Zoe: Hi Hadley, thanks for taking the time to talk to me! I really enjoyed your book The Meaning of Sunglasses; it's one of my favourites. Do you have plans to write another?
Hadley: Thank you, that's so kind of you. I actually am writing another – I call it The Inevitable Novel. It may well never see the light of day, as I'm increasingly thinking of it as The Inevitably Awful Novel.
Zoe: I’m curious to find out more about your background. I know you studied at Oxford, but tell me a little bit about your journey from student to fashion writer. How old were you when you started at the Guardian? Was it a job you campaigned for, or did it ‘just happen’?
Hadley: It did actually just happen. When I was at university I wrote for and edited the student paper. My mum's neighbour saw an advert for a writing competition in the Daily Telegraph for young women writers and suggested I give it a go. I submitted an interview I recently did and forgot all about it. At the end of the year, someone from the Daily Telegraph phoned up and asked me to come to the finalist's ceremony, but I was doing my Finals at university then so grumpily said no and sent my mum instead. She went and then had to get up and accept the prize for me as, against all odds, I won. They could see from that moment that I was a great professional. The Guardian then phoned me and asked me to start writing for the G2 magazine. I then took a post-university gap year and lived for a few months in Italy, then Paris, where it is hard not to find fashion stories so I wrote a couple for the Guardian's then fashion editor, Laura Craik. Then when I returned to London, the Guardian offered me a job on the fashion desk.
Zoe: Why did you become a fashion writer? Had it been a goal - was the fashion industry an area of interest for you?
Hadley: Definitely not. Actually, I wanted to be a film critic and spent a lot of school holidays doing work experience for the film critics on the Daily Telegraph and the Observer. This basically meant just going to movies with them and going out for big lunches with them in Soho. This seemed like a brilliant way to make a living. But then when I started on the fashion desk and going to shows in New York and Paris, that didn't seem too bad, either.
Zoe: You’ve got a Facebook fan page and legions of Hadley fans. Do you feel “famous”, or at least well known?
Hadley: No! I'm just a journalist, I'd never think of myself as famous. I always think that the only people who look at bylines are other journalists.
Zoe: I like to hear about the creative process of other writers - do they write stream of conscious style or do they meticulously plan paragraphs and sentences? How do you write?
Hadley: I basically just write how I speak, so I guess I fall more into the stream of consciousness camp.
Zoe: One of the things that I like most about your work is that it’s about fashion - which is stereotypically frivolous and a bit, well, fluffy - but it often touches on elements of feminism. Is this of interest for you? Would you call yourself a feminist?
Hadley: Well, feminism just means believing men and women should have equal rights so anyone who doesn't consider themselves a feminist is clearly a bit weird. It is an interest of mine, of course, but usually I'm just trying to show that fashion doesn't have to be the anti-woman industry it is often portrayed as being. It should be fun, not about being made to feel guilty because you're not a size 8.
Zoe: You have written for some incredible publications. Do you feel young to have achieved so much?
Hadley: No, I don't really feel that young – I am, after all, 31 - but I do feel incredibly lucky. I truly had no idea what I was going to do when I finished university so I was very fortunate that the Guardian offered me a job.
Zoe: Do you have any mentors at any of the publications that you've worked for?
Hadley: I was very lucky to be working under Jess Cartner-Morley, who is the Guardian's fashion editor and just the loveliest, most forgiving and most ego-free woman you could ever imagine. Ian Katz, who was the features editor when I arrived and now the deputy editor of the paper, was the person who called me up when at university and then offered me a job, and I would really lay down my life for him - he is a fantastic boss, even if he did once make me try to fake bomb The Sun (long story). Katharine Viner, who was the editor of the Guardian's Saturday magazine when I arrived and now the paper's deputy editor with Ian, has also been extremely kind and supportive. And finally, Marina Hyde, who is a columnist on the paper, is one of my dearest friends and definitely a mentor. Wow, I feel like Kate Winslet making an Oscars speech!
Zoe: What is [UK Vogue editor] Alexandra Schulman like?
