Show Notes
Our stylish guest, Lauren Bravo, is known for writing on fashion, food, pop culture, travel, and feminism for outlets including Sunday Times Style, Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, and The Guardian. Lauren's first book, 'What Would The Spice Girls Do?', is a pop-culture look at girl power and 90s nostalgia. She says they weren't given much credit back in the day, but were so influential for a generation of girls like her growing up. She's always been obsessed with a second hand aesthetic, which she says she inherited from her parents and iconic grandmothers. She's always rocked a flamboyant style and says she was that kid going to sixth form with a vintage pillbox hat with a veil, so it was a natural progression for her to write a book called 'How To Break Up With Fast Fashion' — after taking on a year-long shopping ban in 2019, the book was published in 2020. She shares plenty of her tips for shopping on Vinted and successful charity shop bargain hunting, including looking for natural fibres and seeking out older brands. Learning how to layer is the key, and not being afraid to wear things out of season - a little summer dress with a roll neck underneath, for example. She says she finds that the men's section can often yield better quality jeans and shirts. Her novel 'Preloved' draws on her experience volunteering in a charity shop in London, where she encountered people from all walks of life. She is fascinated with the stories behind objects and the new life they get after they are bought in a charity shop, so this was fertile turf for her characters. She says her glamorous granny and nanny lived opposite each other and were great friends, and it was why her parents met in the first place. She says both of them were style icons and bought great quality pieces from charity shops. Lauren has inherited their coats and jewellery and brought her granny's cocktail ring to show us. It's a knuckle duster of a ring, given to her by her parents and made out of her great-grandfather's tie pin. Lauren wore it on her wedding day and any time she wants to feel fancy. A small round compact mirror from the Dubarry perfume company has a local link. Her parents gifted it to her as a graduation present. Coming from Worthing to Brighton on the train to sixth form, Lauren used to pass the art deco perfumery in Hove, and used to fantasise about living there with her friends, so this thoughtful gift from her Dad, tracked down on Ebay, means a lot to her. A match-box sized little green box revealed a suffragette brooch shaped as a letter 'C'. Her daughter loves to look at it, as her name begins with a 'C' too. It's made with peridot and an amethyst on a white stone background - the colours of the Suffragettes. People used to wear them to signal to other women they were fighting on the same side. Her last piece is from her thoughtful husband, Matt. He made her a book of all of her Worthing Herald columns, which she wrote weekly from the age of fourteen to twenty-six. She says most people commit their embarrassing teenage stories to their private diaries, but hers were all out in public. Still writing as a freelance journalist, Lauren's latest novel is 'Probably Nothing', about a woman named Bryony who gets drawn into her late boyfriend's family drama while dealing with worsening physical symptoms she keeps dismissing, exploring modern wellness culture and people-pleasing. When it comes to life hacks, Lauren says she's a born people pleaser and tries to remember her friend's mantra: "Don't put your name on stupid lists." She says the best piece of advice she ever got was from her granny, which she's passed onto many friends starting their first day at a new job: "Don't be scared. All you need to know is where the toilets are and how to get out." Follow her on social media @laurenbravo and subscribe to her Substack newsletter for her chatty pieces: Nobody Wanted This. To view our guests' special bits, please follow us on Instagram @showusyourbitspodca
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It’s breast cancer awareness month and we’re joined by the inspirational podcaster, author, journalist and food writer, Laura Price who tells us about her own breast cancer journey and how it has led to her living her best life. When Laura was first diagnosed at just twenty-nine, she wrote a list of all the places she wanted to go whilst she was in the chemo chair. She re-qualified as a magazine journalist, before unexpectedly landing her dream job working for The World’s Fifty Best Restaurants. She spent her thirties profiling some of the world’s most incredible chefs, sampling the top tasting menu spots around the globe from Bogota to San Francisco. She reveals that one of her favourite restaurants is a high-end Mexico, Kol in London. Her novel, Single Bald Female was inspired by her dating experience, when, having gone through treatment, she wrote an honest dating profile and found some wonderful matches as a result. In 2022, Laura was promoting the book on the Breast Cancer Now podcast, but she said it was the day before her hospital appointment that revealed that after ten years, her cancer had spread. She describes receiving the devastating news alone and how it felt to explain it to her future husband who was outside in the car. She was invited back to be the podcast host for The Breast Cancer Now podcast, which is widely considered to be the go-to podcast for people going through treatment, and Laura, who loves her job, says she’s met some wonderful people, including actor Lisa Riley and Sir Chris Hoy. She explains the challenges of living life the full whilst also planning for the future, but despite her diagnosis and the statistics she’s outliving, says she’s living a beautiful life full of hope, joy and optimism. Laura brought some special pieces to show us, including a cherry necklace from Portugal, a stack of precious airmail letters from her year off in Brazil, the medals she’s collected from her charity fund-raising events and a very special memento from the living funeral her friend who set up the charity Coppafeel. She says you can’t live every day like it’s your last, but she spends less time sweating the small stuff. When faced with an uncertain future, it’s important to find a way to make your dreams happen. Find Laura on instagram @laurapricewrites and The Breast Cancer Now podcast.
Publisher, successful author and a Swiftie, Harriet Evans joins us from Bath to tell us about the origins of her literary life and how being a catastrophist has helped her tell the stories that have earned her awards and legions of loyal readers. Regaling us with stories from the heyday of publishing in the 90’s, Harriet talks candidly about her love of books, her total lack of snobbery when it comes to a good story and how it feels to have insights as both a publisher and a writer.
Meet Lee Cooper who says it’s great to be a slashie and describes himself as a- fashion art director - slash- filmmaker - slash screenwriter slash author. Lee says he’s always been a story teller, and as a fashion marketeer has opened stores for many famous brands including Jigsaw and The White Stuff. After a film making course, Lee has pivoted into film making. His documentary ‘Maisie’ follows the oldest performing drag queen in the UK. Drawn to his long, colourful life, Lee says Maisie was still performing into his 80’s and Lee had unprecedented behind the scenes access and make a beautiful, powerfully honest film about a man dealing with cognitive decline and ageing. HIs latest project is ‘Backstairs Billy’ - another project Lee describes about being as another saucy old queen. It tells the story of the late Queen Mother’s most trusted servant. Lee regales us with some great stories about what actually went on in Clarence House.Lee says he’s a collector of stuff - or a ‘curated hoarder’ - but brought some fascinating pieces to show us including pictures of Bonnie and Bo his beloved Lhasa Apso dogs. The second caught Alice’s attention - a rubber replica of Salacious Crumb, the space monkey from the Star Wars films. Since seeing the first Star Wars film as a child, Lee says he’s been a secret Star Wars nerd. His loft is crammed with figurines that he hopes to use in a future film project. Lee says his great love is the ceremony of breakfast, done properly hotel-style, with a tea pot, china and toast rack - only eaten at midday. He brought his treasured old butter knife picked up in a vintage store and a little pot of jam.He says living in a post truth world, story if more important than ever. It’s so easy to get caught up in the everyday, so his mantra is to not sweat the small stuff. Find Lee on Instagram @leecoopercreative. To view our guests' special bits, please follow us on Instagram @showusyourbitspodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Career guru, Sunday Times bestselling author and podcast host Helen Topper says that she was always so independent that she didn’t even tell her Mum she was leaving for Uni until the morning she went.
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