The original bag lady: Mulberry ex-boss Emma Hill on going head to head with the brand at London Fashion Week
Forget big pants and shearling overcoats - as London Fashion Week kicks off today it is the matter of what handbag to buy next season that will dominate conversations.
The result of a shake-up in scheduling and a new “super Sunday” for accessories, this weekend marks the return of British bag giant Mulberry to the bill after a two-year hiatus. Now under the new direction of former Céline designer Johnny Coca, the brand will be joined by Anya Hindmarch and Hill and Friends - a label co-founded by Mulberry’s former creative director Emma Hill.
Hill is terrified by the prospect. “I always am,” she says, “but I love the drama”.
We are meeting to discuss her first year as creative director of Hill and Friends. Caramel blonde with an infectious giggle, she wears a polka-dot blouse and skinny black jeans. Her nails are painted with vibrant fuchsia polish. I later discover that she has recently had her bathroom lacquered in the same shade.
After six successful years with Mulberry, Kingston-born Hill, 45, announced her departure from the brand in 2013, following a rumoured disagreement with CEO Bruno Guillon. Her shock exit triggered profit warnings, a drop in share prices and led to what Hill describes as a “painful and public fashion divorce”.
Afterwards she took a well-earned break. “It was only a year,” she says, “but in fashion a year is a long time. I’d love to sit here and say I went off and made myself a better person, learned Mandarin or something, but basically I watched a lot of Great British Bake off, hung out with my son and just defibrillated”.
With 15 years of experience and stints at Burberry, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs already under her belt, Hill arrived at Mulberry in 2007 and is credited with transforming the floundering heritage brand into one of Britain’s hottest fashion exports. Her legacy there includes Alexa Chung’s insanely popular namesake satchel and the launch of a ready-to-wear collection.
The story surrounding her departure remains vague and Hill, who still seems a little shaken by it all, is not keen to discuss the gory details other than to say she is happier now than she has ever been.
It helps, of course, that she is now comfortably positioned in the driving seat of a brand which considers injecting fashion with fun as its USP. At its debut show last September, a spectacle so bonkers that even Anna Wintour raised a smile, Hill and Friends’ handbags were unveiled on the catwalk by a team of tray-wielding bell boys (clad in pink velvet suits) who were accompanied by Shetland ponies.
Hill is promising more of the same silliness for this Sunday. “From the very start, Hill and Friends has been about personality and about being inclusive not exclusive,” she says. “I’m not a serious intellectual designer. I admire those that are but it’s not really me. I like to have a good time.”
To this end, the Hill and Friends offering is a small collection of beautifully crafted handbags which come in vibrant colours and feature playful details including a smiley face fastening - to lock the bag, you “wink” an eye - which is the brand’s signature.
For Hill, the daughter of a Welsh mathematician and an artist, this is as much about patriotism as it is about raising a smile. “Our view of Britishness is not Beefeaters, it’s about humour. It’s dry and sarcastic. It’s also about mixing things up. Life should be about surprises. We’re in our own Carry On film here”.
Hill and Friends, which sold its first bag hours after its fashion week debut and is selling well, is currently available across a host of retailers including Net-A-Porter, Harrods and Selfridges, which launched the new collection last week.
The brand also operates through a carefully programmed e-commerce site which, Hill says, makes them unique. “This has never been all about opening a bricks-and-mortar store. We want to be digitally advanced. Luxury brands have been slow with online shopping. But it’s so important to give your customers what they want.”
Something of a pioneer where the luxury industry is concerned, Hill was also among the first to acknowledge the current shift towards the “buy now” business model which is resulting in more and more brands putting items from its catwalk shows up for sale immediately.
“The idea of going to a show and then waiting six months to buy it is old - when we launched we chose a small selection of bags that were available straight away.”
But she is also under no illusions as to the pressure this approach puts on the shoulders of small brands. “Things are not as they were but at the same time we’re not Zara. I think some things are worth waiting for. Fashion is a craft and some things take longer to make”.
Occupying a middle ground is key for Hill, who has paid careful attention to price point when creating Hill and Friends - 70 per cent of the collection is under £1,000; a mini-clutch starts from £195.
“Price is a tricky. I think it’s confusing when the price point is stretched so much that you don’t get what it is. Is it a luxury brand? Is it a middle-of-the-road brand that’s trying to punch above its weight? For me, it’s about measuring value for money against Italian craftsmanship and beautiful hardware. It’s about finding the sweet spot.”
Hill’s wealth of experience also stands her in good stead for succeeding on her own terms. “I’ve always been a bit of a factory girl. I know how to do the whole process,” she says. But she is also getting a huge kick out of working with a small team. She and her co-founder Georgia Fendley, previously brand director at Mulberry, currently employ nine members of staff.
“It’s so nice, especially after heading up something big. When you’re small you get to do things like go bowling or go to the movies.” She also tells me about a gold bell she rings when “good stuff” happens. “It doubles as a bottle opener - we try not to overuse it,” she says.
Has being a female boss posed any problems? “I think that there’s a million professions where it must be a real challenge to be a woman but I’m not sure that fashion is one of them. I’m very fortunate that I don’t have to think about that.”
When she’s not in the office, Hill is in her fuchsia-filled townhouse in Holland Park (even the laundry room is pink), where there is a room which houses her favourite handbags.
A single mother, she employs a dancer-turned-”manny” to help her with the care of nine-year-old son Hudson. Like his mum, Hudson likes the colour pink - “he lives the dream too,” jokes Hill - and is no stranger to the fashion week catwalk, having made a cameo appearance as a bell boy in the first Hill and Friends show.
Did he miss her when she returned to work? “I think he found it hard. He’s a real mamma’s boy. But it’s so important to show your kids how important it is to be passionate about what you do.
“I try to teach him what my dad taught me: find something that you love, find something that makes you happy.” Emma Hill certainly has.
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