The Tale of Bridget Yorston

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Photography: Julie Adams Hair and Make-up: Sarina Zoe Words: Georgie Abay

Given there’s two energetic toddlers – Tommy, three and a half, and George, 20 months – who live at the home of the very chic Bridge Yorston, things are surprisingly neutral. No bright toys on display here (and let’s face it, she certainly wouldn’t be the first mother to quickly hide the hyper hued plastic before guests arrived). Yorston assures me that they do exist. “I have an aversion to bright plastic toys in my home, though of course they do exist!” she says. “I’ve become a little obsessive about clever and interesting closed storage solutions. I like to be able to restore my living room once the chaos of the day is over.”

Much like her personal style, when decorating her home in Sydney’s North, the fashion designer opted for a muted colour palette and natural textures: starting with lime washed floorboards, this calming interior even extends to the boys’ collection of neutral toned animals. “Tommy has loved animals for as long as I can remember and in particular the Schleich range – they’re the perfect size for him to carry around in his little hands. The benefit for me being, they’re neutral, so I don’t mind finding them scattered across every corner of the house,” she says, laughing.

As a mother of two and co-director of Australian fashion label Bec & Bridge, the talented Yorston has her hands full, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I truly believe that having a baby allowed me to look at my brand with fresh eyes,” she says. “Reflecting on the past three and a half years since I have become a mother, I can see how much Bec & Bridge has grown in depth and substance. Wonderful people have joined our team and helped make Bec & Bridge the brand it is today. Becoming a mother forced me to step away from many of my day-to-day responsibilities and to spend more time looking at the business as a whole.”

She’s also the first to admit that being a working mother isn’t without its challenges. “Of course there have been many challenges too,” she says. “Starting with the initial adjustments of going back to work and having to leave my baby, to having to accept that I no longer have the extra hours that I’d like to dedicate to work. And let’s not forget the guilt! That universal mother’s guilt where it doesn’t matter what you do, you feel guilty. If it’s not the guilt of being away from your child, it’s the guilt of not doing enough at work or the guilt of having to leave the office early or arrive to work late. Or not getting back to those emails and phone calls – the list goes on and on.”

Luckily, she not only runs her own company, but has an incredibly supportive business partner who also happens to be her best friend, Becky Cooper. “I have endless praise for my business partner and best friend, Bec. She is an amazing person and if it wasn’t for her, Bec & Bridge probably wouldn’t exist today. She has graciously carried so much of the load over the past few years while I’ve been juggling little kids. I’m eternally grateful to her,” says Yorston.

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As a busy working mother, Yorston has also learned a few time-saving tricks along the way. She’s trained her hair to only need washing once a week and uses dry shampoo on other days (“I highly recommend that all working mothers do this. It has given me hours of my life back”); she manages to always catch up with her close friends twice a week, when they all do an exercise class together; and she’s also got her personal style sorted, making getting dressed in the morning a fuss-free process. “I wish I could say I dress up each day but the truth is, open my wardrobe and it paints a fairly accurate picture of just how casual my day to day (Bec & Bridge) uniform is — denim, chambray, leather, stripes and grey marl are my everything.”

Motherhood, she reflects, has changed everything. “Having two sets of eyes watching my every move reminds me of the importance of being consistent in character. I’ll never forget the little mantra I once heard – I teach little by what I say, I teach more by what I do and I teach most by who I am.”

Bridge’s little list of loves:
A morning coffee.
Indoor plants.
Visiting the local nursery.
Listening and seeing my boys play together.
Saturday morning adventures with my boys – whether it’s to the beach or to the local park.
French Nougat and Rooibos Tea.
Playing ‘What Animal am I?’ with my animal obsessed three-year-old.
Spontaneous evening pyjama runs around the block with the boys.
Those sacred two hours I get with my husband after the boys are asleep.
Rearranging my home.

February 2014

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