A Styled Life

Welcome to A Styled Life, the podcast for purpose-led female founders & senior leaders ready to use style as a powerful tool for confidence, impact, and influence. I'm your host, Alex Standley, multi award-winning Personal Stylist, Speaker and Sustainable Fashion Consultant, with two decades of experience in the fast-paced world of fashion. Join me as we redefine success from the inside out. This podcast isn’t just about clothes. It’s about personal power, purposeful style, and creating a life that aligns with your values. So whether you’re running a business, leading a movement, or stepping into your next chapter, you’re in the right place. Each week, we’ll dive into the world of personal style, sustainability, female empowerment, and living with intention. Through real stories, expert insights, and plenty of inspiration.

A Styled Life is a business podcast hosted by Alex Standley, with 50 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Alex Standley hosts A Styled Life, a business show with 50 episodes published.

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  Episode #8

  Find the Courage to Be Yourself: Reinvention, Style Confidence and Colour with Emma Chapman Jewels

  Sep 29, 202658 minS4

  Most of us wait to feel ready before we change our lives. We wait for permission, for the right moment, for certainty that it will work. Emma Chapman did the opposite. She left a successful career in film PR and moved to Jaipur alone to teach herself an ancient jewellery craft from the ground up. Emma is an award-winning British jewellery designer, who lives between Somerset and Jaipur and has worked with the same family-run workshops in India for over fifteen years. But the thread that runs quietest through her story is one most women will recognise instantly: learning, after years of hiding, to dress for the body you actually have. Emma's story is a masterclass in following a calling before the path is clear. We talk about the burnout that pushed her out of a glamorous industry, the leap of faith that took her to India, and the world behind her work: goldsmiths who lead their days by astrology, the meaning gemstones carry, and why she stopped chasing trends and started designing only what she loves. Then the conversation turns personal. Emma is honest about her weight changing over the years, the wardrobe full of sizes she can't get into, and the tent-dress phase where covering up only made her feel worse. It's a conversation for any woman who has waited to fit into something before she lets herself feel good. KEY TAKEAWAYS The burnout hiding underneath a glamorous career Reinvention as a series of brave choices, not one clean leap How astrology shapes daily life, and the stones people wear The honest limits of the word "sustainable" Investment dressing and pieces made to be passed down Dressing your body as it is now, not the size you're waiting for Why jewellery holds its power through every change of shape Colour, confidence and the courage to be seen TIMESTAMPS 04:20 — Servicing everyone else's creativity, expressing none of your own 05:33 — "I can't do this anymore": the pivotal weekend 08:00 — Jaipur, gemstones and a leap of faith with no plan 16:22 — Why women get stuck at the point of reinvention 17:46 — When you focus on something, everything conspires 20:55 — Astrology, goldsmiths and the day you must wear green 25:03 — The energy objects carry, and how Emma cleanses her pieces 28:35 — Leading the trend by refusing to follow it 33:23 — Is there a tension between luxury and sustainability? 38:23 — Fast fashion, landfill and the case for buying one, not six 39:32 — Melting down a grandfather's ring: jewellery as reinvention 41:16 — Growing bolder with age, colour and what suits you 42:03 — Comfort, dresses and feeling good in your own clothes 44:04 — Why British women are afraid of their own jewellery 46:04 — Jewellery holds its power through every change of shape 51:03 — The "one day I'll fit into it" wardrobe If this conversation landed for you, and you're ready to stop dressing for who you were and start dressing for the woman you actually are, a Style Strategy Call is where we begin. It's a free, no-pressure conversation. Book yours below. https://www.alexandrastandley.co.uk/service-page/style-strategy-call CONNECT WITH EMMA CHAPMAN Website: https://emmachapmanjewels.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmacjewels/

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  Episode #7

  Why Your Style Became Public Property:Style, Feminism & Refusing to Shrink with Nicky Denson-Elliott

