Co-founder of Sleeper, the world’s first walking sleepwear label. Sleeper debuted in AW14 & was highly regarded by then editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani who named Sleeper as the brand of the month. In 2019 co-founders Asya and Kate were recognized on the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list. Sleeper has continued to grow from strength to strength with an ever growing loyal celebrity fan base including Dakota Fanning, Emily Ratajkowski and Leandra Medine.