Lucy Layton talks Vegan Style, Rock Heritage & Badass Apsley of London Bags!

Photography: Si Melber 

Styling: Gurdit Singh, Lauren Di Leva, Inga Ævarsdóttir & Ines Relvas

Streets: Hi Lucy! How are you love?… WOW, so, you’re a singer/songwriter, designer & model,.. how’d all that happen?
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Lucy: Hey Guys, and lovely to be invited to be here at Streets! Yes I’ve been writing music and singing performing globally for many years. Inspired by growing up watching my father who was in the 70’s band ‘The New Seekers’. He got me writing my own music very young. It was a great outlet for a teenager and extended to becoming my main career and love in life. 
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Whilst I was studying in my late teens, I was scouted to do some modelling and it continued almost until now. Signed with some great London agencies and have the wonderful memories of working on some fantastic sets with lots of brands we know and love. 
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I guess it was another extension of my love for being creative, that also further extended into starting my own company two year ago-  Apsley of London England – after patenting my first invention ‘The Original Apsley’ handbag which you can see in these shots 🙂 
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Streets: So I’ve heard your in a band called Kinobe, what have you been up to musically of late?  Anything new and coming up?
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Lucy: Yes, I was honoured to be asked to join a few years ago and they happened to be one of my favourite chill-out groups. Although performing at festivals is hard right now due to Covid19, myself, Chuck Norman, Alex Valentine and Rich Hale are in the studio recording 3 new EPs for release. We can’t wait for you to hear them!  www.Kinobe.uk
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Streets: Your old man was pretty famous in his time right? What a legend! Paul Layton of ‘The New Seekers’. I guess this was a an inspiration for you growing up?
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Lucy: Absolutely, he was a great source of inspiration  to me and gave me lots of good advice about performing, recording in the studio and also my songwriting. Growing up with a pop star Dad was super fun too, especially attended the gigs and parties. He was always and still is so down to Earth and such a kind father. That was such a blessing! 
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Streets: You perform in several groups and genres from Folk to contemporary, can you tell us about them?
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Lucy: Yes, aside from Kinobe where I sing and play keys, I also have my own pop/country group. We perform tracks from the songs I wrote on the personal albums I released ‘Downbeat & Loved’ & ‘Staying True’ and some classic covers from days gone by…
It’s very live and acoustic and such a joy to me. 
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We were luckey to be asked to perform at Parliament in the House of Commons a few years back and were awarded an EDM for a charity single we released to help Syria, specifically paying for prosthetics for families and children who had lost limbs due to the bombing. It was amazing to be able to help people with our music. 
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Streets: I see you’ve recently lunched your bag label, Apsley of London, England  (@apselybags) www.apsleybags.com What inspires your brand and product?
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Lucy: It’s my love of travel and global adventure that inspired the brand and definitely the handbag design. You are going to laugh, but after loosing two suitcases on the plane whilst travelling ( & never getting them returned!) , I decided I was never going to check in another case again! So I started packing smaller and smaller and getting ultra organised. 
 
The one thing that bothered  me was that I wanted to pack different colour/style  handbags to go with my outfits, but with less space I was limited to just taking one clumsy bag on the plane. I thought, what if I could invent a bag that solved this issue… and the Apsley was born…
No longer did I need to feel encumbered with multiple bags and options for all my outfit changes – emptying the contents of one into another risking leaving your wallet or favourite lipstick at home or the dreaded over packing!  Its interchangeable design allowed for simple transition from day to night, from casual to smart; all in one elegant handbag. You can wear it as a single day bag, an evening bag, change the strap and add multiple purses for extra space and you can just ‘flip it’ to change colour, if you decide to change your outfit…
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Streets: Now, am I right in believing you to be Vegan?
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Lucy: That’s right, it’s been a transition from being a vegetarian for many years wearing leather to now deciding that I won’t purchase leather or any animal products anymore.
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Streets: Does this influence or affect your style choices?
Lucy: Absolutely, I have to look at what materials clothes are made from. Ideally I try and also avoid any other damaging materials that could be bad for the environment and with Apsley, we have now decided to go totally vegan and bring in a special plant based vegan leather that has a much less environmental footprint that leather does.
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 I really believe it’s the way forward. I’m so excited to be able offer that traditional heritage style handbag, but without the use of any animal skins. Sadly many of the luxury brands don’t do this and are still using baby calf skins, crocodile and all sorts of animals. We know that this is no good for the animals or the environment and is causing serious global warming! 
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Streets: Lastly, what inspires your style? You look amazing in red by the way. Is that your power colour? 
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Lucy: Aww that’s so sweet, it’s funny you should say that but yes it is 🙂 I think it goes back to seeing my lovely mother really suit reds in the 80s / early 90s and she was so active vibrant and confident when wearing them. I really believe colours effect our mood and can be used as a tool to enrich our lives… 
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Streets: Aw,.. thanks Lucy! 
Lucy: Thanks for having me