The Cultural Omnivore // Anna Newton
003: A modern publishing powerhouse, writing to us from the British seaside
I’m sure today’s Cultural Omnivore needs little introduction.
I know I’ve been following Anna’s evolution for more years, across more platforms, than I care to admit. She’s a strategic/creative juggernaut who transcends all the usual labels.
Anna publishes her perspectives on modern style and consumption - a life well-lived - to hundreds of thousands, millions, every week across Instagram, YouTube and her chart-topping Substack The Wardrobe Edit. She’s held in high regard by major brand owners and fashion + media insiders. Not least for her honesty, which generates such trust among her readers and viewers.
In fact, she’s Allison Bornstein’s favourite person on the internet.
In our house we have one of those word-of-the-year parasocial relationships with Anna, in that my children know her internet-breaking GOAT cookie recipe off by heart + call her, what else: Cookie Anna.
Over to you, Cookie Anna…tell us what goes into that brain to create what comes out of it.
/// THE CULTURAL OMNIVORE: 003 ///
I’m Anna Newton, and I reside in the sometimes sunny seaside suburbs of Brighton (Brighton born-and-bred and PROUD OF IT!).
I never quite know how to define what I do, but I guess it’s this *gestures wildly in the direction of a laptop*. I started a blog and a YouTube channel way back in 2010, and it’s morphed into my day job, which is essentially running a lifestyle content creation business.
My days are either wildly glamorous - a whirlwind of brand lunches and meetings, shoots and occasional travel, or wildly mundane - being a human snack-making machine for my four-year-old and reading The Gruffalo for the 16th time in a day.
In between those moments, I live at my laptop, which I have no complaints about because it’s my happy place. Lame, but true.
:: THIS WEEK I’VE NOTICED…
Well, I’m a visual collector. Which means that the screenshots album on my phone is a mess. It’s just the quickest way to log something, and right now it contains:
…This video that I want to put into my next ‘Style Edit’ newsletter, along with this ARKET top which I want to include too. Draped cashmere?! Count me in.
…This Substack Note from Louisa Hatt because I am VERY into this colour combination:
…A screengrab of an email which I am being extremely tardy at replying to. Seeing it in my photo album makes me even more guilty for it languishing in my inbox and, therefore, I’m far more likely to get around to replying to the damn thing.
…And more white vintage denim pics than you can shake a stick at…
I attempt to organise it every week or so by allocating stuff to a home, so it’s easy to find when I want to reference it later. My outfit inspo pics go into my Indyx app, anything that I’ve spotted to add to newsletters gets put into the relevant drafts and emails, and messages get replied to.
Anything that feels completely random gets added to a Notion dumping ground, which contains everything from brownie recipes, to the framing shop in Brighton that a mate recommended and a facial treatment I saw a Beauty Editor get (Exosomes?!?), to a Pilates retreat that I’ll never get around to going to.
:: THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN READING…
I have to read to fall asleep.
Not in a smug wellness kind of way, more just that I’ve done it for the past eight years or so and if I ever travel without my Kindle, then I’m screwed.
831 Stories are little morsels of romantic fiction, novella-sized that can be gobbled down in a night or two and are just a delight. I’m currently working my way through their latest release, ‘Rooting Interest’ by Cat Disabato, but the best one I’ve read so far was ‘Exit Lane’ from Substack’s own Erika Veurink.
Along with Pattern Recognition OF COURSE, which makes me feel like there’s actually something useful going into my pea brain, I also love to read Ochuko Akpovbovbo as seen on Substack. It’s like hot girl business news. It’s fun. It’s witty. It makes me feel in the know in a way that isn’t deathly boring. You want to have a conversation with me about the Netflix takeover of Warner Bros!? I might actually be able to do that thanks to Ochuko.
:: THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO…
If you have kids, have you played them the Macarena? And more importantly shown them the accompanying dance? My son was agog as my husband and I rhythmically folded and bounced our way across the kitchen.
It’s fun how they imprint on certain songs that they hear you playing. His current favourite is Arcade Fire ‘Reflektor’, which I WILL TAKE and is a vast improvement on the Paw Patrol theme tune. What a tune.
:: THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN WATCHING…
Look, I’m a Bravo girl.
I’d love to give you a high-end recommendation here, but RHONY is absolute cinema to me. What I would do to erase my brain and watch it for the first time again!! I don’t like to be the one to tell you that you need to start from the beginning…but you need to start from the beginning.
In terms of watching something ‘together’, The Diplomat is our current series of choice. I am *this* close to becoming a Keri Russell stan account. The hair! The bootcut jeans! The vintage-feel sweater collection!
:: THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN WEARING…
I can’t stop wearing this absolutely ridiculous pony-hair leopard print coat that I bought myself for my birthday last year:
It is so loud and sticks out like a sore thumb in my wardrobe, but I love it. I wore it to the gym the other day. I’m in a real ‘just wear the damn clothes’ mood, and my outfits are all the better for it.
:: FINAL Q: Emptying your brain is as important as filling it. HOW DO YOU CLEAR YOUR MIND?
I’m trying to do this more than ever. I’m getting older! I need my rest! I essentially operate a hard stop at 7 pm. Nothing productive for me is getting done after that time. I reserve it for purely lying in a horizontal position. I watch shows that go in one ear and out the other (see above) and Brick my phone to stop my aimless scrolling of IG and TikTok (I find TT stupidly addicting).
I actually find Substack a pretty brain-nourishing place, so in the evenings is when I dip into my subscriptions.
Sometimes I do the NYT games holy trinity of Pips, which I’m good at, Wordle, which I’m so-so at and Connections, which I absolutely suck ass at.
And then I fall asleep with my Kindle at 9:30 sharp. Sleep > absolutely anything else.
Ain’t that the truth. Thanks a million, Anna. Exceptional omnivorousness.
Happy weekend, everyone. Wear the damn clothes!
Beth
…PSA: open call for ‘exceptional people’
Last week’s Cultural Omnivore just launched something you - or maybe your most interesting mate - might like to know about.
It’s a prestigious (yet free + fits around a full-time job) talent programme for smart people who have probably never considered working in public life/the government…but probably should, because don’t we badly need our brightest and best thinkers in charge of running the country…esp right now?
In the words of the politically-neutral British non-profit, Civic Future, that’s running the programme: “We’re looking for exceptional people.”
In previous years folks from tech, creative industries, academia, education, finance, etc have applied. Applications close 10pm 8th March HERE.
Sounds cool.
Beth, ty! I love Anna so much, and now...well, I love her even more. But how have I not made those cookies before?! Changing that asap.
We love Anna!