HAPPY 2026!
We hope you’re all enjoying the reset a new year brings. Personally, I hate all the rules people try to add on for the new year; all the no drinking, no spending, new year and new you directives feel too arbitrary.
I like to think of January as relax and ease into it. It’s the time to make some plans and look at the overview. What will you read, cook, buy? Where will you travel to, eat out, visit? January is a cozy spot to plan and don’t let anyone judge.
With that said, we are very excited for the publication of Strangers, a memoir by Belle Burden.
As the New York Times wrote; “The book, a work of plain-spoken devastation and emotional acuity, reads like a love story and a horror story and, in one nail-biting section, like a financial thriller”.
We’re delighted that Belle, a dear friend, my beloved sister-in-law, and loyal client of HelloTailor, is kicking off our new series of asking friends for insight onto their style and closets.
I know you always wanted to be a writer but you were discouraged by a classmate in college. How does it feel to be writing again?
It’s pretty amazing to rediscover this part of myself in my 50s. I don’t think I would have found it again if I’d stayed married. I am happiest when I’m writing, even when it’s hard (and it’s hard!).
When do you write? What do you wear?
I write very early, starting at 5am or 6am. I like the quiet and my brain functions the best at that hour. I wear my pajamas and a cardigan fisherman’s sweater to stay warm.
Now that you have to go on a book tour and have to be interviewed, have you changed your approach to dressing?
I’ve already been through a few stages in this. I thought I wanted dressier clothes, more skirts and dresses, more color, but I’ve discovered I feel most confident in pants and my regular neutral palate. It’s a vulnerable story so I need to feel strong in my clothes. And like I’m myself.
What’s the oldest piece in your closet that you still love?
I have a J.Crew black shift dress you and I both bought in the mid-1990s. It still fits!
What pieces have you altered that you love?
You altered one of my father’s jackets for me. It is caramel brown suede, very 1970s. There is still some of his tobacco in the pockets. You made it more fitted and feminine. I love it.
Any closet advice you’d like to share?
Have someone you trust and admire help you purge. They should be brutal and have a sense of humor, just like my sister-in-law. It is so much easier to see what you have, and not get confused, if it’s really pared down.