Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie: Interview with Carrie

It’s showtime! To celebrate the launch of our Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie collection, our Brand Director Lucy sat down for a virtual cup of tea with Carrie to give an insight into her inspirations, passions and favourite pieces that form this collaboration.

The Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie collection has just launched! This limited collection has been designed in partnership with actress, author and vlogger, Carrie Hope Fletcher. Together with Carrie, we’ve created an 18-piece range which we know you’re just going to love!
We were thrilled to team up with Carrie on this exciting range - with a big focus on sustainability, Carrie’s favourite colours and shapes, plus her favourite things like bats, arrows, cats and butterflies.
This starlet is in demand! Carrie is currently starring as Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s highly anticipated new production in London’s West End – but we managed to steal her away to chat about the collection, what inspires her, her personal style, being Cinderella and general life!

Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie - Edgar Meowsical Theatre Cat Tee

“Hi Carrie, how are you? We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well, creating this lovely collection over lockdown. Through Zoom calls, WhatsApp messages and photoshoots - but for our new readers, tell us a little more about yourself! Where are you today? Set the scene for our readers!”

I’m good thank you! All the better for releasing this collection into the world after over a year of keeping it a secret! For anyone who doesn’t know me, my name’s Carrie Hope Fletcher. I’m a musical theatre performer and an author however, I’m also a bat loving, cat enthusiast with a penchant for puns and roses… get it? Puns and roses? No? Okay, I’ll show myself out! Today, I am sitting in my office with a candle lit, with my window sill full of half-alive succulents in front of me as it pours down outside but it’s okay because I’m surrounded by books and I’m wearing a Joanie dress!

“Starring in a hit new West End musical, a brand new clothing collaboration! Juggling rehearsing, performing, writing and your status as an influencer, it must be full-on and life must be frantic for you at the moment. How do you stay grounded, what do you do to relax?”

To be completely honest with you, I love everything I do so much that I never want to stop! That being said, I do have to chill out sometimes, so you’ll often find me watching a Disney movie or reading a good book.

Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie - Luna Moonscape Sweatshirt

“You’re the leading lady in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of Cinderella, how’s it going, are you enjoying it? It’s got to be a ‘pinch-me’ moment, right?”

It’s the best job in the world. Being on stage surrounded by incredible talent and getting to sing ALW’s new and original score with lyrics by David Zippel - the man who wrote the lyrics to one of my childhood favourite movies, Hercules and saying lines from the script by the Oscar-winning genius that is, Emerald Fennell who is also the nicest woman on the planet! I’m pinching myself so often I’m starting to bruise!

“Getting back to work after such a long period of hiatus, it must feel great to be back in your ‘happy place’ in the theatre? Tell us a little more about your love of drama.”

I’ve loved musicals ever since I was a child and the stage has always felt like a safe place for me to be. My dad worked at Kodak in ‘silver recovery’ and my mum was a learning support teacher but they both love musicals and so Mary Poppins, The Lion King or Joseph was always on the telly or being played in the car. I don’t even remember a time when I didn’t want to be an actress and I feel so lucky and grateful that it’s what I get to do as an adult.

“The costumes in Cinderella are pretty phenomenal, were they designed with you specifically in mind? Did you have any input into the styling? They have an edge of you about them!”

All the costumes have been made for each individual actor with this being a new and original show but I really lucked out with the costumes in Cinderella because they are so ‘me’. Gabriela Tylesova is a genius when it comes to costume design but she’s also amazing at figuring out how to make her design look good on the person in front of her. You can usually find the cast backstage all twirling for each other and admiring each other’s costumes. We all feel pretty awesome when in costume!

“Has theatre influenced your ‘off-duty’ style, or is that pretty fixed? How would you describe your signature Carrie Hope Fletcher look?”

I think whatever part I’m playing always finds a way to seep subtly into what I wear off stage but I genuinely believe we’ve created my two perfect outfits in this collection: The Bellatrix Green Velvet Jumpsuit and the Candice Secret Garden Print Dress. I feel like I’m going to live in these outfits forever more!

Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie - Candice Secret Garden Print Midi Dress

“We spent time delving through your life and loves to set the mood for the collection; a common factor was your love of history and literature. Tell us a little more about your love of the past - if you could travel back to one moment in time, one place, where or what would that be?”

I took History GCSE and although I have a real fascination for the past, I only scraped by the exam with a C. Whoops! At least I passed! But yes, I’ve always loved learning about people that lived once upon a time and I think it’s because I just love stories and stories are made all the more fascinating when they’re true.
If I had to travel back to one moment in time, I think it would be to have tea with Jane Austen. If she’d be up for that of course. I’d love to get to know the woman behind some of the most famous works of literature we have today.

“It’s been really nice getting to know you and the inspirations behind this collaboration, which is your first foray into clothing - is it something you’ve always wanted to do?”

It’s been lovely getting to know you and the Joanie team too! It really has been something I’ve always wanted to do. I have a sketchbook filled with drawings of dresses I wanted to create and own one day. I always found it hard finding clothes that were what I wanted but that also didn’t cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds. So collaborating with Joanie was a real no-brainer and I’m so proud of what we’ve created!

“Why us?! What is it about Joanie that appeals to you?”

Joanie creates really flattering styles and isn't afraid to be bold with prints and patterns - which makes for such an interesting wardrobe! Your sizing also feels like it’s accurate which I think is SO important. I usually wear a UK size 14 in dresses and a size 16 in jumpsuits and every dress and jumpsuit I’ve bought in those sizes from Joanie is, and I don’t say this lightly, perfect.

Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie - Papillon Vintage Butterfly Tee

“Tell us more about your vision for the collection! It’s daunting sometimes to start from a blank canvas, did you have it set in your mind what it might look like, and are you happy with how it turned out? (I hope so, I know I am!)”

I’m SO happy with how it turned out. It is daunting to start with a blank canvas but it’s also equally exciting. I had a list of things I knew were a must. Things like cats, theatre, arrows, poppies, roses and colours like deep greens, reds, blues and purples. But then Joanie opened up a whole new world of possibilities by finding the perfect ways to incorporate those ideas into clothing in really creative ways! The collection is so much more incredible than I ever thought it could be. And that’s really saying something because I already knew it was going to be pretty brilliant!

“You’ve written a little backstory of the inspiration behind each style on their product descriptions, but what’s your favourite piece from the collection and why?”

As I’ve said, I love the secret garden print dress and the green velvet jumpsuit but I also have a real soft spot for the two sweatshirts in this collection. I find the Scaredy Cat Jumper so amusing as someone who is a self-confessed scaredy cat and the Moonscape Jumper makes me think of my family and so that will always be a comforting thing for me to wear. It’s so hard to narrow down favourites though when everything in this collection feels so perfect. I keep remembering other items like the Elsie Victorian Kitten Dress and the Arianne Arrow Print Jumpsuit and I think I’ll just have to have a new favourite every day depending on my mood!

Carrie Hope Fletcher X Joanie - Elsie EcoVero™ Kitten Print Tea Dress

“If you could pick someone past or present to wear a piece from the collection, who would it be?”

Helena Bonham Carter has always been a style icon of mine. She was heavily referenced in the creation of this collection and so if I could get her in the Bellatrix jumpsuit, for hopefully obvious reasons, I think I’d die a happy woman.

“What was your favourite part of the creative process?”

I loved being sent all the fabric swatches through the post and getting to actually see the prints and patterns in person and feel the textures of all the clothing before they were made. That was an exciting day. However, the photoshoot has to be the most amazing moment throughout it all because that was the day I got to try on all the finished products for the first time. I felt so overwhelmed by every single item and how each dress, jumpsuit, tee and sweatshirt brought out a different side of me in each shot.

“I always finish with this one. Complete the phrase, ‘there’s nothing I love more than...’”

A cup of tea, a good book and a dress that makes me feel fiercely myself.

Thanks Carrie, I can’t wait to see the Joanie gang enjoying wearing these beautiful pieces - as always, that’s my favourite bit!

For a closer look at the collection and Carrie’s inspirations behind each piece, be sure to check out her YouTube vlog about the collection.