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Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The mother-daughter duo who define Cotswolds style
If you are one of those people who is obsessed with the Cotswolds – its wisteria, its stone, its famous inhabitants – then a visit to Tetbury will only fan the flames. Were you to play Cotswolds Bingo, you'd rapidly score a full house; a sandstone one, with neat window-boxes and a sage-green door. On the pretty high-street, there's a butcher, a baker and a cult jacket-maker, the latter of whom, Caroline Smiley, is being photographed with her daughter, Sarah Corbett-Winder, when I pull up from Kemble station in my Uber (yes, they have Ubers in the Cotswolds). Caroline owns Moloh, a Tetbury boutique that's also a Cotswolds institution, while Sarah is an influencer who followed in her mother's footsteps by launching her own tailoring label, Kipper, in 2023. The rain is pouring down, but Caroline and Sarah are redoubtably cheerful, as is the Cotswolds way. Like most successful brands, Moloh (named to rhyme with the name of their family dog, Rolo) was born from a desire to create something its owner couldn't buy. Being the Cotswolds, this wasn't the perfect summer dress, but the perfect pair of overalls. 'You'd take the dog for a walk, pouring with rain, but you're going to do something later,' explains Caroline once we've settled in her office, which is above the shop. 'You put your Molohs over what you're wearing, come home, take them off, and out you go again. I'd wear them for decorating, gardening, mucking out horses, cleaning the shed. Dirty jobs. They were fun. That's what the ethos of Moloh is. It's adding fun to your life.' 'Fun' is a word that comes up frequently. After friends started wanting to buy the overalls, Caroline and her business partner, Butts Dancer (a fun name if ever there was one) thought it would be wise to branch out into making skirts, jackets and jumpers. Moloh was officially launched in 2003, with the Tetbury store opening some five years later. 'The clothing was introduced organically over the years,' says Caroline. 'We listened to our customers and what they really liked.' Their hero piece is the best-selling military jacket, which comes in a plethora of tweeds, checks and suedes (there's a Prussian Blue one in store now for £675). 'Any age can wear it. It buttons three ways,' says Caroline. 'My father was in the army and my husband was a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. I think the military bit came from that. The jacket is actually based on a traditional hunting jacket, then we put the military twist in, and made it double-breasted.' 'You saw that everyone was wearing their Barbour, and thought you could make this more fun,' adds Sarah. 'And chic. You saw that gap.' Most of Moloh's customers are Cotswolds locals, but many are from London and Wales. 'We're very much a destination store. People will come to spend a couple of hours here. Age-wise, it could be a very lucky 19-year-old girl whose grandmother has bought her a jacket. We get lots of 18ths, girls who've been borrowing their mother's jacket and eventually the mother wants hers back. Then we've got lovely Anne, our eldest customer. She's 85, and buys a new military jacket every season.' They're fiercely proud of Moloh's low carbon footprint. Everything is manufactured in factories in north London ('You can go to Portugal or Spain, but you genuinely don't get the quality'), while 90 per cent of their cloth is sourced from mills in Scotland and Yorkshire ('if you traced the journey of some fabrics, it really is 100 miles'). Everything is made in short runs of 30 to 40, and once an item's gone, it won't be repeated. 'We can't afford to do it any other way,' says Caroline. 'It's probably not cost-effective, but we'd rather have more styles than see people going around in the same thing.' What do they think constitutes modern country style? 'I think it's become quite eccentric and fun,' says Sarah. 'People are more adventurous. They want to look unique and different, cool and chic, but also practical.' 'They don't want to look frumpy country,' adds Caroline. 'They'll wear trousers, jeans, a polo neck, a great jacket and a wonderful scarf. It's not so much the article of clothing as the way you wear it. We're much colder down here than London, so we're more into layers. When I go up to London, I'm always taking layers off, particularly in the winter, when you go into people's overheated offices and shops. In London, you're always on a mission.' 'The country gives you more freedom to be fun than London does,' says Sarah. 'The Cotswolds is quite accepting. They like you to be quirky.' Grooming is low-key and natural. 'It's not overly made-up,' says Caroline. 'You know, the false eyelashes, the thick make-up, the fake nails. That doesn't really fit here. Keep it simple.' 'People want to age, and embrace that,' adds Sarah. 'We can't pretend we're 18 if we're not.' 'It's so easy to be older today, compared to our parents or our grandparents, who wore headscarves with a knot under the chin,' says Caroline. 'What's that quote? Ageing – just crack on with it.' How would they spot a townie? By looking at their feet. 