by 
Last Tuesday, Hansine Johnston had her first ‘coffee ‘n’ scroll’ of the day, when her index paused, hovering over a captured Instagram image of Kate Moss wearing a crown of wildflowers… and one her dresses. For any designer, this would be a spitting-out-of-the-coffee moment. “And I almost did,” the 52-year-old admits with a laugh. For a small, ethical British brand like Hansine that is only seven years old, “surely it doesn’t get any better than this?”
He did. This was not just any image, but it turned out to be Moss celebrating her 50th birthday in Mustique, flanked by best friends Sadie Frost and Rosemary Ferguson – all three wearing Hansine’s Rhodes dress, in black , pink and red – and he went around the world.
Given the brand’s “luxury boho” aesthetic – inspired by Johnston’s Greek mother who “walked around in brocade dresses with long flowing hair”, travels extensively to Greece, Mexico and Milan (where she worked for Valentino and Armani ) and her love of Seventies Designers such as Ossie Clarke and Missoni – perhaps it’s no surprise that Moss should be focusing on her designs.
Add to that silk fabrics trimmed body and prints Johnston handpicks from a manufacturer in Como and the low Moss neckline always in favor, and you can see why the British model chose the Hansine dress to celebrate its half century.
“It’s completely in line with her style, as is the brand,” Johnston tells me on a Zoom call from Switzerland, where she is based. “I’ve always said, ‘you can imagine Kate Moss wearing this’ – and now you don’t have to.” But what makes the designer happy is that “this happened organically. I couldn’t manage this kind of publicity even if I tried. Certainly, it would be beyond the power 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 skyrocketed. As someone who bought her first Hansine dress when the brand was only two years old, I am delighted to have been given that exposure.
Full disclosure: I have way too many dresses. Dresses that are so specific they can only be worn one night a year; dresses so merciless that they can only be worn after a particularly violent bout of gastric flu; I have run out of dresses after a few trips.
However, I haven’t found a dress that could be worn over and over again over the 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 vintage ‘bitter chocolate’ petal print. I say ‘invested in’ because, with prices between £295-£480, you have to think in terms of ‘cost per wear’.
As happy as Johnston is about the wave of attention one Instagram post has sparked, she’s keen to use this moment to convey a message. She is one who has always been at the heart of her brand and is the reason why I now have ‘an Iris’ in every colour.
“A lot of people might say: ‘Well, Kate Moss and her friends will obviously look great in that dress’, but if you get the right dress with the right dress, you should be able to worn at any age. It could be a ‘forever dress’ – a dress that you keep and feel just as good in, year after year. Because haven’t we all made disposable fashion?”
It’s true that while the ‘body positive’ movement has changed the way younger generations feel about their bodies and themselves, many older British women still seem to be stuck in a ‘I can’t get away with that’ rut. “Get up?” Johnston asks, fired up. “I think it’s definitely a cultural thing for us,” she agrees, when I point out that French women don’t seem to barricade themselves with the same outdated rules. “But it also goes back to old-fashioned female self-doubt, and I see that everywhere I go, even with my client base here in Switzerland.”
It is a great pity to her that this lonely psychology should still be so widespread. “Why shouldn’t we wear what we want at any age? Why shouldn’t we be as seductive and feminine in our 50s as we were in our 20s?” But she sees so many clients in their 40s, 50s and beyond who are hanging up on a sleeve – “Oh, I can’t my bare arms” – chest size – “Oh, I can’t get out without wearing a bra” or “I can’t reach my chest” – and, her favorite: “Oh, but I can’t I wear that: I have a couple of kids!”
These myths need to be dispelled, she insists, “because with a well-cut dress and the right fit, those things shouldn’t be a problem”. As a woman in her 50s herself “without a perfect figure” she understands the concerns. “But we have to get rid of this refusal to even look at options and go beyond our comfort zones. We need to de-condition ourselves from the years when we were told that as we get older we have fewer and fewer options in terms of clothing. Now that menopause is being talked about the way it is, let’s open our thinking accordingly.”
She has tips – ones she’s gleaned from “growing with the brand and adapting things accordingly”. “Silk should not be a marketer. Yes, you may need to find the right bra or bikini top to wear underneath, but think about layering silk fabrics with knitwear, think about wearing slinky summer dresses and ‘holiday wear’ even in winter, with long cardigans . And if you are really worried about your arms?” She pulls two new pieces off the rack in her showroom – a thigh-length silk kimono and an angel sleeve bolero. “Invest in something interesting that gives you extra coverage and will work with any outfit.”
The reason why the image of Kate Moss at 50 is so attractive is simple, says Johnston: “She looks comfortable. It doesn’t look too structured, which prevents you from moving in a certain way; she looks relaxed, happy in her own skin. And in the end, isn’t that what every woman wants?”
