THE QUARANTINE INTERVIEWS: 7

3 April 2020

Iso Frenchy, Iso Chic. Dani is deep in the fashion zeitgeist.

What’s that you’re wearing?

Thanks for noticing; I’m giving some of my wardrobe bling a bit of a spin around the house. This sequinned cape I picked up second hand in Paris a few years ago. Tomorrow I’ll bring out my faux-rabbit-fur jodhpurs. Reckon I’ll pair them with white boots, a leather cami and the usual latex gloves. Iso Chic: you wait, it’ll catch on.

Is this like a mindset thing? You’re dressing up to keep yourself upbeat and in good mental health?

Absolutely. It’s not just that all my trackies are in the wash.

Has this new dress code had an impact on your productivity or behaviour?

It does seem to have some knock-on effects. I feel a bit like a Real Housewife of New York in this cape, which somehow led me to dig out the heirloom china and the good silver. That calls for certain standards in the gastro porn department, which in turn has led to me scheduling a Zoom dinner with my most pretentious friends. Which means I now have to go all out with makeup, too, and jewellery, and brow maintenance, and nails, and the swift extraction of facial hair. So yes, it has turned into a bit of a monster. Who knew isolation would come with so much status anxiety?

Those laptop cameras are pretty unforgiving.

Right? And people don’t stop judging your interiors just because they’re not there in person to run their fingers along your dusty hall table. I’ve had to rearrange things so that whatever is behind me gives the impression that Marie Kondo has just breezed through the place.

It looks good from here.

Thanks, all the cheap booze and chick-lit is piled up on the coffee table, sparking no end of joy.

Tell me about the head scarf. Is that a key feature of Iso Chic, as you see it?

Completely. Headwear is going to be huge. You won’t see me without this baby for quite some months; my roots are a calamity.