Farfetch fashion editor Alannah SparksYou know the name. She’s always popping up as a street-snapped avatar of perfect self-styling but to end the story there would not capture the role that Alannah Sparks continues to play within the industry. As a writer, she’s interviewed fashion luminaries from Burberry’s Christopher Bailey to Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz, not to mention the likes of Kate Moss and Debbie Harry. And the list of publications she’s written for reads like a who’s who in publishing. Stylist, WWD, British Elle, Grazia – you get the point.

These days Alannah is at the helm of fashion content at Farfetch, the fashion marketplace that allows you to shop from some of the world’s top boutiques all in one place. “The main difference between what I do at Farfetch compared to what I did before is that we have something to sell. That’s the bottom line in everything we do,” she tells me. “When I was at ELLE, there was a lot more freedom to write about whatever took my fancy and what I believed to be beautiful or exciting. Acting in a commercial capacity creates parameters within which you have to force yourself to think creatively. It’s more challenging but ultimately, very rewarding.”

She grew up in Dublin and never really thought about perusing a career in fashion. “As a typical art student, the impending end of my four year degree had brought me no closer to knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I’d studied History of Art and Italian, neither of which suggest an immediate career move. I began to monitor my thoughts as I walked to and from college every day to see what I daydreamed about most – what I actually enjoyed thinking about. It was, of course, clothes,” she notes. “I realised that fashion occupied a hefty chunk of my head and always had – every part time job I’d ever had or work experienced had always been in fashion – whether it was folding tops at French Connection or doing a night time course in dress design. I really don’t know why it took me so long to realise I should pursue it as a career,” she continues, “but I guess in Dublin, there aren’t many fashion journalists so I’d never really seen it as a viable option.”

It was an MA in fashion that brought her to London and Central Saint Martins and, rather than doing a round of unpaid placements, sheer necessity spurred her to dive head first into the world of freelancing.

“My parents has supported me through five years of university, and I simply didn’t fancy asking them to support me any longer so I had to earn,” she says frankly. “My career would probably have taken a very different direction if I had taken a year or two working for free, but it wasn’t an option for me.” It wasn’t all plain sailing though. “In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time and effort pitching to the publications I wanted to work for,” she admits, but “I got lucky and wrote for some great titles along the way – WWD, Twin Magazine, Vogue.co.uk – but there was a lot of social media for mobile phone firms and restaurant reviewing apps in between just to pay the bills!”

The day we meet, I arrive, as I so often do when meeting someone stylish, looking rather dishevelled. The weather is far warmer than the chill that plagued the air that morning had led me to believe. And, thanks to a brisk walk in a bid to arrive on time, my hair is venturing into Afro territory as a heavily pregnant Alannah greets me at the door, clad in next season Osman. I needn’t have worried though. Far from the frosty fashionista archetype, Alannah is laid-back, loquacious and quickly invites me to join her and restaurateur/DJ hubby, Kieran, at the kitchen table for breakfast. She’s refreshingly candid about her journey, talking openly about the transition from a big magazine to the world of e-tail and, when I begin ogling the impressive interiors in her new pad, it quickly results in a house tour, ending, unsurprisingly, in her wardrobe.


The challenge of getting dressed since I’ve been pregnant has been manifold. Being of the body that has a flat stomach and perky boobs but bigger ass and thighs, it was tricky to come to terms with my changing shape at the beginning. I just became thicker all over – I’ve got the ripped pencil skirts and dresses to prove it!


“When I started at Farfetch I felt like I was the only person who ever wore heels in the office,” she laughs. She only relinquished wearing heels six months into her pregnancy, turning to pointed flats for “maintaining the elongating elegance of a pair of heels, without having to sacrifice on comfort.” On the dress code at Farfetch she says: “It’s a reasonably casual office: pool slides and sleek sportswear are the norm” but that’s never been her thing. Instead, “I’ve always erred on the feminine side. I have definitely been influenced by the codes here though – there are some fantastic dressers at Farfetch that provide endless inspiration because they do things their own way.”

Eschewing trends, she invests in staples that will stand the test of time – “Toga and Amelie Pichard for shoes, Agent Provocateur for underpinnings and Marni for everything” – and personal pieces like “my mum’s white cheesecloth dress from the ‘70s, which I wore on my first date with my husband. That’s really corny isn’t it?” For everyday staples, it’s Zara and Cos.

Farfetch fashion editor Alannah SparksSo far, she’s opted against maternity clothes. “When I finally had a bump and had to accept that I needed to invest in new clothes, I just went and bought a whole load of basics like culottes, body con tube dresses and trapeze tops in a size up or two.” She doesn’t having anything against maternity wear; she just hasn’t found a brand that produces the kind of clothes that make her feel herself.

“I wouldn’t wear that stuff normally so why should I buy it just because I’m pregnant? The best non-maternity maternity piece I’ve bought is an Issey Miyake Pleats Please jumpsuit, which I got for a snip on eBay. It looks cool and offbeat with plenty of room for an expanding bump, and it’ll look even better when the pleats fall a bit flatter!”

Being pregnant doesn’t mean compromising on style, she says. In fact, “I have enjoyed being able to dress in an unabashedly feminine way without feeling like I’m being unfaithful to fashion. It’s nice to have an excuse to break out the old Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and heels, and to have a little cleavage without feeling I’m a committing a fashion faux-pas.”

“Of course, the challenge of getting dressed since I’ve been pregnant has been manifold,” she continues. “Being of the body that has a flat stomach and perky boobs but bigger ass and thighs, it was tricky to come to terms with my changing shape at the beginning. I just became thicker all over – and I’ve got the ripped pencil skirts and dresses to prove it!”

What she is looking forward to wear post-baby is the slew of new designers emerging on the scene. “I love Danielle Romeril’s collections – and I’m not just being biased because she’s Irish. Her pieces are the perfect balance of femininity and quirk, which is my sweet spot.” Then there’s Isa Arfen – whose resort 2016 collection Alannah describes as a “sartorial serotonin boost” – along with Jacquemus and Vetements, who are “currently my absolute obsessions.”

Now, just over a year into her tenure as fashion editor at Farfetch, are there ever times she misses working in print, I ask? “Working here has given me a hard realism within the industry. It has been such a learning curve to be on the business side of fashion: hitting targets, seeing profits; meeting the people who have made a living out of selling in small boutiques on Italian coastal towns and working with brand that refuse to understand the business model,” she says, as we part. “It has taken a lot of the fantasy out of what I do, but it has given me an entirely new appreciation of how the rag trade really works.”

Photography by Dvora, exclusively for The Lifestyle Edit and art direction by Naomi Mdudu.