The rickshaws are blaring All I Want For Christmas Is You; you cannot walk down Regent Street without taking a selfie stick to the face. It must be the festive season! Which means (oh, yes) the sequins are coming. Annie Doble, the uber-glam founder of Annie’s Ibiza, the go-to boutique for girls-on-the-town, has been stockpiling essentials ahead of party season. Three years ago, she opened a Carnaby Street off-shoot of her Balearic-based summer-dress mecca, and has since evolved into a gatekeeper of December sparkle.
Kate Moss, her daughter Lila, Margot Robbie, Naomi Campbell and Sienna Miller are all die-hards. The next rung of London It-girls, Poppy Delevingne, Jamie Winstone, Tish Weinstock, Lady Lola Bute et al, are constantly seen in her designs. “These girls will text me at any hour of the night asking if I have something for them last minute,” Doble says. Usually, she does.
However, when I arrive at the orange-fronted shop one November evening, I find it wrapped in red ribbon and bustling with shoppers of all ages, with faces I’ve not seen in Tatler Bystander, and with Doble welcoming prospective customers in from her mustard chaise lounge.
After a smile from the founder, women are whisked into the walk-in wardrobe-style store. Its rails spill out with feathered gowns, pearl-embellished capes, and antique style silks from her own label, a coterie of dance-floor appropriate brands (Ashish, Richard Quinn, Poster Girl, Coperni) which she buys in, as well as her archive pieces, which Doble has been collecting since she worked on a market stall in Spitalfields Market aged 14. For the first time this year, she also has a pop-up around the corner, in Liberty’s.
If sequins are the equivalent of turning up to the function with Laurence Fox on your arm, then what does work? If anyone knows, it’s Annie.
But, I think out loud, there is not a sequin in sight. “I never use sequins — never have, never will,” Doble says. “It’s a total faux pas. Things here sparkle, but it’s all glass beads or intricate, metallic threadwork. This place started as a vintage shop, I don’t want anything made of plastic.” If sequins are the equivalent of turning up to the function with Laurence Fox on your arm, then what does work? If anyone knows, it’s Annie.
After leaving the Spitalfields stand, the Essex-born entrepreuneur headed to Ibiza aged 16 and a decade ago opened the doors to her Old Town store, which fast became a society hangout. “I started it on 200 euros, and to this day we have had no help,” she says.
That means she has worked on some form of shop floor for her entire adult life. “It’s crucial to me to understand women’s bodies. I know what works, I know what’s flattering.”
In February 2023, she designed her own Annie’s Collection, debuting with a no-holds-barred fashion show in the crypts of St Paul’s Cathedral. A rail of her latest Christmas collection stands beside us: blue velvet minis with “a 1920s technique of glass beading you rarely see elsewhere” and starburst-embroidered A-line frocks. Not for the faint of heart, or wallet — the capsule starts at £650 for a cape — though Doble doth protest: “If this metalwork was in Dolce and Gabbana it would be £50,000.” Here, it’s £1,950. It’s worth noting the sizing only goes up to a large (and goes down to an XXXS, for some pieces).
But as I watch one happy customer head out of the shop with a bright orange Annie’s bag, and whacking smile on her face, it doesn’t surprise me Doble is doing well. “I’ve never been part of the mainstream fashion industry,” she says. “ I just want to make well-made, handmade pieces that you can wear every year for 15 years, and then pass onto your daughter,” she says. “It’s also personal here, about customer experience. We treat our clients as friends.”
It certainly makes a change from the frosty receptions you can count on along New Bond Street. Shoppers might well think so, too.
Annie Doble’s top 10 rules for festive dressing
1. Find a fabulous cape. I get so cold. It’s why I make matching capes with so many of my dresses, I can’t have bare arms.
2. Go wild. Life is so short, it’s fun to dress up. I have clients that say: “I’ve never been stopped so much as when I wore your dress.” You’ll meet a lot more people, because everyone wants to speak to you when you’re in something fabulous.
3. Try these three brands. Clio Peppiatt’s dresses are hand beaded — we’ve just launched a collection together. Ashish’s pieces are so cute. De La Vali has an amazing Christmas capsule, which we have in stock, with gorgeous silhouettes.
4. Sequins are a no-no. We have never used sequins. They don’t decompose — it’s an environmental faux pas.
5. A micro-mini is always good. We don’t even do normal mini length, it’s micro. Mini is just the best. Or a gown. Be bold!
6. Stockpile M&S tights. These are essential for London in the winter. I get M&S’s 10 Denier, black multi-packs. I wear them every day, and for every party. They’re £10 for 3 pairs.
7. Wear sparkly flats. If you are planning on party hopping or dancing, don’t wear heels. I love flats for party season, you want to be able to get about. I wear the same Jimmy Choo pair most nights.
8. Focus on the dress. I am not a shoe, handbag or jewellery girl at all. It’s all about the outfit for me.
9. Don’t panic about make-up. I keep mine quite simple: Hourglass concealer, Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Dark for my lips, and a little cat eyeliner and mascara.
10. If you are on a shoestring… head to Chelsea’s charity shops. You will find something. Look for an old velvet tunic dress. Get home, do the hem right up and make it whatever length suits you. You can get these for next to nothing, and you’ll have the best dress at the party.
