The girl is glowing. Skin flawless (she credits micro-needling, read on for details), hair sleek, smile beaming as she cooly breezes through the door of her swanky office space having just done a school drop-off, her brown Teddy coat giving us all the envies. Paired with pale POCOs, chunky kickass trainers and a cool knit, I’d happily do a life swap right now! This style icon, savvy businesswoman and all-round good egg believes that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Well, Pippa sure did. We talk about her new stationery collection (add it to the Christmas wish-list), about her not-so-perfect life and why you have to be fearless in your pursuit of happiness.
‘Be the girl who went for it’ is one of the slogans you used in your very first pop-up shop. You are that girl, aren’t you?
I do remember putting that slogan into our first pop-up in Dundrum. I spent ages thinking about quotes and then I found that somewhere. I suppose without sounding too clichéd, I am that girl, because with that pop-up, that is what we did – we went for it, we took a chance. It was definitely scary taking a unit like that, in somewhere like Dundrum, because it’s not cheap. We started big instead of small.
Sitting here in your swish office space today with book No. 2 sitting proudly on the bestsellers list, can you believe it?
I suppose because things are so busy I haven’t time to think. Not that I don’t appreciate it. But I’m not there slapping myself on the back. I’ve just finished a month of book signings, then we had our London trip, we’re now planning our Christmas pop-up – it’s flat out. And nothing is easy, everything is to the wire. We have strategically planned team meetings once a month and I give the team a brief so they have everything prepared. But in my own brain, I work not even week-to-week but day-to-day.
So your team manage and mind you?
They mind me like a mammy would!
Your team is nearly all female, (bar Brian) and is made up of, mostly, family and friends. Is that important to you?
It’s important to me to have people that are loyal. I like to keep things tight-knit, I like to keep things private. I need to trust everyone who’s in the camp.
About The Pippa Guide, Live Your Best Life, is it fair to say you’re living yours?
Trying for sure! I think everyone should be living their own best life whatever they deem that to be.
What got you here – luck or graft?
A bit of everything. I think not being fearful has a lot to do with it. And just having sheer determination. You have to be fearless in the pursuit of happiness.
There are lots of nuggets of great advice within your 270 page book. I particularly liked the section on micro-needling, because the thought of it even, has always terrified me. What’s it really like?
I had it done before with The Skin Nerd and we did a pretty invasive treatment, which causes trauma and blood, but which is good for the skin. But when I was in London recently I went to the Sarah Chapman Clinic and it was one of the best treatments I’ve ever had. It was bespoke and included micro-needling, which was less invasive but had the same effect. Downtime was an hour of redness but I feel like my skin is tighter and firmer and really glowy since. It’s so worth it.
You also say in the book that you believe you should always wear your best every day.
Says me in my runners today! But things like your nice lipstick, your good coat, your cool handbag, what are you keeping them for? Jenny Taffe [a friend and business colleague from izest Marketing who passed away in August from pancreatic cancer, aged 41] in the last year of her life wore sequins and bright colours, like really going for it in her clothes. I think we should all be doing our best, all of the time. I don’t mean it in a naive way that everybody should be happy always, that’s not how life works and obviously it’s not that easy, but I think we should be putting our best foot forward regardless of the situation.
How long does it take you to put your best face on and your best foot forward each day?
Oh super quick. Getting dressed is a two minute job and then the makeup takes about ten minutes on a normal day.
My favourite part of the book is the Mr & Mrs Quiz between yourself and Brian because it reveals lots about your personalities!
I think you got a really good picture of us – clashing constantly!
Ah, just a little! From it we learnt that you’re the bigger party animal!
For sure!
And that you’re better behaved when he’s there.
Yes, but you see when I’m out, he’s more than likely at home with the kids so maybe I let the hair down a bit more because of that…?
You also always have the final say.
Brian’s favourite saying is ‘happy wife, happy life’!
The other is that he has no patience.
None whatsoever, which is good and bad. Good in work and just annoying in other aspects. Like if he asked me to ring someone, he just wouldn’t be able to comprehend why I didn’t do it there and then. I don’t think he’s trying to be annoying, he’d be just like, ‘Why didn’t you do it?’
And why wouldn’t you have?
Probably because I know he expects me to! It’s kind of like when he’s telling me to go home from the party and I’m like, ‘Sorry!’ He’d be like, ‘I think we’ve all had enough to drink’ and I’d be like, ‘I have not!’. I’m going to get up on the table now and dance!
The rebel is strong!
Oh yeah!
You’re also both very stubborn.
We’re both Leos!
But you probably don’t fight a lot?
Hmmm…! Well the one good thing about us is, if we do, we don’t let it fester. I don’t like over-nighters of not- talking and he doesn’t either. We definitely clash but we don’t drag things out.
I loved that you’re untidy, yet you’re always so perfectly turned out.
If I get press deliveries or anything I’ll open the box, leave the box there, take the things out, leave the tissues somewhere else, lipsticks open on the counter and he’d be like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I’d be like, ‘This is the way I am and I’ll come back in ten minutes and fix it up’.
He loves the hoover too!
Loves the hoover! He’s likely to hoover when you’re sitting there! And if people are over for dinner Brian has a tendency to stand up the minute you are finished and take everything away and I’ll give out to him because it’s so off-putting for your guests.
But he’s very romantic so massive kudos there.
He is. He went out last night and I left him out Solpadine and Dioralyte and this morning he was like, ‘I can’t believe you did that for me’. Makes me sound like such a b****!
Never! Pippa, tell us about your recent trip to London, it looked cool, what were you up to?
We’ve a lot of new launches happening between now and Christmas so we wanted to do fun shoots in London because we’ve utilised Dublin a lot. Our basic POCO collection is expanding, we’ve a new style of shirt – a khaki shirt – two new denim jackets – one really cool puff sleeve one – so we’re kind of moving into more trend pieces alongside our core collection of denims.
Mad to think that you started Pippa.ie six years because you were broke and bored while pregnant with Ollie.
I was! And it was a slow build, it didn’t happen overnight. Mind you when I think about it, I can’t believe the amount we have done in those six years. A lot has happened.
And a lot has ended too. The Fashion Factories went out on a high last year with 800 people in Limerick. And now The Pippa Planners are no more. It’s interesting the way you stop things before they burn out. Is this a business model or do you just get bored?
People are asking about the planners…could we sell them now? Yes we could, but it’s been done. I just don’t want to bore people. I think you need to keep innovating and moving on. So yeah no planners but there’s new stationery coming in a couple of weeks.
November is now upon us, when are the Christmas decorations going up?
I like a good run at it! So maybe the 24th….but you see the trees take me a good while! I have three: kids tree, kitchen and sitting room tree and a hall tree! Silver, pewter and navy on the hall tree, and then white and silver on the kitchen tree. The kids do their own tree! They’re so funny, they don’t even put the decorations on the tree, they put them at the base!
What are you like as a Christmas shopper?
I have to be organised this year because I know how busy it will be for us. We hope to open a pop-up the week of Black Friday until Christmas Eve – hectic! So, I’m starting shopping the minute this interview wraps!
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lili Forberg; misslili.net
The Pippa Guide; Live Your Best Life, published by Penguin Ireland is €20, at bookstores nationwide.