'Our boots are muddy because we walk the dogs round the fields,' says Butts. 'They're not box fresh.' 'It's confidence, too,' says Sarah. 'With a townie, you can feel they're not comfortable. They're slightly overdone. Whereas a proper country look is to throw on the coat and scarf, and just get on with it. Even in white jeans. If they get dirty, you put them in the washing machine.' Ellen DeGeneres famously moved to the Cotswolds last year: is it vexatious when random celebrities rock up and invade their turf? 'I think they've really tried to blend in, and are becoming more accepted as time goes on,' says Butts, with some diplomacy. 'We try to share,' smiles Caroline. 'We'll share the grass. They bring in their ways that are different to our ways. But sometimes, it has a benefit. Variety is good. So long as they support the community, and respect they're coming into one.' They were very happy to share the grass with the cast of Rivals last year. 'Some of it was filmed right outside the shop, which was fun,' smiles Caroline. 'We had Aiden Turner sitting out there for quite a few mornings. He was charming.' As well as a second season of Rivals, a rumoured 'Real Housewives'-style reality TV show seems destined to shine yet another spotlight on England's fabled 'golden triangle', whether its inhabitants like it or not. Can they spill the tea? 'Caroline's in it!' shouts Butts. 'I'm joking.' We bat around potential names, including the author Plum Sykes and designers Savannah Miller and Jade Holland Cooper. 'I've heard she's doing it,' says Sarah. 'I wouldn't be surprised.' 'We know Jade very well,' confirms Caroline. 'She could do it. I thought Victoria Beckham could be in it, because they live in the Cotswolds. Jilly Cooper could be in it. And Lisa Hogan. But I've got no inside information. They'd probably love to have Carole Bamford. She has the most incredible taste. She's the top end of the Cotswolds. But she wouldn't do it, I don't think.' Lady B, as she's known in these parts, is something of an icon to the Cotswolds set, on account of her sprawling Daylesford empire of farm shops, to which she's recently added four pubs, a string of holiday cottages, a hotel and a spa. 'It just grows and grows every time you go there,' says Caroline. 'So inspiring. Oh, the other thing, of course, that we've got in the Cotswolds is the King. He lives down the road.' 'Do you think that's one of the reasons people are so fascinated by the Cotswolds? Because of the royal connection?' muses Sarah. 'Kate comes into the shop,' says Caroline, one of the few British subjects with genuine cause to be on first-name terms with the Princess of Wales. 'Which shows how relaxed and calm our community is. William and Harry used to come into the bicycle shop in Tetbury when they were little. Sadly, it's not there any more.' Have they met them? For the first time in our interview, they look guarded. 'Yes, in the past,' says Caroline. 'I used to go out with Harry's best friend,' says Sarah, declining to name him. 'This was in my late teens. We used to go to the local pubs together, and he [Harry] was so wonderful to all the locals. There was no 'oh, look at me'.' 'People actually ignored them,' says Caroline. They're fiercely proud of the area, its bucolic pace and camaraderie. 'We've just done Chelsea Flower Show,' says Butts. 'Every morning I'd walk to work. No one talks to you. I'd look at them and say, 'Good morning!' It's like I was the village idiot. Everyone says 'good morning' here. Even if they're putting a ticket on your car.' 'We're very fortunate here,' smiles Caroline. We love to travel. But god, we love to come home.' Five of the best country-chic picks
Vogue
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Sergio Hudson Resort 2026 Collection
The 2025 Met Gala—which focused on the history of Black dandyism and tailoring—took place more than a month ago, but designer Sergio Hudson's entire new resort collection could have easily made an appearance on the star-studded red carpet. It's no coincidence either, given that Hudson was developing this sleek assortment while also working on looks for VIPs at this year's event (including everyone from Quinta Brunson to Stevie Wonder). 'I was designing this in the throes of working on the Met, so it's heavily inspired by that,' said Hudson. The thematic tie-in was an organic one for the designer, given his devotion to suiting and reinventing classic American sportswear. 'Tailoring has always been my thing,' he said. 'I've been putting women in ties for years. My mom did it when I was growing up, it's in my DNA.' Hudson does cut a good suit, and he's dressed many notables over the years, including former first ladies Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden. For resort, he delivered double-breasted tuxedo coats with satiny lapels, and white tuxedo jumpsuits with detachable flower lapels. He also amped up the skirt suit by embellishing it with an intricate crystal pattern, and created slinky sequin column gowns so shimmering you don't need much else to accessorize them with. His most glamorous suggestion was the golden button-up shirt and matching floor-length skirt, created with an intricate technique that utilizes both Swarovski crystals and sequins. It may seem like shine overload, but he said his customers aren't afraid to dazzle and command a room. Having often dabbled in men's looks, Hudson is formally introducing a bespoke menswear line later this month. 'It'll be my first time actually selling it,' he said. Many of the men's looks he showed here were adapted versions of his womenswear looks. Models in his lookbook sport twinning red tuxedo jackets and houndstooth suits. Something your favorite power couple may be wearing very soon.
