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How She Does It: Anna Bromilow

In this week’s instalment of ‘How She Does It’, we talk to Anna Bromilow, fashion editor, stylist and of mum three girls about work-life balance, her favourite travel destinations, travelling with children, and how she really does it. 


Tell us a bit about yourself: 

I’m a freelance Fashion Stylist. I pretty much always knew I wanted to go into the fashion industry since reading Vogue as a young teen. It was the era of the original supermodel and I quickly ditched Heat magazine in favour of high-end glossies. During university, I managed to get some work experience at Condé Nast and was lucky enough to land a full-time job there after I completed my degree. I spent 14 wonderful, adventurous, memorable years at Vogue House, including an integral period being mentored by the unforgettable Isabella Blow. I left my eventual position as Fashion Director of Tatler after the birth of my first daughter and began styling on a freelance basis in order to spend time with my family and to explore new fashion adventures.  I now have three daughters and I have such great opportunities to do a wide variety of styling projects, from celebrity dressing to campaign styling and brand consulting. No week is the same and life flies by at an ever frenetic pace! We are a bustling, noisy household and divide our time between London and West Sussex. 

What’s the the best holiday you’ve taken with your children?

Probably the best holiday we ever had as a family was one to Mauritius to Le Touessrok to celebrate my 40th birthday. Though the hotel was lovely and the island beautiful, what stays with me the most was the sense of peace and contentment we all felt. My youngest was 9 months old and she’d sleep with me on the beach while her sisters picked up shells and swam. Our rooms led directly out onto the sand which made life so easy logistically with a young family – for instance my husband and I were able to have stunning candlelit dinners on the beach while our children slept inside. The service was just out of this world and our girls still talk about the huge dessert buffet room to this day. I’ve been lucky enough to go on some seriously exotic trips and stay in some pretty unique places mainly due to my work, but it was this holiday, sharing slow, easy, precious time with our new family of five that stays with me through a sheer sense of feeling complete and in the moment. 

 

Which hotels or destinations have you found are the best for travelling with kids?  

Though I adore the adventure of travelling, I will say if you find somewhere that works with children, stick to it. I’m always less stressed going back to a familiar spot when you know what to expect and my girls absolutely love the sense of excitement of a regular return and all round familiarity. It’s the small things that my children look forward to, like a certain tree with a swing in the grounds or a local pet that they befriended – certainly not a fabulous restaurant or glorious view, this utterly passes them by! My husband has a strong connection with Majorca and we often rent a big house in the summer there, inviting friends and family to stay. He practically grew up there during the holidays as a child so knows all the hidden gems it has to offer. We try to book as many restaurants in advance as possible and punctuate the stay with some beach clubs during the day, particularly when friends with children are staying. We need so much space now that the children are older, we do find that hotels are sometimes not the best option (and expensive for long stays) – so when we do discover a villa that really works we will immediately rebook for the following year. I also love the coming and going of visitors, it gives so much colour and variation to your holiday, and wonderful memories to hold onto with friends. 

The longest trip you have taken with your children is…   

The furthest I have travelled with the children was Mauritius but the longest trip was to Italy, at which point we only had two children. We were renovating our house in London but living in and we had reached breaking point. I managed to persuade my husband to book a B&B we’d been to in Tuscany together in our early 20s for the month of August and the girls and I decamped there while he came back and forth with work. We had the most glorious time possible. It was one of those endless holidays where you lose all sense of time altogether, we walked around barefoot and sunkissed through olive groves, eating endless amounts of pasta, swimming and reading. It really did feel like a stolen moment in time – a Tuscan hiatus – like something out of a movie and we managed to forget all about the dust and chaos we had left behind. The owners of the Palazzo are now like our Italian family and that place shall always have a special place in our hearts. I don’t think I have ever felt so relaxed heading back into the onslaught of a September term!

Travel essentials with kids? 

All of our children had matching Trunki backpacks that doubled up as booster seats. We were quite strict about carrying them each and fitting inside the storage area everything that they needed for the trip, any teddies, books, games. I always pack a mini medical kit, Calpol, plasters, and the wonder that is Metanium- we always seem to need this for something or other. We are big on card games on holiday (the kids have free rein on devices on the flight, but annoyingly for them we are pretty strict otherwise) and so Dobble and Scrabble are a must for fun family dinners. 

Three items that help you juggle everything. 

Lists, lists and more lists. I have many simultaneous lists going on, urgent to dos and more general ongoing goals. We also are pretty strict about our online family calendar that keeps us on the same weekly path. I also don’t know what I’d do without Amazon. We have multiple deliveries daily- the kids are always in need of something for school or hobby related and if online shopping didn’t exist, I’d be permanently away from my desk running errands. 

How do you think travel benefits your children?  

My mother loved the saying  ‘to give them roots and to give them wings’ and it’s a sentiment that has strongly stayed with me bringing up my own girls. I hope that they have innate confidence and curiosity to seek out new adventures and fully experience how vivid and varied this amazing world is, but equally for them to have a strong sense of grounding, stability and an ability to sometimes just be still in life. We need both movement and calm – you only really appreciate one if you have the other. 

