4 minute read

In this latest instalment of our Celebrating Midlife Style series, 59-year-old Mia Parsons – jewellery designer, interiors stylist, singer and owner of lifestyle store Distrikt By Mia in Co Wicklow – gives us a brave insight into how intrinsically connected her style and identity are, and how she recovered from losing both.

Describe your style in three words

Mismatched, unruly, androgynous.

Do you have a signature piece?

My go-to piece is a long green silk kimono, which I bought in Spain a few years ago. I love it so much, informal or dressed up, and it always feels like the key to my authentic self.

How has ageing influenced your style?

I’ve learned that I definitely prefer suits to dresses and skirts. Frills don’t work for me either, and as I’ve grown older, winter clothes have become my favourite. I love boots, suits and cosy knits.

Has fashion become more or less important to you as you’ve aged?

Clothes have always been important to me, but I’ve become more confident with them as I’ve grown older. This confidence has helped me to finally admit that I like me, I have done well, I am a wonderful creative, I look good and I love who I am.

Which brands do you shop most often?

Baukjen, Oska for trousers and Mosh Mosh. I like a Japanese androgenous style and cut.

What changes have you made in recent years to be a more conscious consumer?

I buy good quality T-shirts and ‘pieces’ of clothing rather than lots of disposable items. I go for quality over quantity. I have never really been a follower of fast fashion.

Have you ever fallen out of love with fashion?

I have never been a follower of fashion so I never fell out of love with it.

Did it take you a long time to discover your 'style personality' or have you always had a strong sense of this?

I have always had a strong sense of my own style, though I lost it for a time in my early 30s. I was young and vulnerable – a very young mother – and unfortunately I got caught up in a born-again Christian cult. Along with losing my independence, I lost my sense of identity, both externally and internally. When I left the cult I found it difficult to trust my sense of self or style again – I didn’t even know what music to listen to. As a singer, my style and my music have always been intrinsically tied up with my identity, but I no longer knew how to listen to my inner compass. I had been taught not to trust it and to only follow the ‘teachings’. It took six or seven years to find my way again.

How do you use clothes to influence your mood?

As a singer, getting on stage brings out a different kind of confidence and unlocks another part of my personality. It allows for a little flamboyancy, which would otherwise remain untapped. Generally, I think about the day ahead and what it entails, rather than my mood, and then dress accordingly. When I’m feeling slouchy, I still want a layered slouchy look, and I always do my hair and makeup when I’m going to work. I usually wear black – maybe its a grieving thing as I lost my daughter just a year and a half ago – but I feel so right in black; for now anyway.

Do you have a style icon?

I think the Irish designer behind the New York-based interiors brand Clodagh. As a designer and a powerful woman, she inspires me, and I love her own relaxed aesthetic.

Irish designer Clodagh has a strong, confident aesthetic

Does your profession/job affect your fashion choices?

Now that I have my dream concept store and I am out and about on style consultancy appointments, I am really growing into, and owning, my style. Probably for the first time in my life, I feel a growing confidence in what I choose to wear. In the past I was always second guessing my look, feeling invalid or never quite believing I was hitting the mark, whatever that might look like. Low self-esteem played a big part in this. Oddly enough, I’ve never felt like this when performing, and I’ve often thought I would love if the person on stage was who I truly am. A couple of years ago, a wonderful maverick psychologist I was attending suggested that the person I found myself to be onstage was a true glimpse of who I really am – free, exuberant and complete.

Do you think traditional 'fashion rules' have merit or are they an out-of-date construct?

I don’t follow them so I’m unaware of them to be honest.

Which item of clothing or accessory that you own always makes you smile?

A leather coat bought second hand. On the inside pocket there is a recommendation to have it cleaned in a particular launderette on 5th Avenue in New York.