Christina Hendricks X Joanie collection: 'How I met the Mad Men star to create 12 perfectly glamorous dresses’

“From a very young age, I fell in love with fashion and understood it as a joyous and powerful tool of self-expression,” she says. “I have always enjoyed choosing my character, if you will, for the day."

Ms Hendricks is an A-list fashion icon, and it is quite the coup that Skipton-based womenswear brand Joanie Clothing has secured her for a new collaborative collection that reflects the actor’s signature old-school Hollywood style and glamour.

The Christina Hendricks X Joanie collection comprises 12 dresses with silhouettes cut for curves, in luxurious fabrics and elegant prints, with vintage details inspired by the actor’s own wardrobe.

“I love that with clothes, we can very quickly, even with one glance, say, ‘I'm interesting. I'm creative. Get to know me.’ That, paired with the education on fitting and tailoring I earned from modelling and acting over the years, taught me that the proportions of a garment can make all the difference when making something feel high-end or luxurious.”

Joanie founder Lucy Gledhill takes up the story. “When I first manifested the idea of working with Christina Hendricks, I thought the collection was going to be a sassy line of sexy wiggle dresses,” she says. “Maybe I’d watched a little too much Mad Men? Maybe I’d conflated her too much with her character, Joan?

“But when I met Christina and we started working on the collection, I started to see a clever, creative, driven woman who was so keen to get involved - someone who was passionate about design, fittings, and so responsive about fabrics and textures, mixing colours and pairing different inspirations together.

“Christina is witty, well-travelled and has impeccable taste, and her mind is chock-full of beautiful inspirations that we’ve translated into a capsule collection of frocks to make everyday dressing a little bit more special.

“When I visited Christina’s home, I think I began to understand her magic a little more. She’s an absolute magpie for vintage too and just wild about whimsy. She makes you wonder, why have the everyday version, when you can have the fancy one? Or why do we save things for best when using or wearing the good stuff makes us feel better?”

Christina’s principles chimed perfectly with Joanie Clothing, founded by Lucy nine years ago to offer everyday glamour, dressing up for the small stuff.

Lucy grew up in the Yorkshire Dales, and studied Fashion at Manchester Metropolitan University in the early Noughties. She was based in the city for 25 years while working all over the world in design, trend prediction and sourcing for a variety of fashion labels.

“I’ve travelled to visit suppliers too, in China, Bangladesh and extensively in India,” she says. “This year marked my 32nd trip to Delhi, working with suppliers, inspecting factories and sourcing fabrics, trims and prints.

“Some of it is glamorous, lots of it is not. It’s quite a different life to my parents, who were both teachers, and to my sister’s life on her family farm.

“I loved dressing up from a really young age. My primary school best friends and I dominated the village show competitions across the 1990s. We’d spend months creating our outfits and costumes. which ranged from Bill & Ben the Flowerpot Men to Patsy & Eddie from Ab Fab. We learned to sew from our mums, nanas and Jane Asher’s book.”

Lucy dreamed up the Joanie brand while scribbling down ideas as she was working in lonely hotel rooms. She turned it into reality in 2016, naming it after her Great Aunt Joanie, whose ethos was to buy less but buy better.

“We aim to replicate the thrill of the find that you get with true vintage,” she says. “The magic of finding something filled with nostalgia, but it's available in your size, it’s got a bit of stretch and it's usually machine washable.”

Last year, she relocated Joanie to Broughton Sanctuary, just outside Skipton. “After lockdown, I found myself growing increasingly tired of city life and yearning for the space and calm and clean air that only Yorkshire could provide,” she says.

“When my mum wasn’t very well last year, I moved in temporarily to help, and I’ve never really left since. We now have a HQ that matches our ethos as a brand, and a renewed lightness that comes from having air, space and light.”

Everything is designed in-house in Skipton, and shipped worldwide from Joanie’s warehouse in Wakefield. “Our styles are made in factories around the world that meet the highest ethical standards. A lot of thought goes into our design process, including the more conscious fabrics we use and the improvements we’re continually making within our supply chain, as well as our efforts to reduce waste wherever we can. Joanie is proud to be a Certified B Corporation,” she says.