Vogue
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Co Resort 2026 Collection
Stephanie Danan had a clear directive for Co's resort collection. 'She's a no apologies kind of woman,' she said. 'No-nonsense. Has her shit together.' The attitude was evident in clothes that are in-your-face and sometimes 'a little bit off.' A pencil skirt with a contrasting layer of white pleated fabric; sweaters with extra-wide shoulders that cinch at the waist, leathers that are scratched, cracked, and worn-in. The tailoring was the collection's strongest point. A double-breasted suit in wool melange with strong-but-slightly droopy shoulders and a nipped-in waist was severe, which contrasted with the model's criss-cross cone heel sandals and undone bob in a way that made the silhouette real, while an eggplant double-breasted tailored jacket had an unexpected ribbed knit detail on the collar and cuffs. But even when the suiting was a pure version of itself, the styling evoked a more laissez-faire vision: see the monochromatic gray single-breasted suit worn with a matching button down shirt, worn untucked, and topped off with an also-matching trench coat. It was tough and yet it was also… pajamas. Devious! Duchess satin pieces, like a bomber jacket, or a trench-inspired jacket and matching skirt, were similarly subversive; from so feminine a fabric, Danan managed to extract an energy of untouchability. 'As I get older and I start to think of not just the things that I wear, but who I am as a woman, one thing that seems to become more and more evident is a sense of confidence and not needing any validation,' she said. 'There's this idea that when a woman doesn't need validation, she's a little bit feared, and there's a lot of power in that.'
Entrepreneur
3 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Making the Cut
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. When Alexandra Wood launched her bespoke tailoring brand Alexandra Wood Bespoke, she had no big backers or industry connections - just a fierce focus on quality and client care. From juggling cash flow to building a reputation stitch by stitch, her journey reveals what it really takes to grow a start-up in the UK fashion world. She shares more with Entrepreneur UK: 1. What were the biggest challenges you faced when starting your business, and how did you overcome them? One of the biggest challenges was building credibility and trust without an established brand or extensive resources. I had to prove my value through the quality of my work alone. I overcame this by focusing relentlessly on delivering exceptional service and results, building word-of-mouth recommendations one client at a time. Another challenge was navigating the financial pressures of early-stage growth, managing cash flow while reinvesting back into the business. I overcame it by staying lean, being disciplined with spending, and finding creative ways to market myself without large budgets. 2. How did you identify and seize opportunities in the early stages of your start-up? Opportunities often came from listening carefully to what clients were struggling with and positioning myself as the solution. I didn't wait for the "perfect" moment; I offered services even when they were still being refined, letting real-world feedback shape them. I also built strong relationships, networked constantly, and stayed open to collaborations, which helped doors open in unexpected ways. Related: Entrepreneur UK's London 100: Fleek | Entrepreneur 3. What do you wish you had known about the UK start-up ecosystem before you began? I wish I had known how valuable it is to seek out mentors and supportive communities early on. The UK start-up ecosystem can seem competitive and overwhelming at first, but there are incredible networks and resources available if you know where to look. I also wish I had realised sooner that you don't need to do everything yourself; there's power in building the right team and partnerships from the beginning. 4. Looking back, what's the one piece of advice you'd give to founders just starting out in the UK's start-up scene? Be crystal clear about your value proposition and stay focused on solving real problems for your ideal clients. It's easy to get distracted by trends, funding rounds, or comparisons, but the businesses that succeed are the ones that stay rooted in serving their customers exceptionally well. Stay patient, stay persistent, and don't be afraid to seek help — you're building something meaningful, and it takes time. Related: What Drives a Shy Stay-at-Home Mum to Build a Fashion Brand?
