MEET THE EDITOR

2nd June 2018

Laura McCreddie-Doak is the guest editor for ROX Woman’s SS18 issue. We find out what makes her tick.

Home is?
Walthamstow. It’s where people from Hackney go when they have a child and can’t afford the house prices in E9.

First big break?
I spent three months working for Cosmopolitan after the editorial assistant broke her leg test-driving a scooter. While I was there I wrote letters for the letters page, got a private detective to agree to take my features editor around as a honey trap and even posed as Victoria Beckham’s assistant to see if any top London hairdressers would give the then eight-month-old Brooklyn hair extensions.

How did you and ROX first meet?
I’d heard a lot about them in my capacity as editor of Retail Jeweller, the UK’s leading business mag for the industry, but it was when ROX Glasgow got shortlisted for the UK Jewellery Awards in the Independent Retailer category that I finally got to find what all the fuss was about.

Was it love at first sight? (Careful, now!)
Have you seen the size of their Thrill Room! But joking aside, it is hard to fully explain the massive effect ROX has had on the industry. Before they came along, jewellery stores were either a bit high street and tacky or the sort of staid places that you only went into if you were buying a silver wedding anniversary gift for your grandparents. ROX brought bags of fun and flair into jewellery shops and so many people have copied them since.

Your most treasured watch?
My Zenith Elite Moonphase – it is actually my engagement ring.

Your most treasured item of jewellery?
Aside from my wedding ring, which was designed by a lovely Leyton-based jeweller called Clarice Price Thomas, my mother gave me my late grandmother’s wedding ring on the day I got married. It is just a plain rose gold band but means everything sentimentally.

What’s the best tip you can give a man buying an engagement ring?
Talk to ROX! Seriously though, if you are planning to surprise her then get as much advice as possible. Mentally take notes of what she likes wearing jewellery-wise – does she just wear rose gold or is there some yellow in there; is her style classic or more modern – talk to her friends, her mum, anyone who knows her well and whose opinion you trust. Then, when you have as much information as you can amass, go to ROX and sit down with their team. You’ll come away with something perfect.

What would you say to a woman buying a watch in return?
If he has a watch wardrobe, then look for the hole – if all he has are diving watches then maybe he needs a dress watch. Does he just go about in chunky chronos? Then maybe a slim time-only would be appropriate. That said if he doesn’t go anywhere that wouldn’t warrant that style of timepiece then it will just sit in the box. Work with his lifestyle and his sartorial preferences and you’ll be sure to find a watch that he’ll never want to take off.

What building would you most like to own?
It’s not a building but more a part of one. Coco Chanel’s apartment at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris. Fully furnished, of course.

Where do you go to let your hair down?
It’s such a cliché but having two-year-old means that letting one’s hair down doesn’t happen that often. When we do have a night off, it is usually spent trying out a restaurant that was probably hot about two years ago but that we’ve only just got around to trying.

What are you currently binge watching?
I’m currently reliving my obviously not particularly misspent youth by working my way through all 10 seasons of Friends. Could I be more boring?

CONTINUE READING

The ROX Woman: Mastering the art of forward thinking independence. Strong, confident and intelligent our Woman of Influence is a champion of individuality. Not afraid to wear her style on her sleeve, she is a lady of distinction continually pushing the boundaries in the name of equality and empowerment.

It was a night of diamonds and thrills to celebrate the launch of ROX Man and ROX Woman SS18! Press and social media influencers were given the chance to check out the latest editions at a special springtime soiree in our Argyll Arcade Thrill Room on Tuesday, April 24 and it was a night to remember.

To paraphrase a male columnist who obviously thought they were being hilarious: “Women are fashionable right now”. Whether it is Dior’s T-shirts proclaiming Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s truth that “We Should All be Feminists Now” or Hollywood’s finest turning the red carpet into a protest site or the numerous opinion pieces trying to work out where we are now after claims that the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump have made many of us say #MeToo – women and everything it means to bear that moniker are in the spotlight in an unprecedented way.