Mothers and coolness might sound like a clashing combination, but they are coalescing style-wise like never before.
The ever fashion-conscious Rihanna, Gigi Hadid and Hailey Bieber certainly qualify. But author Terry Newman’s new book “Cool Mothers: An Appreciation of Style” focuses on other fashion arbiters like Jane Birkin, Vivienne Westwood, Kate Moss, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Taylor Swift’s mother Andrea and Rosita Missoni, along with her daughter Angela and granddaughter Margherita Missoni.
While Lila Moss refers to dipping into her supermodel mother’s drawer to steal old rock T-shirts with a Rolling Stones one being a favorite, this illustrated page-turner is more of a celebration of mothers’ style than a how-to tutorial. The featured mothers’ personal style choices relay individualism, assuredness and confidence in their kin, Newman said in a recent interview.
While the unlikely fashion trend of wearing a false bump called “The Pad” took hold in 1793 and Jeanne Lanvin introduced the mommy-and-me look in 1897, Newman’s exploration of mothers’ coolness is definitively more contemporary. Adroit at delving into what wardrobes reveal about a person, Newman has published other books about Harry Styles, BTS and Marilyn Monroe.
All of the above come down to “writing mini biographies of people through their clothes,” she said. (Readers might examine their own closets as a different means for self reflection.
Indubitably, mothers are having a moment culturally and politically. The Tradwife movement continues to gain traction on social media, thanks to influencers like Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neeleman who has 10.3 million followers on Instagram alone. But Newman’s interest in stylish mothers lies in peering into the character of women somewhat through their roles as mothers. “It’s not necessarily a matter of thinking that cool mums are young or fashionable and effortlessly glamorous,” she said.
The Hole musician Love’s inclusion was a must for Newman, who believed that she’d been given a bad rap as a young mother. Recalling her reporting days for outlets like i-D and Self Service, Newman said that the Hole front woman was the only woman she could find on the red carpet “accessorized with a baby” [Frances Bean Cobain] and both were dressed in vintage finds.
The impetus for “Cool Mothers” stemmed from Newman losing her own mother a few years ago. After discovering diaries and a photo album with some “amazing” snapshots of her late mother at the age of 16 that made the author realize how different her mother seemed to be from the person that she knew.
Ahead of next summer’s 30th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, Newman noted how the former royal served as a de facto mother figure for many in the U.K. Noting how the late princess “was very much told what to do, what to wear, how to behave and had to be subservient to her husband, who apparently, was having an affair before they were married,” Newman said, “All of these things kind of pigeonholed her into this sort of trad wife type of world.”
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Diana, Princess of Wales with Eton housemaster Dr, Andrew Gailey, Prince Harry, Prince William, and then Prince Charles outside of Manor House on Prince William’s first day at Eton College in Eton on September 6, 1995.
She continued, “But as Diana matured, flourished and started to assume her own identity, she went from this sort of trad-wife, wallflower wearing frilled blouses and things that her mother would have worn, into [someone who was] dancing into the night wearing Galliano.“
Another sure sign of her coolness was how Princess Diana dressed her own children, “one of which will be the heir to the throne [Prince William], in jeans, which had never been seen before in the royal family.”
Other fashion types like Cora Corré opened up about her punk-leaning grandmother Vivienne Westwood, as did her mother Serena Rees, the Agent Provacateur founder. A photo of Elizabeth Taylor and her daughter wearing Dior couture at a fair made Newman track down one of Taylor’s granddaughters. Newman recalled, “She said, ‘Granny loved diamonds and everything. But if you gave her a ring from a [Christmas] cracker, she’d wear it just as proudly alongside of all her diamonds.'”
While some daughters look at photos to pick up fashion cues from their mothers, Taylor’s similarly shaped granddaughter did so by watching some of the Oscar winner’s films. Newman also flagged how Judy Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft once observed how most women couldn’t go to a convention where thousands of people “could be dressed as your dead mother in identical clothes.” All in all, cool mothers offer other insights.
“In a way, maybe the coolest mothers were the ones, who allowed their children to be, who they wanted to be. They weren’t necessarily the perfect mother. In fact, I came to the conclusion that perfection is the opposite of cool,” Newman said. “It’s more about women, who have a strong sense of themselves. They allow their children to see them as complicated people with careers, making mistakes and have accumulated experiences.”
Punk rock group “Sex Pistols” manager Malcolm McLaren and designer Vivianne Westwood seen here outside Bow Street Magistrate Court, after being remanded on bail for fighting on June 8, 1977.
Through their roles as creative directors, founders, designers, tastemakers and cultural figures, mothers are out in the public sphere on their own terms, Newman said. “‘Cool’ is sort of a throwaway word, but what does it actually mean in motherhood?” she said. “Some of the coolest women have lived these lives without losing curiosity, style or a sense for themselves.”
Courtney Love, Frances Bean Cobain, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
Noting how literature, including feminist literature, highlights how some people lose their individuality in motherhood, Newman emphasized how all of the mothers featured in her book managed to keep a sense of themselves. From the late Westwood wearing a punk T-shirt to Love favoring vintage grunge, “they all kept their ambition and individuality,” Newman said. Ditto for the late singer and dancer Josephine Baker, who was in her late 40s when she adopted what would be the first of 12 children. And who would expect a snapshot of the designer Lulu Guinness as a chubby topless toddler on the beach with her mother?
Lulu Guinness on the beach with her mother in 1960.
Suggesting that Conde Nast’s global chief content officer Anna Wintour is “somewhat seen as this absolutely ball-breaking career woman,” Newman said she wanted to include her, since she is also a mother. “Women do get pigeonholed, if they are suddenly influential or significant. Actually, that’s what makes up being a mother as well. They shouldn’t be seen as in this perfect formula,” Newman said.
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