‘At 47, I’ve trimmed off a dress size with these clever styling tricks’
If you’ve ever followed the fashion designer Wiggy Hindmarch on Instagram, you’ll have been sucked in by her charismatic approach to getting dressed. She speaks directly to her nearly 60,000 followers, showing them what she’s wearing (from her own collection), and crucially how to style it. She is also no-holds-barred on how she dresses to accentuate her figure – and deliver maximum Wiggy confidence.
It’s this confidence that is totally infectious – and makes you want to dress like her. Plenty of celebrities feel the same way: her line, Wiggy Kit, is worn by confident-in-their-skin celebs ranging from Claudia Schiffer and Kirsty Allsopp to the tablescaping queen Alice Naylor Leyland.
What makes Wiggy Kit so wearable to all ages is the clever cut, thick fabric and well-placed straps and pockets. While she founded the brand nine years ago, Hindmarch says she’s never been more grateful for the way her designs flatter.
“I’ve gone up a dress size recently, and it’s not exactly something I’ve relished, but it’s just a fact that I’m 47, and my body is changing,” she says. “I was a dancer and I’ve always been fortunate with my figure – despite not doing any exercise since I stopped dancing at age 18. Now it’s slightly catching up. I know a lot of people might not notice these changes – but trust me, if you see me in a bikini, you can tell. The thing is, I know how to dress so that I can disguise the bits I don’t like.”
Trimming off a dress size with your clothes is all in the details, she insists. “Proportions are key,” she says. “Wearing clothes in a flattering way is all about managing proportions correctly. Often with mass-produced clothes, the seam is in a very standard position, but that’s not always the best place for it on a woman’s body. I play with those proportions to make sure the cut is really flattering.”
For instance, she is a big fan of high waists “which make the legs look longer” and darks on the hips “at a very particular angle, which help slim the hip.” A deep waistband helps “narrow the waist” and accentuating the width of shoulders helps to balance out a heavier bottom half, “something that happens often as we get older.” Her jeans come with big, statement front pockets, again to slim the hips.
Getting older doesn’t mean you have to cover up more; “I will always have a nod to something a bit sexy.” That might be a little peek-a-boo cutaway flash of flesh just under the bra line (nearly all of her dresses are cut to allow the wearer to still wear a bra), or more decolletage on show. She personally doesn’t love her own arms in sleeveless dresses, but the collection does have sleeveless numbers in it. “But I’ll put a big bow or something on the shoulder to help feel more covered up and protected.” Similarly, she says she doesn’t like to wear shorts – “they just don’t flatter my bum”, so she designed her own version, more of a skort, “that gives more coverage.”
Hindmarch started her eponymous line in 2015. As a child, she had always been “fascinated with fashion and clothes”. After stage school, she went straight into retail, working for boutique Capitol, in Charlotte, North Carolina and then at the jewellery designer Catherine Prevost in London. Many of her roles involved directly working with and advising customers, as well as designing, “so I got a really thorough grounding of what women want from their clothes and jewellery.”
It was while clearing out her wardrobe that she realised “I had my day-to-day clothes for summers in a city, and then a totally different set of holiday clothes. I thought it was ridiculous that they didn’t meld together. I wanted to create a resort collection that could just as easily be worn on the beach as on the school run in the summer.”
Embroidered cotton top, ￡275 and skirt, ￡395, Wiggy Kit
The first collection was only 11 pieces, but quickly grew as the items sold out. Unlike many brands, Hindmarch works on an “if-it-ain’t-broke” model; “I bring back old favourites in new colours or fabrics so that customers can wear it in a different way.” The collection is more than just resort wear now: her ss24 collection, which has just had its second “drop”, includes knitwear, tailored jackets and jeans, along with a strong line of occasion wear dresses for summer events. One highlight is a knock-out cherry-red halter neck dress that will be in the next drop.
Wiggy Kit does away with unreliable traditional sizing and instead comes in small, medium and large (Wiggy has recently gone up to a medium in her own range) all with very specific measurements listed for each garment, with “medium” waists tending to be around 77-78cm or 30 inches.
Cotton and silk blend dress, ￡395, Wiggy Kit
What’s clever about her sizing is that many of the pieces have some degree of flexibility about them: trousers might have adjustable waistbands, with buttons on the side to cinch in or let out further, dresses have hidden elasticated panels at the back, and looser garments – a linen dress, for example, often come with built-in ties to customise the fit. “It’s essential because you can fluctuate sizes over the course of a month, or some days you want a looser or tighter fit than others,” she says.
Her direct communication with her own customers comes as a natural evolution of working on a shop floor. “Because I don’t have a physical shop of my own, it’s a really brilliant way for me to explain how to style a piece. I think so many women buy something online, it comes in a box, and then they don’t know how to make it look like the picture they bought. I want to show them exactly how to wear it and feel their best in it.”
She is chatty, honest and direct – keen to impart all her tips. She generously reveals the product she credits with making her skin look so glowing, Vita Liberata Beauty Blur Face – “but not the one with fake tan in it” – along with places to stay in South Africa, where she frequently travels.
Jacquard opera coat, ￡765 and skirt, ￡475; cotton shirt, ￡225, Wiggy Kit
She is her own best advertisement. Mostly she wears her own designs but does still have a few other favourite brands (largely items that she does not – yet – produce herself). Uniqlo is great for basics like t-shirts, she loves Aquazzurra for shoes and sports Celine sunglasses. As well as her own jeans, she adores Citizens of Humanity, particularly their barrel-legged “horseshoe” design.
So, she doesn’t believe in playing it safe with her fashion choices? “I think playing it safe as you get older is the kiss of death for style. It’s not about mutton dressed as lamb and trying to be young, but you’ve got to go bold, burrow into your sense of style and go for it. Getting older is not a time to fade away into the background.”
All shoes and jewellery Wiggy’s own
Solve the daily Crossword
