Briony Whitehouse AKA Miss B
Well, one side of it at least. In fact, the eloquent 29-year-old leads somewhat of a double life. Yet this is no shadowy tale of espionage, but one of politics versus fashion.
A beguiling and award winning sartorial blogger by night, Briony, (known as Miss B to her avid followers), will by day be found running about Whitehall as a political advisor. “They’re not natural partners,” she admits. “It is a bit uncommon, but I love both in equal measure.”
Her blog, A Girl, A Style, isn’t stuffed with the secretive style dilemmas and disasters of cabinet ministers and party officials either (sadly), instead, the ‘Australian girl in Cambridge’ decided to start tapping out her stylish musings as a way of being creative outside of politics, and hasn’t looked back since.
“It’s my rose-tinted view of anything that I like really,” she explains, promising that the blog isn’t just about fashion, but food, travel, beauty and the cities she adores, particularly Cambridge (“It’s so beautiful!”) where she lives with her boyfriend who works for the university.
Three years on and her clandestine project has earned her the coveted title of Red Magazine’s Best Fashion Blogger of the year 2011 in Red’s Hot Women: 20 under 30 awards, and a ‘highly commended’ at Cosmopolitan’s 2011 blog awards. “I was just expecting my two best friends to read it!” she laughs, pleasantly surprised by how much her little nook of the internet has grown. “I’m still blown away by the support of my readers, they are so dedicated and encouraging and loyal; it’s turned into such a little community.”
That community amounts to almost 60,000 ardent readers, and, with a frantic day job to contend with too, it’s impressive that Briony manages to so gracefully and successfully manage the two. “I’m still learning how to juggle it all,” she tells me, snatching a moment during her lunch break for a chat. “Lack of sleep… I never lack things to write about and share, there are always so many great things happening. It’s finding the time to get it all down that’s the problem.
“I’m my own worst critic. I feel horribly guilty if I haven’t posted for a week.”
When she does have time to post, it’s definitely worth the wait. An enchanting antidote to the unaffordable frippery that so often spills from high-end fashion magazines, A Girl, A Style is just as luxurious but much more accessible: “Glossy magazines are always perfect, filled with supermodels, and it can be hard to relate, but I’m a real girl, a normal size, have a normal job, I think people can relate to that.”
“I never take things too seriously,” she says, explaining the popularity of the blog, and that extends to her wardrobe too. “My style is a strange mix between hyper feminine and very girly, and preppy, collegiate, a bit Oxbridge boy – always with a fun twist. A friend recently described it as ‘chic with a wink’.”
All these themes weave effortlessly through A Girl, A Style, just like her passion for the city, one of Briony’s major inspirations. “I love Cambridge,” she says, bubbling over with enthusiasm. “We need to support our independent shops more though. There aren’t enough boutiques, it’s more little independent art galleries. I’d like to see a lot more independent stores.”
Citing Ark as the perfect haven for home bits, gifts and vintage, you’ll also find Briony pottering around King Street’s Guilio for designer pieces (“When I’m feeling in need of a splurge!”) and is head over heels with a silver satchel from The Cambridge Satchel Company that’s she’s planning on carrying all summer long.
For now though, aside from talk of an A Girl, A Style book possibly happening at some point, Briony would just be happy to see more people getting involved with the city’s online writing scene.
“I would like to see more Cambridge fashion bloggers,” she enthuses. “I think I’m the only one at the moment. There are lots of craft and foodie bloggers, but there’s so much potential here, it’s a very stylish city, people are very quirky, but I would love to see more blog love for Cambridge – sometimes I think I’m Cambridge’s biggest fan.”
And with that, she whirls off, back to her high-powered yet magical and oh-so-stylish double life. In fact, she’d probably make rather a good spy.
Find Briony’s blog at http://agirlastyle.com, contact her via Twitter @AGirlAStyle and discover more about her stylish world on Pinterest.
First published by the Cambridge News.
Ribbon and Rope 