CNN
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Wes Anderson on the secrets and struggles behind his impeccably stylish men
Wes Anderson has a message for London's finest tailors: he'd love a Savile Row suit — if someone will give him a discount. 'Hopefully if we put this out there someone will contact me,' he said on a call from New York. '(They're) quite a lot of money, but it will see you out, as they say.' This would be a radical move for the sartorially-minded director. Anderson is loyal to New York tailoring institution Mr. Ned for his custom-made clothes, he said, though has been known to stray to legendary Italian atelier Battistoni when in Rome. But he would be willing to give a London tailor a shot. After all, if they're good enough for his characters, they should be good enough for him. Anderson's latest film, 'The Phoenician Scheme,' is bulging at the seams with suits, some crafted by Taillour Ltd., a bespoke tailoring label in East London, founded by Fred Nieddu and Lee Rekert. The movie centers on 1950s business magnate Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), who wheels and deals his way around a fictionalized Middle Eastern country while fending off assassination attempts. In tow is his heir, a novice nun called Leisl (Mia Threapleton), who's out to save his soul, and bumbling tutor Bjorn (Michael Cera), along for the ride with his employer and his crush. Together they bring an odd thrupple dynamic to what might otherwise have been a series of business meetings with deep-pocketed characters played by Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, and more. A crime caper with a smattering of existential angst, it's the director's most accessible work in a while. It's also, even by Anderson's standards, a showcase for fine tailoring — marking a new high point for the director whose films often feature impeccable menswear. When Anderson was young, he used to play dress up. 'There were so many costumes in movies when I was a child that I tried to imitate,' he shared. How characters presented themselves through their clothes was something he was always conscious of. 'From the first moment of the first short film I made, I thought of that,' Anderson recalled. Making that short film, 'Bottle Rocket' (1993), which Anderson turned into his feature debut in 1996, he remembered debating actor Owen Wilson over a shirt. 'We'd written it together, and he knew exactly how to inhabit this person,' Anderson said. 'But the visual part of the character… I had to sort of coax (Wilson) into something he would never wear.' Five years and a bigger budget later, Anderson was making 'Rushmore' (1998). Jason Schwartzman's character, the preppy student Max Fischer, dresses beyond his years. Anderson, Schwartzman and the film's costume designer Karen Patch commissioned a tailor in the director's native Houston, Texas, to reflect that in the form of a perfectly cut, blue school blazer. 'That's the first time there was a costume that I thought, 'Let's make this from scratch. We can make it exactly, 100% right,'' Anderson said. Then came 'The Royal Tenenbaums' (2001) — also costumed by Patch — whose sartorial ripples continue to spread today. Anderson turned to Mr. Ned for help with tailoring and liked what they came up with. Years later, he sat for an interview with the New York Times wearing the exact jacket worn by Bill Murray in the film, he told the reporter. However you look at it, Anderson never stopped playing dress up — including having his characters wear his inspirations on their sleeves. When conceiving the look for Korda in 'The Phoenician Scheme,' Anderson said he had in mind the businessmen played by Hollywood's Golden Age actors William Powell ('The Thin Man') and Herbert Marshall ('Trouble in Paradise'). Meanwhile, Threapleton's nun was styled in green tights as a twisted nod to the titular Irma, a sex worker played by Shirley MacLaine, in Billy Wilder's 'Irma la Douce' (1963). 'I think it is probably quite a generous gesture by Wes to be so conspicuous with some of his references,' said Adam Woodward, editor-at-large of Little White Lies magazine and author of 'The Worlds of Wes Anderson.' 'That has been the case throughout his career,' Woodward continued, speaking on a video call. 'I think he's adding new layers to that as he continues, and I suppose as he enters this middle period of his career, his work for me feels like it's getting maybe more mature. He's hitting a really interesting groove now.' 