As Fashion Director of The Times, Anna Murphy divides her time between the fantasy realm of the front row and what, to her mind, is the true fashion front line: the brands that deliver clothes for the real world.

How to track down the right pieces for your life and your shape; how to look effortlessly stylish and contemporary; and how to do it without stumping up a fortune. These are the things that Anna sets out to nail in her writing (not to mention in her own shopping).

Retail therapy in the most literal sense, that’s Anna’s thing. After more years on the fashion circuit than she would care to admit – first as launch editor of the Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine, now at The Times – she has unbeatable knowledge on how finally to make fashion your friend.

Here, Anna lets us into a few of her online secrets.

My favourite website… The Times, of course!

My favourite app… Insight Timer - It has turned me from a wannabe meditator into a real one, to my amazement.

My blog of choice… The one by the architect, Ben Pentreath. It provides me with gorgeous gardens and even more gorgeous interiors.

My internet hero… Tim Berners-Lee - Inventor of the web.

My most recent buy online was… a ‘Don’t mess with Yorkshire’ t-shirt for my proudly northern yet southern dwelling father, from the website of the same name.

The book I’ve just downloaded or read… 12 Rules for Life: an Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson - This book is thought-provoking and inspiring; a brain-fryer in absolutely the best possible sense.

My favourite tweeter… I have gone cold turkey on Twitter.

My favourite instagrammer… Susanne Deeken for her idiosyncratic edit of art.

Social media allowed me to meet… people I still haven’t actually met. I love its potential to deliver connections with people on the other side of the world.

The most worthwhile newsletter that I subscribe to… I used to love Lena Denham’s Lenny Letter until it stopped last October. I am still looking for a replacement.

My pet hate about life online… is that it can get in the way of life offline.

My stand-out online memory… The first series of the podcast, Serial, was a digital watercooler moment on an epic scale.

Anna Murphy’s How Not to Wear Black: Find your Style, Create your Forever Wardrobe (Dorling Kindersley; dk.com) is out now.

January 2019

Photo courtesy of News Licensing Sarah Cresswell