Favourite holiday memories? 

Cornwall has a huge part in all of our hearts- we have been going with our best friends for well over a decade and I hope we continue making memories there for many years to come. We all just adore it down there, the place and the people. Again this sense of familiarity for the children is so important – it always feels like coming home when we drive around the headland at Polzeath and get our first glimpse of the sea. Our children have grown up there over the summers- we generally go straight from school the minute the girls break up and there is such a sense of anticipation, excitement and freedom as we drive down. From surfing in the rain, to long coastal walks, barbeques on the beach, golden sundowners with friends – it’s that kind of idyllic British summer that reminds me of the books I used to read when I was little like The Famous Five and Swallows & Amazons. More than exotic beaches and faraway islands, it’s that rugged, homegrown adventure that I have longed for for my children and I’m so grateful to our best friends who have taken us along on this beautiful Cornish journey with them. I have to mention how much I love the unpredictable weather is too. From Carribean skies to sheets of rain- you never know what you’re going to get but we head out in whatever the weather. It recalibrates us all and helps dilute in my girls any precious behaviour.

Something for the weekend?

If we’re not in West Sussex for the weekend and need a little moment as a family, we normally head to the Cotswolds. We’ve stayed in a couple on the Farncombe Estate, such as The Fish and Dormy House and also explored other sweet B & Bs and inns. Long walks and long pub lunches are what it’s all about. There is nothing quite like leaving the to do list at home and feeling your lungs full of fresh air. As the children get older, the longer the walks are becoming, which suits us well! 

Top tips for London with kids?

With any city break the best piece of advice I can give you with children is to take scooters. We recently went to Rome for a long weekend, packed all three scooters in one suitcase and had the most incredible time. No complaining about aching legs, and as a result we managed to see so much of the city and packed in heaps in the small amount of time we were there. I do love to walk and explore and one of the finest things to do in this beautiful city is to visit the Royal Parks

How do you document your family’s travel memories?

I’m forever intending to start a diary as I think it’s the most therapeutic and rewarding way of documenting life, but I never seem to be able to find the time and am just generally too tired. So, as I imagine is the case for most people, my camera does all the talking. I take images all the time. At some point I will have to take on the monumental project of editing and organising these but I’m happy to use my time now to snap away and fill up my retirement with that nostalgic task. 

A day to yourself – what are you doing?

I don’t actually remember a day I had all to myself, it’s been so very long! I’d probably, in reality, be so stunned I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. But ideally, a bit of culture. I do absolutely love going to see some art and the National Gallery always delivers- a long lunch possibly at Spring just because it’s so pretty there, a walk through London followed by a pot of Earl Grey in Claridge’s, a pedicure and foot massage and then to finish all this spoiling, a cinema visit to my local Everyman. There is no better way to wind down from the day than watching a movie with a glass of bubbly in hand. I wouldn’t step foot in a single shop- my life is spent looking at clothes and retail therapy is sometimes the last thing I feel like doing! 

 

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A post shared by ANNA BROMILOW (@anna_bromilow)

Heading ‘out out’. Where is your favourite spot?

I’m an old fashioned girl at heart, and I always gravitate towards the more traditional night spots. Dinner at Cecconi’s or Annabel’s – somewhere dark, glamorous and exciting just does it for me. I’m also really looking forward to the reopening of George where I’ve been a member for a few years. 

The best advice you would give to other mothers?

When I had my third child, a friend said, just give into the chaos. This was honestly the best advice I’ve been given with regards to parenting. I have perfectionist tendencies, and have learnt the hard way that you simply don’t have enough hours in the day (or energy) to control or nail everything. I’m trying not to be so hard on myself, and just do my best. This ultimately means that at the end of the day I will have failed at a number of things, but I’d rather have a messy, full life, than a simple, neat one. Also, laughter is absolutely key. Whenever I’m in a parenting rut (which is quite often now that my oldest is a teen) if I try to lighten the mood, this normally is a bit of a deal breaker. 

How do you do it?

Oh goodness, honestly, I just don’t. I am often stressed, often late, go to bed feeling exhausted and wake up feeling the same. I’m sporadic with my exercise, with my healthy eating and don’t generally have much ‘me’ time which I genuinely think is essential when trying to balance it all. But I do have real drive, a strong work ethic, huge love for my family, a very kind (though exceptionally busy) husband who has patience and such humour and always manages to lift my mood. I adore what I do and the career that I have created over the past decade and am very grateful to be thriving in this tough industry. When it all boils down, what really matters is the health and happiness of my girls, so reminding myself of this when the going gets tough helps level everything out. I do find that just trying my very best, laughing as much as possible, writing to do lists and drinking a fair amount of bubbly are my daily coping strategies! 

What’s next for you?

We are in the early stages of doing up our house in the country. It’s a very long term project but brings me continual joy and a sense of wonder about the future. I have various long term clients that are already filling up my hectic schedule for next year and some exciting new styling projects that are hotting up. But the real beauty about being freelance is that it is unpredictable and varied, you never quite know what the year has in store. I do love a new challenge and can’t wait to see where 2023 will take me.

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