  Sep 22, 20261h 1mS4

  Why does a woman's appearance get read as public property in a way a man's rarely does? A politician's wife stands next to her husband and the internet decides her dress is fair game. A woman pops to the supermarket in her gym kit and strangers line up to tell her to cover up. This conversation is about what sits underneath all of that. And what it costs women who are trying to be seen. In this episode of A Styled Life, I'm joined by Nicky Denson-Elliott, founder of The Wilder Collective and host of the Women's Business podcast. Nicky calls herself the professional feminist, and she builds spaces that help women own their value, take up room, and stop apologising for it. We get into the double standard around how women are seen, the internalised misogyny most of us are carrying without naming it, and why style is not frivolous but a tool women can use to walk into a room and feel they belong there. This is a conversation about power as much as it is about clothes. I used to shrink when people said "I see you everywhere." It landed like a dig, and every instinct told me to make myself smaller. Learning to stay visible on my own terms, without performing, has been some of the hardest and most important work I've done. It's exactly the work I now do with the women I style. WE EXPLORE • Why women's appearance gets policed while men age into "distinguished" • Internalised misogyny: the judgement you feel is your conditioning talking • Taking flattery off the table and dressing for how you want to feel instead • Using clothing to turn up your confidence before you walk into the room • Why "can I pull this off?" is the wrong question • Feminism as fuel, not something to hold in until it makes you ill • "Who am I to do this?" and why authority isn't a follower count • Separating a safety response from a genuine "this isn't me" TIMESTAMPS 08:00 — Claiming "the professional feminist" out loud 11:00 — Midlife, perimenopause and the eyes-open shift 20:00 — Why women's appearance is treated as public property 25:10 — The double standard, from Demi Moore to Andy Burnham's wife 28:00 — Style, power, and the fear of judgement that keeps women small 39:30 — Bold, colourful and growing into her style 44:24 — "Pulling it off" is an energy shift, not a rule 51:55 — The real blocks around visibility: who am I to do this? 58:51 — Advice for the woman mid-reinvention If this conversation landed for you, and you're ready to stop dressing for who you were and start dressing for who you want to be seen as, a Style Strategy Call is where we begin. It's a free, no-pressure conversation. Book yours below. https://www.alexandrastandley.co.uk/service-page/style-strategy-call CONNECT WITH NICKY Website: https://www.thewildercollective.co.uk Podcast: Women's Business Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickydensonelliott?stkn=Mjlncm0zNGp6cjln

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  Episode #5

  What Secondhand September Taught Me About Personal Style: A Stylist's Preloved Shopping Secrets

  Sep 8, 202619 minS4

  Most women are taught to want the next thing. The drop, the trend, the piece everyone is wearing this month. But the pieces that actually make you feel like yourself were never about being new. They were about being you. Worn in. Chosen slowly, and kept for years. Alex Standley, Personal Stylist & Sustainable Fashion Consultant, marks Secondhand September with the story behind her own shift. Fifteen years as a global fashion buyer meant a wardrobe built on constant, unconsidered newness. A pregnancy, a rabbit hole into sustainability, and one green jumper on eBay changed that. Alex shares what changed when she slowed down, and the practical approach she still uses today to shop preloved, from upscale charity boutiques to the menswear rail. This episode is for women who want a wardrobe that reflects who they are, not what the high street is selling this season. Key Takeaways Style was never about being new. It was about being you. The eBay jumper that started a seven-year shift Doubling how long you wear a garment cuts its lifetime emissions by 44% The pieces that last are the ones you'd buy again tomorrow, not the ones bought in a rush Why the menswear rail & upscale charity boutiques deserve a proper look Preloved is not a compromise. It is often where your most treasured pieces live Timestamps 01:03 Why Alex started rethinking her wardrobe 07:00 The purpose of Secondhand September 09:21 How to buy preloved well: sellers, sizing, and the menswear rail 12:06 Buying off season: planning strategy 14:56 The wardrobe edit: what earns its place and what doesn't 17:31 Using trends as a lens, not a rulebook 18:51 Where real personal style lives Ready for a wardrobe built on intention? If you want support building a style that is genuinely yours, Alex's Style Identity Blueprint starts with getting clear on who you are and translating it into a knockout style. A Style Strategy Call is the place to find out if it's the right fit. https://www.alexandrastandley.co.uk/service-page/style-strategy-call Mentions: Rebound Store, Brighton — reboundstore.com Phoenix Style, Wimbledon and Cobham (Paige) — phoenixstyle.co.uk The Preloved Edit, St Albans (Sarah) — https://theprelovededit.com/ The Green Muse, Bristol — thegreenmuse.co.uk One Scoop Store, East London — onescoopstore.com Style with Purpose, Thursday 24th September 6pm alexandrastandley.co.uk/service-page/style-with-purpose-the-identity-edit Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandrastandley • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-standley-personal-stylist

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  Episode #3

  Building a Purpose-led Brand: Luxury, Fit, Wealth & Intentional Decisions with Priya Downes of Nudea

