The phrase ‘wears many hats’ might lean towards cliché, but Susan Bender-Whitfield, freelance stylist, creative director for fashion-focused Iona Agency, contributing editor for British Vogue, ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and with the Birley Clubs’ fashion board, and so on…sports many. And you better believe they’d all be impeccably chic.
With finely honed taste that extends far beyond her sartorial expertise, we were eager to seek out not just her favoured shopping spots and style heroes, but tried-and-trusted comfort food and signature cocktail, too.
Favourite museum/gallery
I love all the museums in London and so far have visited practically every one. One of my favourite things about the city is that the breadth of knowledge and artefacts waiting to be discovered are endless. But, if I had to choose one it would be the Natural History Museum, because I have a penchant for Gothic architecture. I also love visiting smaller specialist museums dotted around London and the UK.
Book that shaped you
As a child I loved to read classical literature; the book that shaped me when reading it at school was Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Growing up, I identified with the main character Scout: her inquisitive, unconventional and rebellious spirit in questioning the injustices and prejudices of that time, which are – sadly – still very much issues today.
Quotes to live by
I have two which resonate deeply with me. Einstein famously said: ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.’ And Cicero’s: ‘If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.’
Favourite artists
Yinka Shonibare and Adébayo Bolaji.
Accent/language that turns you on
Those of the American Deep South and Boston, and Southern Irish – plus I couldn’t leave out my husband’s Northern accent. I have a good ear for languages and love to hear French and Italian spoken. I do enjoy trying to decipher where someone’s accent is from; my success rate is very high so far.
Favourite bar
Claridge’s art deco cigar bar the Fumoir (which dates back to 1929). I love its old-school design, intimacy and the smell of cigars wafting across the room. I’d often pop in late afternoon for a glass of champagne to people watch.
Favourite cocktail
A spicy margarita on the rocks. Before I went on honeymoon three years ago I decided I needed an alternative cocktail and swapped my favourite tipple – an espresso martini – to a margarita on the rocks, and since then I’ve never looked back. I make my own version, christened ‘mean margaritas’ by my best friend Melissa Morris, founder of Métier – I take on the role of bartender and shake up a few every year for her birthday.
Comfort food
Homemade macaroni and cheese, in spicy Jamaican style.
Most memorable meal
The last one my late mother made for me, Jamaican Escovitch fish: crispy fried red mullet topped with a spicy pickled-vegetable sauce of onion, thin strips of carrot, pimento, red bell pepper and scotch-bonnet pepper; served with rice and peas and steamed callaloo.
Worst holiday hangover
It was in Paris and it wasn’t a pretty sight… I vaguely remember projectile vomiting down the stairs of Les Bains-Douches nightclub the night before, after downing four tequila shots in a row for the first time. Quelle horreur.
Best vintage/antique find
A 1930s black-leather antique hat box with original luggage stickers from travel’s Golden Age. I found it in a street market in Bolsena, Italy. The stickers documented the owner’s grand tours around the world, from the Hotel Prince in Argentina to the Splendid Hotel & Spa in Hanoi. I can only wonder at all the journeys it’s seen; maybe one day I’ll embark on a holiday that follows the route my hat box has taken.
Architecture that awes
The magnificent Angkor Wat complex seen from Phnom Bakheng temple at sunrise.
Interiors you envy
The private residence of Austrian gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac, set above his namesake, five-floor, Grade-I-listed gallery in London’s historic Mayfair.
Homewares you hunt for while travelling
Literally anything I can get in my suitcase, plus I always travel with a sturdy ripstop bag to safely transport finds while on the move. On my most recent trip to Morocco I managed to haul back four giant Tamegroute pottery planters for my garden – fortunately I was on a work trip and didn’t have to pay for the extra luggage; in hindsight I should’ve bought a lot more.
Design decade you feel at home in
Amid the elegance of the Forties and Fifties.
Go-to spa treatment
Adeela Crown’s Crowning Glowry™ facial at the Bulgari Spa or an at-home reflexology treatment.
How do you unwind?
Sleep, and lots of it. Or sitting on a beach looking out to sea.
Most regrettable holiday purchase
I’m a seasoned shopper and have never regretted a purchase, only the things I didn’t buy.
Your must-pack outfits
My bikini, sunglasses, a masculine shirt, and Johnstons of Elgin cashmere hoodie.
Most stylish place
Claridge’s.
City you’d move to
Marrakech or Paris – both feel like a second home to me.
Strangest hotel experience
In a previous life, before working in the fashion industry, I went on the European leg of U2’s Zooropa tour. We stayed in a strange hotel in Lausanne Switzerland, which – I swear to this day – was haunted. The long corridors and wallpaper were reminiscent of the twins scene in The Shining. I had the strangest dreams there, and at one point I suddenly woke up and jumped out of bed and across the room to cower in the corner. God only knows what I was escaping from, but, safe to say, I didn’t stay there another night.
Best place you’ve ever swum
The blue lagoon Jamaica, a cove-like lagoon which opens to the Caribbean Sea. It’s fed by underground freshwater springs and is said to be bottomless. To feel the mixture of warm salt water and cool spring water while swimming is a magical sensation.
Best beach you’ve ever found
I’m still searching.
It’s not a holiday without…
Sunshine and margaritas.
Guilty pleasures
Sleep, massages and binge-watching box sets over 24 hours.
@account to follow
@sumi_v
Pool or ocean
Ocean every time. I recently took a powerboat-driving course and look forward to skippering my own boat on the open water.
Define love in three words
Work in progress.
Define sex in three words
Life-affirming energy
