Jo Elvin Interviews Nicola Roberts at London Fashion Week
Catching up with Nicola Roberts during London Fashion Week turns out to be a slightly death-defying experience. In a front row at Topshop Unique that included Alexa Chung, Pixie Geldof and Jameela Jamil, it was Nicola who sent the photographers and the fans alike into a (slightly scary) frenzy.
No wonder. When I think of the London FROW, Nicola is definitely one of those people whose style grabs attention – and for all the right reasons. Dainty, pretty, and sophisticated but with an edgy little undercurrent, her outfit today is no exception. With an unexpected velvet bow, she transforms a simple white dress into something unique. How very Nicola. So as soon as I could prise her away from the swarm, I whisked her to the safety of my home for the week, the Mercedes S350, for a speedy, between-shows chat about fashion.
Jo: So Nicola, what have been your highlights from London Fashion Week?
Nicola:I think Topshop, probably. This is only the second year I’ve seen it. I liked the really hearty sort of winter coats. The great thing about Topshop is that it’s so wearable and affordable. It’s sometimes hard to believe it’s a high street brand. I missed Henry Holland’s show, unfortunately, because I couldn’t get there in time, so I was secretly raging about that! But Moschino Cheap n’ Chic was really cute, too. I’m such a fan, so it was nice that the show was actually in London.
Jo: You are quite a high street fan, aren’t you?
Nicola: Yeah I really am, because I find it easier to wear. Sometimes designer can be a little bit daunting – it can overpower somebody. You really have to get it right. I think with Topshop I find that you dress it. You’re able to put your personality on it.
Jo: Like what you’ve done with your white dress. It looks gorgeous!
Nicola: Yeah, but you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do that with Chanel, do you know what I mean?
Jo: Yeah, I do know what you mean, because it’s all been decided for you
Nicola: Exactly, and I like to decide for myself.
Jo: When did your interest in fashion really ignite? Was there a moment, because obviously you have had quite a metamorphosis and now I think you have such a strong look. Where did it start?
Nicola: It was sort of… my first Fashion Week was in 2009, I think it was September 2009. I’m not really sure, but I think I just felt a lot happier within myself. I’d just cut my hair, I’d got rid of the fake tan, and I’d managed to form an image for myself. I think I had a kind of identity crisis, for a long time, and then all of a sudden it just clicked for me. And then I was swapping the magazines that I was reading. Instead of reading weekly magazines, I read fashion magazines and I just think my whole outlook changed about what I was excited by and what I found sort of admirable. I started finding that I was flicking through the fashion magazines and not looking at the model, but looking at the outfit; not comparing myself to the girl, comparing myself to the clothes. And just realising that clothes can make you feel better. So if you wake up and you’re having a bad hair day, you don’t feel pretty that day, or whatever, then you dress to make yourself feel like that. Or if you want to feel cool for a particular meeting you have, or whatever it may be, you dress for that and then that enables your mood. And that’s really how I dress.
Jo: Who are your favourite designers?
Nicola: Well, if I’m thinking, today I want my personality to be a little bit cooler then I’ll go to Henry. Or if I wanted to be running around town in little flats and a little jacket I’d probably go to Topshop. If I’m going somewhere where it’s a formal affair I’ll probably go to Moschino. So all my favourites give me something.
Jo: Whose style do you admire?
Nicola: I like Rihanna. I like when people look like they haven’t been dressed, I don’t like it when people have just been styled and it’s just a designer dress and a designer pair of shoes, a cute little clutch. I’m not interested in that. I like to see somebody mix and match, and try things that maybe don’t even necessarily work, but for some reason it works for them. I just like it when people look like they’ve dressed themselves, and they’ve thought of the creative element of the outfit, and I feel like she definitely does that. Alexa Chung’s great at that too.
Jo: Do you have any plans to sort of take your real passion for style and fashion and make that a career move in any way? Like Victoria [Beckham]?
Nicola: I would like to do a collection. For a long time I just dismissed it, like I think my problem is that I have to feel like it’s OK for me to do it and so I never even contemplated it. But now I would actually like to have a small collection.
Jo: Are there any plans?
Nicola: No there’s not, but I’m only just sort of registering that in my own mind. I think it could be exciting.
Jo: Maybe for Topshop!
Nicola: (Laughing) You have to tell Topshop! That would be a dream come true.
Jo: Do you have any really memorable outfits from your childhood? What was your style like back then?
Nicola: My Nan used to make all of mine and my sister’s outfits when we were little; she used to make the craziest palm tree fabric, then sunflower fabric.
Jo: Have you still got any of them?
I don’t, my mum might have some! Little long shorts and little T-shirts, so I remember them, we always had matching crazy print homemade little outfits which was really sweet.
Jo: I love that.
Nicola: But I was always fussy. I still am. I’d be fussy with the way that my mum would do my hair, the way that I wore the skirt, everything had to be particular… and sometimes that’s not necessarily to your benefit. Like with hair and make-up now, I drive my team mad! I’ll get like fixated on something and it might totally not work, everyone else thinks it doesn’t work, but for some reason in my head I think it works and then six weeks later I’ll go, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?!” And they’ll say, “We tried!”
Jo: Ah, but it’s good to be a risk taker.
Nicola: I just get fixated and it won’t be broken down!
Jo: So the fans will be really cross with me if I don’t ask: any Girls Aloud action coming up?
Nicola: Well, not that I can necessarily talk about, but obviously everybody knows that it is our 10th Anniversary this year and we will definitely be celebrating that. But we made a pact between ourselves that none of us would say what.
Jo: Can we at least know when?
Nicola: Our anniversary is November.
Jo: Okay, fabulous.
Nicola: So we are brewing something, but I won’t say what, but it is exciting. We’re all really excited.
Jo: And it’s all five of you?
Nicola: Yes!
Jo: And what’s next for your solo plans?
Nicola: Well my, I had the record last year, and my campaign was out. And that’s sort of finished now. I’m writing at the studio and I’m about to start filming with Henry and Rihanna soon. We’re scouring the country for a next up-and-coming undiscovered British designer.
Jo: Amazing, so when do you start that?
Nicola: We start just after Easter, and it’ll be on Sky later in the year.
Jo: That’s so exciting.
Nicola: It’s great. I love Henry to bits, it’s a dream come true, and Rihanna’s lovely. She’s really passionate about the project, and hopefully we’ll find somebody really special.
Jo: So I can see something brewing here, you’re going to become best mates with Rihanna and be her personal designer, that’s the plan.
Nicola: (Laughs) Who knows!
With thanks to Mercedes-Benz UK for accommodating this interview during London Fashion Week
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