Kate Reardon quotes:

Anya Hindmarch is indeed a handbag designer; she has the requisite fabulous life, tasteful home, and loving husband. She is also beautiful and self-deprecating, and has five children aged 5 to 20 and a philanthropic bent which spans causes from cancer care to Britain's Conservative Party.

No matter how irrelevant social class now is, even the most eager egalitarian must be quietly proud that the posh English rose is still an industry standard for peerlessly sophisticated beauty.

A good education gives you confidence to stick up your hand for anything - whether it is the job you want, or the bloke. And the more you stick up your hand, the better your chances are that you will get what you want.

The Queen's wedding dress in 1947, there was some embroidery on the train which was definitely there to illustrate new dawn/post-war optimism, that sort of thing.

In falling over in heels while trying to look attractive, you don't just hurt your body, you bear the humiliation of injuring your very soul. Physical pain? Whatever, bring it on. But the humiliation? Oh, you have seen to the very weakest part of me.

When you first hear the name 'Max Irons,' you'd be forgiven for assuming that Marvel comics has come up with a new superhero.

It's stupid to say that there's any comfort to be had in 'knowing your place,' but there is a sense of reassuring escapism to something like 'Downton Abbey.' There's a perceived romance and elegance that is wonderful to lose yourself in.

I can count on one hand the number of people who wrote me a thank you letter after having an interview, and I gave almost all of them a job.

Luck is going to play a huge part in your life.

My favourite thing in my wardrobe is my jewelry.

Posh is a way of living that can often be quite miserly and not about money.

A good school teaches you resilience - that ability to bounce back.

There's a particularly British wariness of appearing to try too hard. It's somehow distasteful. Everything should come to us seamlessly and, if you have to work at it, you're somehow a loser.

It doesn't matter how many A-levels you have, what kind of a degree you have, if you have good manners, people will like you.

The trouble with glossy magazines is that they tend to be stuffed with articles about handbag designers - the sort of women who, with their perfectly styled lives, immaculate houses, and adoring partners, make you want to become a hermit.

I have a beautiful Hellenistic gold and garnet ring - it's more than 2,200 years old, but it looks very modern.

Personal shoppers in big department stores are seriously under-used.

Polo drifts gently in and out of fashion.

By doing, you become employable. It doesn't matter what the job is; by working, you learn new things, meet new people and are exposed to new ideas.

There is something enormously compelling about Fran Cutler. She is a thrilling bundle of energy and enthusiasm.

Every time I put on high heels, I think: 'Well, I'll fall over today.' Almost always, I don't. Almost. But all high-heel-wearing women live in constant peril.

Being chaotic isn't cute.

Each dress symbolizes the age that it's appropriate for.

The modern world is a meritocracy where you earn your own luck, old school ties count for nothing, and inherited privilege can even lose a guy a clear parliamentary majority.

There's a difference between being posh and being rich.

A lot of women find that their workwear acts as armour.

The way you personally communicate is 90 per cent of how you will be evaluated by any future employer.

Public humiliation comes to us all, and never so surely as when we're just a little bit pleased with ourselves and feel, just for once, that everything is going our way.

If you develop just one muscle, one skill, make it the ability to focus and just get on with it. It will not only make you desirably employable, but it will make you happy.