Serena Bute On Her Style Essentials
Long gone are the days of skinny jeans and stilettos. Most of all, I like to be comfortable now and much prefer looser shapes and sometimes a slightly masculine feel that’s still effortlessly chic. I’m drawn to an Audrey Hepburn kind of simplicity with relaxed trousers and an oversized shirt you can just throw on and go. In winter, I live in a pair of my trousers which I wear with one of my shirts – most often the Johnny, the Serena or the Classic shirt – with a cashmere jumper and a pair of boots or my Gucci loafers. My clothes are always about ease; they need to work for real life. In the summer, it’s often a slip dress with a little cardigan. I like to get dressed in a minute and don’t enjoy anything too fiddly. For the evening, I might add heels, often with a vintage or army style jacket thrown over the top.
I loved clothes from a very young age. I was completely obsessed with my school uniform which always had to be immaculately pressed, and I still remember being infatuated with the purple blazer at Glendower Prep School. As a teenager, I loved Biba and would spend hours in the shop. Then, in my twenties, I went to Australia and worked for a designer there and, when I came back to London I worked for Thea Porter and later with Joseph.
In the 80s, during the punk and New Romantic eras, I was inspired by the likes of Katherine Hamnett and Vivienne Westwood. When I began working with Joseph, he was starting his career in retail and was very forward thinking, and he introduced me to brands like Alaïa as well as Japanese designers like Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons.
My first business was in my early twenties. Over the last 30 to 40 years, I’ve had many different clothing ventures and made plenty of mistakes along the way! I’m still learning. For me, it’s always been about passion and authenticity. You have to believe in what you’re doing and stay true to what you like. I started Anonymous by dyeing a thermal vest in my kitchen in Shepherd’s Bush and, years later, began Serena Bute by making trousers on my dining room table. The creative side has always come naturally to me, but I’ve learned how important it is to have business-minded people around me. I never had a plan and we managed to grow organically, but my advice would be to start with a plan and build from there.
I love vintage Tom Ford and draw a lot of inspiration from vintage clothing in general. I often look to my own archive – pieces from Gucci’s Tom Ford era, Galliano and some vintage Chanel, all very classic and timeless. I’m naturally drawn to clothes that are elegant but understated. Early Coco Chanel is a good reference for me, especially the way she introduced trousers into womenswear and kept things simple and modern. She understood how a look could be completely transformed by a single detail.
I don’t really shop in person. Nowadays, I tend to order online and return what doesn’t work which I find a lot easier. If I’m not wearing my own clothes, I’d say my go-tos are Céline, Alaïa and Saint Laurent. I also do a lot of vintage shopping. Etsy is brilliant for vintage jeans and I’ll often shop on 1st Dibs and Vestiaire. When I occasionally shop in person, I really like wandering through vintage shops and finding unexpected bargains.
Aside from my own joggers, the best thing I’ve ever bought are probably my Adidas trackies. I live in them. I also have a navy vintage Chanel jacket that I wear with everything, a vintage Saint Laurent red suit that I love and my vintage Gucci loafers. Those special pieces just work forever.
I naturally gravitate towards neutrals. Wearing navy, cream and grey feel the most natural to me and, as I’ve got older, I find these colours easier and more flattering. I am not mad about patterns or wearing all black in the day, which feels quite harsh. I also love pale pink and pale blue shirts, and am always in one of my Johnny shirts. In summer or on holiday, I might introduce a bit more colour when I have a tan but, generally, I wear things that are timeless rather than seasonal. That’s why navy and cream run through the collection, particularly in pieces like the Serena Trousers as they are the colours I live in and always come back to.
Strong foundations for a wardrobe start with well-cut trousers and a classic shirt. From there, everything else layers easily – knitwear, coats and jackets. I don’t wear much jewellery but like simple gold pieces, and a classic bag like a vintage Gucci, Hermès or Chanel. I also rely on a handful of more distinctive pieces, like a vintage Chanel or an army-style jacket, balanced with something as simple as a great cream jumper. For me, it’s about strong, uncomplicated pieces you can keep coming back to.
Elevating an outfit depends on one thing – the time of day. For the evening, I would add a heel which can completely change a look; I have a lot of Alaïa shoes I wear on repeat. The whole theory behind my clothes is that you can dress them up or down depending on the jacket, the shoe and the jewellery.
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