Norfolk-based fashion stylist and writer Alexandra Fullerton has worked with a host of A-listers, including Kylie Minogue. She’s got a great tip for creating the perfect capsule wardrobe.
‘They’re just textiles held together by thread, but the power, the memories, the nostalgia, future possibilities they hold...I just love clothes,’ says Alexandra Fullerton.
During her career, the south Norfolk-based fashion stylist and writer has worked with a host of A-listers, including Kylie Minogue, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Florence Welch, Vicky McLure and Naomie Harris and collaborated with the legendary photographers David Bailey and Rankin.
She was Stylist magazine’s fashion director for more than seven years and is a former fashion director-at-large of Glamour UK.
She’s written a bestselling book, How to Dress, holds Style Sessions across the region and last year launched the website, my3words.co - a curated edit aimed at helping women find their own signature style.
Alexandra grew up in Suffolk and Essex and returned to the region when she and her family did a ‘pandemic pivot’ and relocated from London to Scole near Diss three years ago.
Growing up she loved fashion and music – her ultimate birthday treat would be a trip to Norwich to snoop around the boutiques in The Lanes.
‘I used to always do drawings of fashion designs and thought that I wanted to be a fashion designer, but was rubbish in my textiles lessons, I couldn’t even thread the machine,’ she laughs as we chat over coffee at Two Magpies in Norwich.
‘Then when I was about 14, I realised that there was a job of putting outfits together and I thought "I could do that".
‘I think from being a very little girl and playing dress up, like today I’m going to be Cinderella, now I’m going to be a pirate, I’ve loved the power of what your clothes can create.
‘What we choose to wear every day is representative of our mood or how we’re feeling - you can put on a power blazer if you’ve got a serious meeting or you can go camouflage if you don’t want to see anybody that day, you can do anything with your clothes.’
Alexandra also loved writing and the first article she ever had in print was a TV review in the East Anglian Daily Times.
‘Channel 5 did their own version of Top of the Pops. I typed up a little 100-200 words, faxed it into the newsdesk and it appeared in the paper the next day. That power of seeing something reaching other people was addictive,’ she says.
Alexandra attended London College of Fashion, but dropped out in favour of the real-life experience of assisting on magazine photoshoots.
And in the evening, she’d be out reviewing gigs for Melody Maker, typing them up in the early hours.
‘I lived at home in Manningtree at the time with my parents – I used to go to Camden with a notebook and write my notes up longhand on the train home.’
Her big break was getting hired as a fashion assistant for Glamour magazine, where she had access to the fabled fashion cupboard, home to the kind of designer pieces which would make any fashion fan swoon.
‘You’ve got Prada and Gucci and Dior sending things in and you look at them and you’re like ‘oh my god, it’s beautiful’. With the very in-demand pieces, sometimes they get sent straight to the shoot and you have one hour and then they have to go off to another shoot, so you’ve got them for moments,’ she reveals.
As someone who was raised on Charlene-era Neighbours, one of the biggest moments of Alexandra’s career was jetting to LA to style Kylie Minogue for a shoot to celebrate the singer’s 25 years in pop.
‘I asked 25 different designers to either create something for her or choose something they wanted her to wear. So we got all of these wonderful, special pieces re-sized for her or made and then spent three days in LA.
‘We did one day in a studio, one day in an amazing house looking over the Hollywood Hills, another day on the street and we got to know each other so well that at lunchtime we could just sit there and have a lovely chat,’ she says.
In 2017, Alexandra left Stylist to Write How to Dress, which has just been reprinted.
‘I wrote it before the big sustainability reckoning happened in fashion, but everything that I’ve said about how we should be shopping still stands: that if we shop mindfully and considerately, shop with our own personal style in mind, not get swayed by influencers and are true to ourselves we can have so much more fun doing it, dress better, save money and not have a wardrobe full of things you’re not going to wear.’
Most of us will have those mornings when we stare into a cupboard that’s bursting with clothes, but won’t have a clue what to put on.
And Alexandra loves delving into people’s wardrobes and helping them to rediscover their love of fashion.
She offers online and IRL styling services, including wardrobe audits, shopping trips and cataloguing.
As she wrote in her book, she is an enthusiastic advocate of the ‘my three words’ approach to shopping and dressing.
You choose three words which describe your style and use them as your guide when you’re shopping. If the item you’re considering doesn’t tick those boxes, back on the rack it goes. And if you have an item in your wardrobe that you rarely wear, it's likely that it doesn't fit your style. The idea is that it makes shopping easier and helps you streamline your wardrobe.
Alexandra launched the website, my3words.co, last year using the same principle, where she curates shoppable edits around 12 of the key styles, which range from Bohemian, Rock Chick and Vintage to colourful Dompamine, Classic and Comfortable.
‘Often when I find items with the tags still on them in people’s wardrobes, they don’t fit their three words and they don’t wear them because they feel a bit “off”.’ says Alexandra, whose own words are Sixties, Denim and Tomboy.
The clients that she works with are often going through a life change. She helped one woman who had had just come out of a long relationship to inject some colour back into their clothes after years of wearing neutrals.
‘Perhaps someone has gone through body changes or maybe they’re going back to work after having their children, or their kids have started school and they can now regain themselves. The deep dive and the psychological element is so satisfying, ‘ she says.
And it’s not about building a new wardrobe from scratch.
‘I try and work out the relationship that the person has with every item. Maybe someone wants to have outfit options, but they’re struggling because they have 30 items and only two bottoms, or they’ve got a fancy dress that they love wearing, but never have the occasion – let's style it differently so you can wear it every day.
‘It’s so joyful and really makes a difference to people.’
Alexandra's book, How To Dress, is available now.
Browse her latest edits at my3words.co and follow her on Instagram @alexandrafullerton
Alexandra’s shopping list
‘Wedding guest season is looming, and I would always suggest that people have a think about what they can rent rather than going and buying a dress.'
‘Blazer and jeans is classic forever, but a light tweed collarless jacket, edge to edge, feels a bit like a cardi and has the French vibe. It’s slightly more structured than a cardigan, but not as formal as a blazer and it still pulls you together.’
‘Paler, wider, softer denim. I try not to buy too much denim anymore because it is one of the world’s most polluting fabrics. But I’ve bought a pair of wide leg slouchy jeans from Arket with eyelets on them, so they’re a little bit rock and roll. M&S have got some amazing ones with pleats down the front, so they’re cut like a trouser, but they’re denim, so you feel casual, but you also feel smart.’
Labels to know
Alexandra loves north Norfolk based jeweller to the stars Monica Vinader (Kendall Jenner, Selena Gomez and Daisy Edgar-Jones are fans) luxury west Norfolk brand Fairfax and Favor and heritage coastal workwear label Yarmouth Oilskins.
