FIT FOR REPURPOSE

Stepping into Mary Fellowes’s Kensal Green property is like arriving home. The smell of cinnamon wafting down the corridor only adds to the cosy feel. On arrival, the fashion stylist leads us through to the kitchen – a space that skilfully combines rustic and industrial.

“Originally, this was a tiny, dark parlour,” she says of the breezy room that also serves as a dining and lounge area.

“I rebuilt this house 11 years ago. I kept the four outside walls, the staircase, the tiles [that were hidden under a carpet] and the stained glass. Everything else was rebuilt and came from skips and salvage yards. I’m not saying I was there first, but it wasn’t trendy back then to up-cycle materials.”

However, she admits she couldn’t give “a toss” about trends, a similar mantra she applies to her work that includes dressing VIPs such as actresses Olivia Colman, Sian Clifford and Elizabeth McGovern.

“We’ve reached a point where we are constantly pushing trends, which generates fast-fashion and that