“Our first investors were my old bosses. They'd seen me at my wildest when I was young, and I’d done a good enough job for them then, that when I needed a leg up they stepped in.

“We are very lucky to have a great team of 20, who are disproportionally made up of a majority of Yorkshire folk too, who are brilliant, and ever so resilient to our ever changing retail landscape. I’d say our amazing cheerleading customers are our ‘raison d’être’.

“I like well-made things that have a purpose. I like second discovery things – when it looks like one, and then there’s something else when you look closer. I think that’s why we always put pockets in our dresses, or vintage little button details that stop things gaping at the bust or elastic in the back waist to give you a little bit of extra room for after your dinner – the sort of stuff most brands don’t bother with, or do away with to make more margin.

“We create clothes that make people happy. Whether that comes from a playful slogan, colourful print or surprise pockets in your favourite dress, we think carefully about how our styles will bring a smile to the wearer’s face.

“It’s all about making you feel at home in the way you want to dress - that’s a real observation from one of our lovely customers.

“We don’t believe in style rules, so our full collection is available in an inclusive size range. Our customers are generally in the UK, but we are gradually growing our international base and ship worldwide.

“We try to be as welcoming as possible and are proud to have built a strong community of Joanie. We get a kick out of celebrating our amazing customers, as well as supporting and teaming up with like-minded women, brands and charities that are close to our hearts.

“We run our Joanie Craft Club so that nothing goes to waste, all our offcuts are sent to community groups to be repurposed.

“Last year we launched a collaboration with national treasure Celia Birtwell on a collection bringing her magical 1960s textile prints back to life. Celia was a dream collaborator for me, and her stories were just the best. Her enduring friendship with David Hockney and the experiences of her wild ride were so much fun, and I loved the frocks we created.

“We may look to the past for inspiration, but creating future vintage that people want to keep is our aim. Our mission is to create feel-good clothing in every sense. That’s why at the heart of everything we do, we endeavour to put the planet and people first."

Joanie's range is made using more environmentally conscious fabrics, including heavyweight recycled polyester velvet and responsibly sourced viscose chiffon.

Lucy has lots of plans for Joanie. “We’d like to be the UK’s No 1 independent vintage department store. We’d like to keep adding to our line to build upon our clothing range, adding on departments such as outerwear and accessories, homewares and haberdashery inspired by different eras.

“We’d like to grow our presence internationally. We’d like to be more well-known for our ethics and sustainability and do even more to improve our line. We’d like to be thought of as both innovative and nostalgic in equal measures, in our production, in our marketing, and in our collaborations.

“The best bit about my job is seeing the joy that the products we create bring to people’s lives. We often hear that we’ve helped to make someone feel ‘like themself again’, and that is the BEST compliment.”

Every Christina Hendricks X Joanie dress is named after an aromatic flower used in perfume making, chosen by Christina to reflect the feelings these fragrances evoke.

Lucy says: “Christina Hendricks emanates beauty. It’s difficult to describe in a sensible way, but she genuinely glows. It’s not something I’ve ever witnessed before, but I can only describe it as old-fashioned Hollywood superstar power. It’s difficult to muster, but once you look beyond the flawless alabaster skin, glistening hair and showstopping curves, you’ll find someone really cool, too.

“Christina has an innate understanding of her body and what looks good on her. It’s a rare commodity indeed, but I believe Christina Hendricks to have the whole kit AND caboodle. She’s what you’d call the full shebang.”

Christina, who is currently starring in Small Town, Big Story for Sky, The Buccaneers for Apple+, and Good American Family for Hulu, says: “Joanie is a label for women who have lives filled with interests and hobbies, and they want to express that through their wardrobe. They want to find something more special, more creative, something more tailored to their inner selves. Joanie helps women accomplish that, and I feel proud that they asked me to contribute to that legacy.”

The Christina Hendricks X Joanie collection launches online exclusively at joanieclothing.com on September 3, available in UK sizes 8-26, with all dresses priced at £129. The pre-autumn California Dreaming range of laid-back bohemian staples inspired by late 1960s and early 1970s style is available now.