Amanda Wakeley: StyleDNA

In this week’s episode of Style DNA I go on a style journey with the impressive founder and CEO of the ultra high-end resale platform Sellier, the brilliant Hanushka Toni.

Hanushka didn’t set out to build one of the most talked-about luxury resale businesses in Europe. The story actually begins with her mother, Dina, who opened a tiny consignment boutique in Knightsbridge simply for the love of beautiful designer pieces. When Covid hit and the doors closed, Hanushka stepped in with nothing more than her iPhone… and started live-selling from the shop floor.

Sellier now operates at the very top end of the resale market, with an average order value of around £3,500 per item — extraordinary by any e-commerce standard. We talk about the psychology of luxury handbags, the mystique of Hermès, the waiting lists, and why often a pre-loved Birkin can command more than its retail price…

Hanushka admits to owning over 600 bags (yes, you read that right), including more than 150 by Hermès. She describes herself as a mood dresser — starting with colour and energy before selecting the perfect companion from her enormous collection…

Hanushka has a wonderfully entrepreneurial side to her …she tells me about the inspiration for her newly launched “female intimate moisture melt”… genuinely clever!

There is something incredibly honest about Hanushka. She speaks candidly about post-baby body confidence, about being prejudged in business, about dressing to project power — and about the moment, only a few years ago, when she truly discovered her own Style DNA. She certainly has a passion for fashion and the circularity of it.

This is a conversation about ambition, image, luxury, reinvention… and the emotional power of a handbag.

This week on Style DNA I go on a style journey with the brilliant British British designer and creative director Clare Waight Keller — a woman whose career has quietly shaped modern fashion as we know it.
From working with Calvin and then Ralph, to leading Chloé and Pringle to becoming the first female Artistic Director at Givenchy, where she reopened couture and designed the wedding gown for Meghan Markle - Clare’s career is nothing short of extraordinary. She now sits at the helm of women’s and menswear at Uniqlo, overseeing a $23 billion global business.
We talk about being “given the keys” to Givenchy, immersing herself in Hubert de Givenchy’s archives, and the responsibility of reviving couture in a modern world. She shares what it felt like to meet him in Paris shortly before he passed away — a moment that clearly left its mark.
Of course, we revisit the morning of the royal wedding — the precision, the pressure, the veil, the steps… no rehearsal, just instinct and absolute focus.
But equally fascinating is Clare’s upbringing in Birmingham, learning to sew alongside her mother, sourcing fabrics from the local rag market, and how that early discipline shaped everything that followed.
Her own Style DNA? “Tailored. Tonal. With a touch of femininity.”
That tension between sharp structure and romantic softness feels very modern woman to me.
We also discuss motherhood in a high-pressure industry, why there are still so few female creative directors, sustainability as longevity (not trend), and the power of a great coat — she owns over 60.
Elegant, intelligent, generous and quietly measured — this is a conversation I absolutely loved.
I hope you enjoy it.

In this episode of Style DNA I have a fascinating conversation with the International News Anchor and Lead World News Presenter for Sky News Yalda Hakim. Yalda is an Afghan-born Australian broadcast journalist, Lead World News presenter for Sky News, and documentary maker. She was one of the chief presenters at BBC News broadcasting in English in the UK and globally. Known for her on-the-ground reporting and in-depth interviews, she has covered major global events from conflict zones including Gaza, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Darfur, as well as key political moments shaping world affairs.

Her work is marked by access to high-level decision makers, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a focus on bringing clarity and context to complex international stories. Born in Kabul and raised in Australia after leaving Afghanistan as a child refugee, Hakim has built a two-decade career in international journalism and documentary filmmaking. She is recognised for holding leaders to account while telling human stories behind global politics. Beyond broadcasting, she founded the Yalda Hakim Foundation, which supports education and mentorship opportunities for Afghan girls.
 
Yalda offers so many insights about her style journey.
 
She is very aware of the gravity of her ability to communicate the story accurately.  I ask her about her thought process as to what she wears for specific interviews. She says she gravitates towards black as her power colour whereas many other journalists wear colour in the belief that they will stand out in the crowd. 
 
She tells me about learning to manage her emotions and getting in the zone before a massive broadcast which she generally does in her “safe space” the hair and makeup chair…once ready her ritual is to look in the mirror and tells herself “You have got this”… and watching her as much as I do on Sky News she absolutely does!
 
I ask her who was the most intimidating person she has ever interviewed… the Dalai Lama who she says has so such a powerful presence…. What did she wear? A mustard velvet Dolce and Gabbana jacket which symbiotically toned with his His Holiness’s saffron robes. She says it was an instinctive decision…lovely.
 
Her insights into the world of women in Afghanistan and the Taliban are fascinating… and truly sad particularly when told by an Afghan woman whose life is so different to what it could have been had her parents not taken the brave and bold decision to flee their homeland when they did. 
 
