Look, I don’t want to sound chippy, but it is slightly unfair. We have always dressed a broad church. It’s a lovely shorthand for the press that we cater to Fulham mums, isn’t it? The reality, though, is that we have 1.6m customers, and there aren’t that many housewives living in Fulham.”
Welcome to the Johnnie Boden show. The larger-than-life, 54-year-old founder of the clothing label, which inspires envy and loathing in equal measure, is at full throttle. In a meeting room in High Road House, Chiswick, he is busy debunking the myth that Boden dresses only one style tribe.
“I have this change agenda,” he says, pausing and grinning. “I sound like Tony Blair, don’t I?” Everyone in the room laughs.
Will Boden be for ever linked to David Cameron’s swimming trunks, Bugaboo-pushing mums and smart estate agents? Not if he can help it. There isn’t any denying that Boden is emblematic of an aspirational, wholesome lifestyle: summers at Rock, skiing in Les Trois Vallées, 4x4s, dogs, horses. Which is possibly why Boden-bashing has, at times, been a popular sport. Yet Johnnie is on a new mission: a deliberate effort to sell clothes that are fashion-forward.
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Capturing a bigger slice of the American retail pie is also high on the agenda. Boden is the second-largest British clothing retailer in America in terms of sales, and the US makes up 35% of its global sales, accounting for about £100m and rising. And in June, the company hired the 39-year-old American Matthew Hilgeman, former vice-president of American Eagle Outfitters, who has joined as product director.
So what does Boden 2.0 look like for women? Alongside a punchier autumn/winter fashion offering is the launch of Icons, a limited-edition (pricier) collection of the best of British, reworked in luxurious fabrics. There is the quintessential parka in olive wool and a 1970s folk dress, but perhaps the item that is destined to convert the most stubborn of critics is the £149 Brigadier split-front skirt in navy wool with military braiding.
The model Karen Elson is the face of the new campaign. My punt is that those mums on Mumsnet won’t be moaning the way they did in 2012 when Helena Christensen was cast and a “she’s too sultry” backlash ensued. With her edge and style kudos, Elson, a thirtysomething mother of two from Oldham, is an apt choice.
And yet peddling Britannia at home and abroad is a precarious balancing act, something that many fashion brands have dabbled in with varying degrees of success. “We have approached it with that spirit of Britishness in mind,” says Penny Herriman, 45, Boden’s global brand director. “It’s not just a shoot with black cabs and telephone boxes.” Johnnie jumps up and is suddenly pulling tweed jackets and fair isle sweaters off the rail. “Here, these are British references, but I like to think they’ve been made in a way that is fun and that those references are worn lightly. Nothing has been too laboured.”
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All three shout out words that they feel sum up their take on Brit style: “a love of colour”, “a mix of new and old”, “details”, “printed linings”, “nothing too austere”.
Johnnie says: “I’m not pretending you can articulate Britishness in every single product, but it’s there in the overall spirit and is reinforced in the copy and the photography.”
“One of the reasons I joined the company”, says Hilgeman, “is that there is a warmth and wit in the handwriting of the brand. It feels authentic, yet it is also irreverent. I think Brits are going to rediscover Boden, fall in love with it and be pleasantly surprised by its fashion perspective, one they weren’t necessarily expecting, and which can’t be found elsewhere on the high street.”
A quick flick through the catalogue — about 60m are sent out globally each year, and are so popular I know of one nine-year-old who sleeps with them under her pillow — confirms that the women’s wear has definitely been ramped up a notch this season.
It’s not perfect, but picky fashion editors will definitely be buying the Tabitha Simons-inspired pointed flats and, perhaps, the geometric-print dresses.
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Johnnie explains that the brand is going to embrace new shapes in a way that it hasn’t done before. “But, ultimately, my job is to weed out the catwalk trends that don’t work.” He rolls his eyes: “Peplums were a disaster.”
A shoppable digital catalogue launched last week, where images can be posted straight onto Pinterest and shared more easily. Next year heralds the arrival of the second store. To date, the label has avoided opening traditional bricks-and-mortar shops, apart from a single shop in Hanger Green, west London, which opened in 2004, so it could focus on expansion overseas.
Johnnie won’t say where in London it will be, but it is mooted to be in a well-heeled shopping area. Herriman thinks the timing felt right. “There’s a lot you can offer in a catalogue or a digital space, but a key part is getting the product in your hand, so you can see the detail and touch the quality.”
Hilgeman adds: “Being able to touch and feel it is so important, especially when you’re talking about Americans who are unfamiliar with Boden and how it is sized.”
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Johnnie says he doesn’t believe in rigid strategies, but he plans to roll out more stores, so by 2020 we might see as many as 50 stores in the UK and the States.
Perhaps he’s right, maybe those Fulham mummies aren’t his only agenda. Michelle Obama is believed to wear his clothes, while Olivia Palermo, Christina Hendricks and Jessica Alba are also fans. Whatever, the label has come a long way from the days when Johnnie — and he’s embarrassed to admit this — used to repeat styles for five seasons running. “All I did was change the colour or redo it in a print.” Times have changed, and customers want newness. But just how much will they want this new version of Boden?
Boden Icons launches on September 22