Last Tuesday, Hansine Johnston was having her first coffee ‘n’ scroll of the day when her index finger paused and hovered over a catchy Instagram image of Kate Moss wearing a wildflower crown… and one of her dresses. For any designer, this would be a coffee-spitting moment. “And I almost did,” the 52-year-old admits with a laugh. Because for a small, ethical British brand like Hansine, which has only been around for seven years, “it doesn’t get any better than this, does it?”
It did. This wasn’t just any image, as it turned out, but Moss was celebrating her 50th birthday in Mustique, flanked by best friends Sadie Frost and Rosemary Ferguson – all three dressed in Hansine’s Rhodes dress, in black, pink and red – and word got around world.
Considering the brand’s ‘luxe boho’ aesthetic – inspired by Johnston’s Greek mother ‘who wandered around in brocade dresses with her long hair flowing’, her extensive travels to Greece, Mexico and Milan (where she worked for Valentino and Armani) and her love of 1970s designers such as Ossie Clarke and Missoni – it is perhaps no surprise that Moss was drawn to her designs.
Add to that the figure-hugging silk fabrics and prints that Johnston handpicked from a manufacturer in Como and the low neckline that Moss always favors, and you can see why the British supermodel chose a Hansine dress to mark her half-century.
“It totally suits her style, just like the brand,” Johnston tells me on a Zoom call from Switzerland, where she is based. “I’ve always said, ‘Imagine Kate Moss wearing this’ – and now I don’t have to.” But what makes the designer happiest is that “this happened organically. Even if I had tried, I couldn’t have organized this kind of publicity. Certainly, this would have been beyond the control of any small brand like ours, with limited finances.”
The ‘Kate effect’ has not diminished over the years. Over the past ten days, Hansine has been tagged and re-tagged online, with people clamoring to know more about the brand. The phone is ringing off the hook and sales have increased enormously. As someone who bought her first Hansine dress when the brand was only two years old, I’m glad it has gained so much fame.
Full disclosure: I have way too many dresses. Dresses that are so specific that they can only be worn one evening a year; dresses so brutal they can only be worn after a particularly bad bout of stomach flu; dresses I went out after just a few outings.
However, I had never found a dress that could be worn repeatedly for years – to meetings, business lunches, date nights and weddings; on ‘fat days’ and ‘thin days’ and everything in between – until I invested in ‘the Iris’: a silk midi number with angel sleeves in a ‘bitter chocolate’ vintage-style petal print. I say “invested in” because, with prices ranging from $295 to $480, you have to think in terms of “cost per wear.”
As happy as Johnston is with the wave of attention a single Instagram post brings, she’s also eager to use this moment to get a message across. It’s one that has always been at the core of her brand and the reason I now own ‘the Iris’ in every color.
“A lot of people might say, ‘Well, obviously Kate Moss and her friends will look great in that dress,’ but if you find the right dress with the right cut, you should be able to wear it at any age. It could be your ‘forever dress’ – one that you will continue to wear and feel just as good in year after year. Because aren’t we all done with disposable fashion?”
It’s true that while the ‘body positivity’ movement has changed the way younger generations think about their bodies and themselves, many older British women still seem stuck in a ‘I can’t get away with that’ rut. “Leaving with what?” Johnston asks excitedly. “I definitely think it’s a cultural thing for us,” she agrees, when I point out that French women don’t seem to have barricaded themselves by the same outdated rules. “But it also goes back to old-fashioned female self-doubt, and I see that everywhere I go, even among my customer base here in Switzerland.”
The fact that this gloomy psychology is still so widespread makes her sad. “Why shouldn’t we be able to wear what we want at any age? Why shouldn’t we be as seductive and feminine in our fifties as we were in our twenties?” Yet she sees so many clients in their 40s, 50s and older who cling on sleeves – “Oh, I can’t bare my arms” – on bust size – “Oh, I can’t get away with not wearing a bra” or “I can don’t stick out my chest’ – and her favourite: ‘Oh, but I can’t bear that: I’ve had a few children!’
These myths need to be debunked, she emphasizes, “because with a well-cut dress and the right layers, these things shouldn’t be a problem.” As a woman in her fifties “without a perfect figure”, she understands the concerns. “But we must end this refusal to even look at options and step outside our comfort zones. We need to uncondition ourselves from being told for years that as we get older we have fewer and fewer options when it comes to dressing. And now that menopause is being talked about as it is, let’s open our minds accordingly.”
She has tips – tips she’s learned from “growing with the brand and adjusting things accordingly.” “Silk should not be a deal breaker. Yes, you may need to find the right bra or bikini top to wear underneath, but consider pairing silk fabrics with knitwear, think of wearing flowing summer dresses and ‘resort clothes’, even in winter, with long cardigans. And if you’re really worried about your arms? She pulls two new pieces from a rack in her showroom: a thigh-length silk kimono and a bolero with angel sleeves. “Invest in something lush that gives you a little more coverage and will match any dress.”
The reason the image of Kate Moss at 50 is so appealing is simple, says Johnston: “She looks comfortable. She doesn’t look like a straitjacket because of something overly structured, something restrictive that forces you to move a certain way; she looks at ease, happy in her own skin. And isn’t that ultimately what every woman wants?”