Inside our Editors Wardrobe's: The Marie Claire Edit's Jenny Proudfoot

A pair of Givenchy ankle boots. I can’t bear to take them outside yet so I’ve just been wearing them inside my house for meetings, and I am literally buying a mint green linen spaghetti strap mini dress from & Other Stories for my holiday to Antigua as we speak. I’m planning on living in it until the very end of summer with shell jewellery and my Superga espadrille platforms.

A retro navy blue and white polkadot shirt from Friends of the Earth that my mum gave me from her old wardrobe - it’s such a statement piece complete with huge sewn-in shoulder pads. Of all the clothes I own, this is the one I get the most compliments on and I take great pride in telling people, in my best Mean Girls impression, ‘It was my mum’s in the eighties'.

I was browsing vintage shops in downtown Seattle when I was 16 and came across a limited edition vintage green Diane Von Furstenberg silk midi dress in a bargain bin. I didn’t know a great deal about fashion at this point but I was reading the Gossip Girl books at the time (yes, I was READING Gossip Girl - I feel ancient) and Cecily von Ziegesar used to reference DVF on the regular. It wasn’t my style at the time but I bought it for my older self. It was some of the best money I’ve ever spent.

I once bought a pair of Jimmy Choo raffia heels in a sample sale that were a size and a half too big. It was my first designer sample sale, I had sacrificed a lie-in to go before work and I just fell in love with them. I was determined to come away with a Jimmy Choo purchase and I wasn’t going to let the fact that I would never be able to wear them stop me. It was only when I got home and was counting my pennies for supper that I realised I had made a mistake. I still eyeball them angrily whenever I’m skint, but you live and you learn. Years later, I was at a Manolo Blahnik sample sale and there were zero size 5 shoes (the woes of being sample size). I went to repeat my mistake and buy a pair that were far too small, but I remembered my Jimmy Choo raffias and decided to wait and spend the money on something I could actually wear. That’s growth.

I mark personal milestones with accessories so those items become very special to me. I have marked every break up, promotion, pay rise, moment of strength etc. with a piece of gold Missoma jewellery and those for me are extremely symbolic. The commemorative item I really couldn’t bear to get rid of though is my Gucci Soho leather Disco bag. I had wanted it for years and bought it for myself when I was made Features Editor (my dream job) to celebrate the milestone. Becoming an Editor and buying myself my dream handbag in the same day was such a girl power moment so the bag holds a lot of sentimental value.

I absolutely love my Needle and Thread Dragonfly dress. It is the most exquisitely beautiful embroidered dress - just like all of Hannah Coffin’s stunning designs. It was one of the first designer pieces I got in my career and it took away all of the intimidation of having to dress for A-list events and awards ceremonies - something that comes with the job and can be quite daunting early on. It fits perfectly and made me look (and feel) like an Editor, so I associate it with feeling incredible and confident. That will always be a favourite piece.My all time favourite piece is my Gucci Soho Disco bag for the sentimental value - it’s a reminder of everything I’ve accomplished and so I feel immensely proud whenever I see it in my wardrobe. I even named her - she’s called Gigi - and my friends all came over to meet her on day one, so it’s an undeniable frontrunner.And thirdly, it has to be my Shrimps Antonia faux-Pearl embellished bag. It was a gift from one of my favourite journo gals and it’s just so fabulously extra, I feel like royalty when I wear it. Although, I do sometimes worry that I’m a mugging target carrying it through London after dark - a stand-out bag made entirely of pearls that doesn’t close.

Probably my Stan Smiths - I have them in all shades and textures because they go with everything and as a journalist I’m one of the lucky ones who can wear trainers to work pretty much every day. So, whether I’m accessorising them with a beaut Rixo dress to attend a bougie event, a Sandro leather mini and a Misha Nonoo blazer to conduct A-list press junket interviews or my Levi ‘mom’ jeans to help with shoots or frequent the office, you will most likely find me in Adidas trainers.

A vintage yellow tartan pencil skirt by Escada. It used to be my mum’s and I instantly fell in love with it for its serious Cher Horowitz vibes. I’ve only managed to wear it once though unfortunately - it is the loudest piece of clothing I have ever seen and when I wore it, not a single person commented on it all day. This as we all know is a scarring enough experience to never wear it again. I also have a particularly outrageous giant wicker basket bag with big yellow wicker lemons and green leaves hanging off it that I once got sent in the post by an anonymous gifter. I would love to know who sent it because I owe them a ginormous hug - unlike my Escada pencil skirt, everyone comments on my lemon basket, even strangers on the street.

I am desperate to get my hands on a Hayley Menzies Gladys Intarsia navy cardi with knitted flowers - I have dreamy visions of wearing it this autumn at fashion week with some faded blue Levi’s, a white cotton poplin Ganni shirt with a statement collar and a massive Lele Sadoughi headband. I also have my eye on a pair of Arizona shearling sheepskin Birkenstocks - they’re all over my Instagram feed and my money-saving willpower is wavering with every targeted ad I see.https://www.instagram.com/p/B5FrXjzgqMh/ 

Zara, Mango, & Other Stories, Sezanne, Levi’s, Sandro, Lele Sadoughi, Ganni and Rixo.

I wouldn’t go as far as ‘hate’, but people are definitely ‘amused’ by my giant headbands. I’m rarely seen without a headband and while I usually stick to Lele Sadoughi and Zara, one of my favourites is a pink velvet high street Prada dupe that is about three inches thick. I think it’s utterly fabulous and it’s so ginormous that it makes me look extremely petite, but I do get a lot of double takes and Anne Boleyn jokes thrown my way - especially from my friends who don’t work in fashion. I once wore it on a date and it was definitely the elephant in the room. Haters are always gonna hate.

An evening dress for a bougie event. I love the process of dressing up and accessorising for a glamorous occasion and I take great pride in my extensive collection of dresses. Whether it’s a stunning Needle and Thread Aurora gown accessorised with a Lele Sadoughi pearl headband or a Rixo midi teamed with a matching scrunchie, I’m counting down the days till I have an excuse to wear them.