Listening to Jay Shetty, renowned life coach and ex Monk, on the radio recently, he observed that linear deadlines, time-based goals and round number anniversaries were very much ingrained in our culture and were often powerfully  limiting. I found myself nodding furiously as a 56-year-old who still doesn't know what they want to do when they grow up.

Similarly, the internet abounds with advice for new parents, for start-up businesses; newness is lauded. If you are freshly minted and fail, never mind, because that is the entrepreneurial way.

There is also no real, authentic prize-giving for our industry. There are pay-to-win contests. There are awards akin to carrot-dangling, motivating buyers to turn up to trade shows. There are other awards that seek to level the playing field between start-ups and well-established businesses, as if their wins and triumphs are comparable.

There are no bridal Grammys. No Beyonce-esque award for being highly creative, tenacious and innovative, yet established. Queen Bey sells a lot of records, and the industry will, rightly, reward its earners and its box office safe bets.

Am I arrogantly comparing Miss Bush to Beyonce? Kinda... Miss Bush is a bankable established ‘act,’ celebrating its 35^th brand birthday. Miss Bush has had a couple less facelifts than Madonna but has evolved as any ‘retail entertainer’ ought to over the years.

Miss Bush knows itself better at 35. Miss Bush is less likely to jump on a bandwagon, it knows its audience, it knows what they love.

With no ‘industry’ press to slap us on the back, despite the big number, unless one becomes a birthday diva or are an actual Monarch, no one cares that much how old you are.

There are some peers in the industry that share our illustrious and precarious position. Possibly only they know how hard it is to get here and stay here, and the grit required for the ride.

The relationships with our long-established business partners are based on mutual respect and shared goals. They are based on passions, on politics and principles and nowhere is that more evident than with our relationship with Jesus Peiro.

Both Jesus Peiro and Miss Bush share a birthday year, both established in 1988. I have now been working with the incredible Catalan team for half our professional life. Thick & thin. Up & down. Pre and post the debacle of Brexit. Through the trauma of Covid.

It fell, therefore, to the design team at Jesus Peiro to reward us, spoil us, in the way they know best. With an exclusive dress awash with our favourite details, which, ironically, are incredibly minimal.

High neck, tick. Long sleeves, tick. Pockets, silk, buttons, volume and an uncompromising point of view, tick, tick, tick...

It is a dress that is at once high fashion and highly respectable. Rebelliously covered and romantically inclined.

I chose to shoot the dress on Chloe, at Fetcham Park. I first met Chloe the day after a biblical flood at The Chapel a few days before my 50th, an ignored integer in its own right. Chloe was the bright spot at a gloomy event, and I have loved working with her since.

Fetcham Park, a jewel of the Wilky Group was like a crucible for Miss Bush. It was the place where, with a cohort of collaborators, a transformative experience was created that redefined Miss Bush and forever changed my sense of its identity.

Pretentious much, but nonetheless true.

Shoot Team:

Chloe's dress: Miss Bush X Jesus Peiro 35th Anniversary Special
Emma's dress: bespoke Nortier
Photography: Sophie Duckworth
Venue: Fetcham Park
Flowers: Gill Pike Florist
Hair: Sharon Roberts Hair
Make Up: Carolanne Armstrong