Meet My Sister
You'll love her!
Being a sister is an incredible gift and a true privilege that women experience. We are, of course, obsessed with the nature of sisterhood – having been inspired by the bonds and creativity that sprung from being sisters ourselves. But over the last year, we realised that being a sister goes much further than the woman you grew up with.
For us, being a sister is about reflection. It’s that unique moment of growth and maturity that can happen in tandem with the person who you came of age with, and who you are most likely incredibly different from, but find this contrast makes your growth together even more powerful. For us sisterhood has been a tool, a powerful asset to our lives – one that is also the beating heart of our business!
Reflecting on the power in these sisterly bonds over the last few weeks, we wanted to round up the sisters throughout time who seem to have utilised the power of sisterhood too.
Millie and Kathryn
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Serena and Venus Williams
These women clearly need no introduction in the career-enabling power of being a sister. Queens of their profession, they’ve trained together since they were children – going on to become tennis champions worldwide. “For the younger sisters, we always look up to the older sisters” Serena has said about her older sister Venus, “because they are always ahead of us, and they always win”. This mix of challenge and inspiration has made them two of the most successful sisters in the world. And conversely, Serena recently commented that she was “the older sister, acting like the younger sister”.
Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret
There’s a Cecil Beaton portrait of Elizabeth and Margaret photographed in 1946 that encapsulates the strength and tenderness of being a sister. In it, the queen sits still whilst her sister gently places her hands on her shoulders. The tensions between the two women throughout their lives are incredibly relatable to sisters across the world. This photo, with its ethereal beauty mixed with sisterly solidarity, shows that both can be true – love and conflict.
Jackie Onasis and Lee Radzwill
Of course, Jackie O’s pillbox hats and neat little Chanel suits are the stylings of fashion history, but we’ve always loved the way Jackie’s younger sister Lee dressed – from her 1970s pant suits to her elegantly knotted silk Hermes head scarves. But even more, we love how they looked when they were strolling around New York together and highlighting the power in each other’s personal style, in double breasted thick wool coats in creamy ivory white and contrasting purple, with chunky roll neck sweaters underneath. We have a particular soft spot for Lee, who was known in her friendship circle for her warmth and loyal friendship. She remained lifelong best friends with former Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley, and the two spoke most days.
The Mitford sisters
The Mitford sisters are some of the most fascinating sisters in British history. Well, we certainly think so (Kathryn has read every book about them). There were six of them, Unity, Jessica, Diana, Nancy, Deborah and Pamela – and as is the way it often goes with sisters, all of them took very different paths in life. Many of them were considered radicals of their time, controversially campaigning for political parties on the left and right. Nancy Mitford is the most famous of the sisters and wrote the much-loved novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. But it was Diana who campaigned relentlessly for women’s rights when women still did not have the right to vote, and Jessica’s The American Way of Death, a globally bestselling expose of the funeral industry – that changed British culture as we know it today.