Yalda recalls that when Kabul fell, a heartbreaking moment, she reached out to a handful of powerful women to help get 1000 young women and girls evacuated.  She singles out Tory Burch, who has a woman’s foundation, as someone who dug deep and engaged with the mission from start to end.  Tory gifted Yalda a beautiful white jacket which is particularly precious as it reminds her of both the pain of the moment but also the power of the sisterhood to make a difference.
 
We talk about her approach to sustainable fashion and she tells me that she did a piece on the Rana Plaza disaster and the precarious other sweat shops that she visited in the area. She has seen the impact of fast fashion up close …as she says “we need to think about why something might be only £6.00… why is it so cheap?”… clearly because the makers are not being paid a living wage.
 
Unsurprisingly Yalda is fabulously eloquent and wonderfully open…Her words paint such powerful pictures of her extraordinary life …
 
Thank you for allowing me to turn the tables and make you the interviewee Yalda…this conversation was a real privilege xx

In this episode of Style DNA I go on a style journey with the English TV and Radio Presenter, Actress and Model the gorgeous, glamorous and very down to earth Kelly Brook.
 
We talk about how as a child she wanted to be a ballet dancer but her body had different ideas and in her teens she became a glamour model…as she says “I had a child’s face and a porn star body”.  That her body didn’t represent the young woman she was. It took a while for the body,  the brain and the soul to connect.  The late 90’s was a time dominated by waifish aesthetics and she stood out as a modern pin-up, reshaping mainstream ideas of beauty with a confident, fuller-busted silhouette. She is very open about how long it has taken her to accept her looks and her body…
 
I ask her about her amazing confidence and what she put that down to …she admits to imposter syndrome especially in the presence of all of the brilliant journalists on Loose Women, which she appears on regularly. She admits to wanting to keep learning.   She talks about curling her hair and getting out of the door…she never thinks that she is the finished article and she doesn’t mind that …nor should any of us IMHO.
 
And then I ask her about her body confidence – she puts that down to her husband, Jeremy Parisi, who she says loves her body and her curves.  She says she was an 8-10 dress size when she met him and is now 12-14 and how he has never even commented on that. She feels a responsibility to be confident and honest about how her body looks, insisting that the images from the recent shoot for her Kelly Brook for Next swimwear edit were not heavily retouched (because it is so easy to tweak pictures), but she wants to show who she is and what her body is and feels that this is an important part of how things get moved along. Bravo…brave, refreshing and inspiring.
 
Over the years Kelly has been voted FHMs sexiest woman in the world, she has graced the cover of American Playboy and as the glamour model that she was ….the pin-up on millions of young men’s bedroom walls so I wanted to discuss the aging process with her. In her pragmatic and honest manner she says she is comfortable with the it in this age obsessed world …she says that she is all about quality over quantity, definitely feeling happier as she gets older…yes!
 
Kelly currently hosts the  London Drive Show on Heart Radio with Jason King which is now the No 1 Commercial Drive Time show in the country.
 
I loved this positive, honest and quite frankly joyous conversation …thank you Kelly for being a wonderful opening guest for season 10 x

For the season finale of Style DNA I go on a style journey with the English model, television personality, author and serving Police Constable the glorious Penny Lancaster.
 
Penny counts herself as incredibly lucky. She had a loving upbringing, her life with husband Rod Stewart has spanned continents, she’s made incredible friendships, become part of an amazing family and embraced motherhood. But it’s not all been plain-sailing. From being relentlessly bullied at school and underestimated because of undiagnosed dyslexia, Penny also experienced a harrowing sexual assault as a young girl. This has made her a staunch campaigner for women’s safety and, these days, she regularly puts in hours as a Special Constable for the City of London Police, where her primary concern is making the streets safe for women. She’s also navigated the challenges of having the weight of the world’s scrutiny thrust upon her in her twenties, undergone IVF treatment, supported her husband through a cancer diagnosis and overcome her own depression as she manoeuvred through menopause. Amongst a heady mix of royalty, rock legends and renegades, her story is one of resilience. 
 
Penny has recently published a book Someone Like Me,  and in it she tells her full story for the first time, with a natural empathy and humour that she hopes will help others on their own life journey. She shares her wisdom from hard-earned lessons, including “the shame” of a sexual assault,  showing that the key to navigating both storms and sunshine is staying true to you.
 
Penny is delightfully open about her struggles with her weight over the years…from being “too skinny” as a child, to “not skinny enough” when she started modelling and the lengths she went to to be  “model size”… all the way through to the side effects that several rounds of IVF, 2 pregnancies, lockdown eating and the menopause had on her body… she is still not fully comfortable in her own skin …
 
Of course I ask her about her life with Rod from how she met him (in a nightclub), to being whisked off to the Bahamas when she was still a student studying photography only to find a wardrobe full of designer clothes on arrival that Rod had personally selected and bought for her (so thoughtful and romantic in my book), to their personal struggles with health (his cancer diagnosis) and their wonderful life as a blended family.
 
When I ask her how Rod would describe her Style DNA in 3 words she immediately says Sexy Hot Legs… she is just that…and so much more, warm, self-deprecating and hugely grateful for the life that she lives.
 
I hope you enjoy this conversation. Thank you @penny.lancaster for being such a great guest xx