Hadley: Alex is great. She signed me on as a contributing editor when I was, I think, 24 and even more clueless than I am now so I'll always be grateful to her for taking such a risk.
Zoe: What are your thoughts on the idea that "print is dead"?
Hadley: Well, I don't believe it but then, I have only just bought an iPod so my grasp on modernity is not the best.
Zoe: You have talked about being banned from fashion shows before – who was the first designer to ban you from a show? Does it affect you at all or do you just laugh it off?
Hadley: Umm...I think it was Gaultier, though there have been many more. No it doesn't affect me, other than giving me a free hour during the day to have a hot chocolate, or whatever. I find it hilarious that designers think they should "ban" critics for giving them bad reviews. Clearly the concept of the "free press" has not reached certain design ateliers.
Zoe: Fashion is a small industry, and I sometimes imagine the young London fashion scene hanging out in East London bars talking about last night’s party - are you friends with designers or other people in the industry, or do you make an effort to be quite removed from it?
Hadley: No, I’m not really friends with designers at all. I know some, of course, from doing interviews and I have good friends who are fashion journalists that I've met through my job but I definitely do not spend my evenings hanging with colleagues and talking about fashion. And I never go to fashion parties, aka the 7th circle of hell.
Zoe: I find that it’s easy to get a little bit cynical when writing about fashion, especially when talking about trends…do you ever get jaded by it? How do you keep inspired?
Hadley: I just write what I like. I really couldn't give a stuff about trends. Why should I - or anyone else - wear big shoulders this season just because three designers think we should? I just try to write stuff that I think will make people nod in recognition or agreement, and maybe occasionally make a terrible joke.
Zoe: What do you love most about fashion?
Hadley: It's fun - there's no denying that. And it is, beyond the cliched crust, a very interesting industry. And I like the challenge of trying to make a somewhat un-Guardian subject accessible to Guardian readers.
Zoe: You are probably sick of talking about this, but as a massive Spice Girl fan I think it’s amazing that you ghost wrote Victoria Beckham’s style guide, That Extra Half An Inch. How did that happen?
Hadley: I think Victoria had seen my stuff in Vogue and so her agent approached me through Penguin and that was that.
Zoe: Did you get to hang out with her? What was she like?
Hadley: I hung out with her in Madrid for about three weeks and then we met up again a couple of times afterwards and we still occasionally see each other now. I know this is going to sound very dull but, honestly, she was totally lovely and very generous. David, too. As well as being very easy to work with, she has been very kind since, which she really doesn't have to be. I never expect celebrities to remember me after I interview them for the paper, or whatever, but Victoria has been the exception to that rule.
Zoe: Were (or are) you a Spice Girl fan?
Hadley: Not really - I was more of a Take Thatter.
Zoe: People ask for your advice on how they should dress - how do you dress?
Hadley: Like my mother: short dresses with flat shoes or shorts with a T-Shirt and flat shoes.
Zoe: Who are your favourite fashion designers?
Hadley: Chanel, Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga, when it's not too sci-fi weirdy weirdo. I used to love Rochas when Olivier Theyskens was there and I like Lanvin, but that's mainly because I fancy Alber Elbaz.
Zoe: Who are your favourite writers?
Hadley: Melissa Bank, Curtis Sittenfeld, Edward St Aubyn, Maureen Dowd and Marina Hyde.
Zoe: Favourite magazine?
Hadley: Smash Hits, tragically defunct that it may now be.
Zoe: Your favourite movie?
Hadley: Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Zoe: What were the last five songs that you listened to on your iPod?
Hadley: Waiting for a Star to Fall by Boy Meets Girl, Just Like Heaven by The Cure, Juicy by Notorious BIG, Burning Up by Madonna, Paper Planes by M.I.A, Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode. I'm currently on shuffle and had to look that up.
Zoe: So Much To Tell You is very much about focusing on and celebrating little joys - so what are some of the little things in life that make you happy?
Hadley: Curling up on my day bed and watching my Adam & Joe DVD and eating baked beans on toast. Kate Moss wishes she was as cool as me.
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