  Aug 25, 202653 minS4

  Most sustainable fashion tells you what not to buy. This conversation asks a better question: what happens when you choose with intention and something finally fits you properly? Priya Downes trained as an actuary, worked on poverty and environmental projects at the World Bank, then spent over a decade in luxury with Chanel and Burberry before founding Nudea, the fit-first, B Corp certified underwear brand now worn by tens of thousands of women. She is a data person to her core who built a business around one of the most personal things a woman puts on. We talk about the layer nobody sees and how much it shapes the way you show up in everything else. Why most women are wearing the wrong size and what changes, physically and otherwise, when that's put right. The mindset shift underneath sustainable dressing: buying less, buying better, and the reasons that shift is so much harder than the maths suggests. We also go somewhere I didn't expect. Into what it really takes to build a business when you can't clock off at five, when you've fundraised, and when the brand is a direct reflection of your own values. And into wealth: why women are so often left out of the financial literacy conversation, why investing for the future still skews male, and how the same psychology that keeps women from investing shows up in how we shop. For me, this one connects directly to the work I do with clients. So much of how a woman carries herself starts underneath the outfit, with whether she feels comfortable in her own skin before she's even chosen what to wear. Priya and I come at that from different ends. We land in the same place. Key takeaways: The layer nobody sees shapes how you show up in everything you do. Fit isn't vanity. It's comfort, health and how you carry yourself in a room. Buying less and buying better costs the same or less. The barrier is behaviour, not maths. You can't separate a purpose-led founder from the brand she builds. The values are the product. The same psychology that holds women back from investing shows up in how we shop. Both are shifted through education. If you enjoyed this conversation and you'd like to hear more from Priya, she'll be joining me live on the panel at Style With Purpose: The Identity Edit on Thursday 24 September at Hart Shoreditch, alongside Air & Grace founder Claire Burrows, and Paige Mengers from Phoenix Style. With a styling showcase from me and my clients. Book your ticket here: https://www.alexandrastandley.co.uk/service-page/style-with-purpose-the-identity-edit use code NUDEA for £10 off. Connect with Priya: Website: https://www.nudea.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nudea.underwear/ Nudea is also stocked at John Lewis, and internationally via Nordstrom and Free People. Email Priya: priya@nudea.com

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  Episode #2

  Lead from Who You Are: Intuition, Visibility, Hormones & Getting Dressed as a Female Founder

  Aug 18, 20261h 3mS4

  There is a version of you that already knows. Knows the price is too low, knows the outfit isn't right, knows the decision before you can explain it. And then a second voice arrives to talk you out of it. In this episode I'm joined by Danielle Hobson, Intuitive Business Coach and founder of The Aligned Business School. She helps women build businesses that run on their own intuition rather than someone else's blueprint, and the more we talked, the clearer it became that we are doing the same work. We both read energy in different ways. Neither of us is predicting anything. We're helping women recognise who they already are and act on it. We go deep on the difference between intuition and fear, and why one is a felt response and the other is your nervous system trying to keep you safe from a decision it has mistaken for a threat. Danielle explains why confidence is the last thing to arrive, not the first, and why waiting to feel ready is the thing keeping you small. Then it gets physical. We talk about how the same outfit can feel triumphant one week and unbearable the next, why what you wear changes how you actually work, and why the woman who feels invisible online usually needs to change her environment before she changes herself. Danielle is also honest about perimenopause in a way few women are, and about what it costs to stay quiet. The thread running through all of it is self-trust. How you lose it, why the world is built to take it, and what it looks like to build it back, one decision and one outfit at a time. TIMESTAMPS 01:03 — Two women working from the same place 02:42 — When Danielle first trusted her intuition over any strategy 07:18 — Intuition or fear: feel first, think second 16:35 — Courage before confidence (the four Cs) 18:55 — What it means to be an energetic match for what you want 33:26 — Dressing from your mood, and the days you override it 39:01 — Hormones, the mirror, and Beyoncé versus homeless person 42:24 — Perimenopause at 36, the GP battle, and breaking the silence 53:39 — Visibility, environment, and the mother-in-law on your feed 57:47 — Quickfire: leopard print, blue, and the tartan trousers KEY TAKEAWAYS Your intuition responds first and your fear argues second; once you know the order, you can tell them apart Confidence doesn't come before you act, it's built by acting before you feel ready What you wear isn't vanity; it changes your energy and how you work for the rest of the day The same outfit can feel completely different across your cycle, and that's your hormones, not a failing in you If you feel invisible, look at your environment before you question your nerve If this conversation landed for you, and you're ready to stop dressing for who you were and start dressing as the woman you are now, a Style Strategy Call is where we begin. Book yours here: https://www.alexandrastandley.co.uk/service-page/style-strategy-call CONNECT WITH DANIELLE HOBSON Website: https://www.daniellehobson.co.uk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellehobson The Aligned Business School: https://www.thealignedbusinessschool.com/waitlist

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