'The Phoenician Scheme' saw Anderson reteam with Italian costume designer Milena Canonero, a four-time Oscar winner who has worked on most of his films since 2004's 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.' Theirs is the kind of longstanding collaboration that allows for creative disagreement, which was the case when creating the backbone of 'The Phoenician Scheme's' wardrobe: its suits. 'My suggestion in our script is that all the businessmen wear double-breasted gray chalk stripe (or) pinstripe suits in the classic tycoon look,' Anderson recounted. 'And Milena's suggestion is, 'That's a terrible idea,' and 'Why would we have everyone wearing the same thing? It's been done a thousand times before and it's a cliché.'' But Anderson had his reasons: One being that a good piece of clothing, such as tailoring, takes on a protective quality. 'If you don't like what you're wearing or you've got a bad haircut, you don't feel as strong, you know. It's all armor,' he said. Korda (Benicio del Toro's character), he added, 'wants all the armor he can have, because someone's going to try to kill him at any moment, and he wants to kill them back.' While Korda's wardrobe is dominated by gray pinstripes, there's room for a safari suit and a thobe. The impression is that whether behind a desk or the wheel of a plummeting airplane, Korda is a worldly man of action. In a video interview with CNN, Del Toro described the film's costuming as '50% of my performance,' heaping praise on 'legend' Canonero. 'She does your character from the bottom up,' he added. 'She's super specific. The shoes are from the period, even the underwear.' Anderson said he felt strongly about giving all the other businessmen suits too because 'these tycoons, these very rich men with tremendous ambition, they have symbols of power that they adorn their offices and their residences and their bodies with,' he explained. 'This is part of how they say, 'We're in the same club, we rule the world, and we are the ones in power.' The genius of Canonero, the director said, was 'how to make the American (suits) a little different from the European ones and how to give them each their own personality — because it is a lot of gray pinstripe suits in one movie.' Take Hanks and Cranston's West Coast railroad men: They may be holding a Coca-Cola and a Hershey's bar, but to tell they're American, one need only look at their sack suits. There's also a subtle narrative thread running through the pinstripes and chalk stripes. (As consensus builds among the businessmen who come aboard Korda's scheme, if they weren't already, they begin wearing stripes.) Once again, Anderson is playing with the idea of uniform and visual coding; it rears its head in everything from 'The Grand Budapest Hotel's' concierges to 'Bottle Rocket's' boiler-suited robbers and Steve Zissou's red beanie-sporting explorers. In 'The Phoenician Scheme,' by the time we meet Cumberbatch's character Uncle Nubar, who's wearing a running stitch-like stripe, his tailoring marks him out as different, even before his nefarious intent is revealed. This use of costuming is par for the course for the director, said Woodward: 'It's always in service of the story, it is never frivolous.' Naturally, fashion is not there for window dressing; it advances the plot. Just like Richie Tenenbaum's sweatband doesn't just signal his arrested development but signposts his forbidden love for his adopted sister in 'The Royal Tenenbaums'; M. Gustave's Society of the Crossed Keys badge foreshadows his ace-in-the-hole network of concierges when he's in a pinch in 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'; and Mr. Fox's severed tail, worn by the evil Mr. Bean as a necktie, becomes motivation for a heist in 'Fantastic Mr. Fox.' 'Everything is about storytelling,' said Anderson. 'Movies, as much as they are dialog, and as much as it is all about emotion and energy, the main thing you do with a movie is watch it,' the director said of building his visual language. 'The movie is how do we take all this information, all these ideas, these characters, these observations from lives and bits of imagination, and order them into the shape of a thing we think of as a story,' he continued. 'It's very much a rational, orderly process.' 'The Phoenician Scheme' is currently in US and UK theaters.
