Francesca Perks is that girl. You know the one you follow on social media who always has the coolest outfits that look like they’ve been nonchalantly thrown together, has a fearless attitude, and the person you’re convinced could be your BFF given the chance.
The Gen Z fashion influencer has been creating style content on her platforms for years, and she’s amassed an impressive 60,000-plus followers on Instagram and nearly 150,000 on TikTok along the way.
Career experts give us the low-down.
Known for her fun and playful sense of style, the creator is known for her love of “seasons” - changing her sense of style (and hair colour) to suit her mood and her stage of life.
Right now? You’ll see that Francesca is in her ‘90s era, with a wispy dark brown fringe, long denim skirts, cropped cardigans, and leather jackets - a stark change from her previous bright-hued era during the start of the pandemic, which saw the then-blonde dress almost exclusively in pastels.
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However, Francesca may be about to enter her sportswear era, as she has teamed up with Reebok and Amazon Fashion to style its new #SportToStreet collab, and we’re obsessed with the results. To celebrate the launch, we spoke to Francesca about the collaboration, her attitude towards body positivity, and how she handles low self-esteem.
Francesca Perks: I love knowing that at the end of each day, having put myself out into the world with the notion that I can be perceived in any which way, that I am doing every last thing with good intentions, and nothing else. It’s a good rule of thumb to navigate, especially when life online can be discombobulating. If I can show up as myself online, knowing all I do is with good behind it, that’s all I can ask for myself.
Oh boy does it change, it’s ever-evolving and I can assume the way I feel today will have evolved in six months time, and again in a year and so on. I grew up with an incredibly low self-esteem and in tandem with a poor relationship with my body, which like so many permeated into my teenage years, affected my relationships with others. The short of it, I had a lot of behaviours to unlearn and a lot of compassion to show myself. Like all healing journeys, it’s not linear but the ideologies behind body neutrality, rather than body positivity have really helped.
For me, body neutrality has given me the tools to see my body as a vessel to achieve what truly matters in life; nurturing relationships with others, nurturing my relationship with myself, making memories and achieving goals, rather than it being this journey of enlightenment.
To the nth degree, it’s my mum Max. Growing up with a Mum with such an indestructible sense of personal style, was bound to have a strong effect on me. Watching her take into account inklings of “what’s now” while still building outfits that were incredibly her, utterly fun (she had an era of building all outfits around her Astroturf flip flops for example) and always entirely thrifted (whether that be by charity shops, or via eBay). She’s brilliant, truly!
It has to feel like me, or some facet of me. How I dress myself each day really does affect so many factors of the rest of my day, the second I look in the mirror and see something that I don’t see myself in; it has to go. Otherwise, as dramatic as it sounds I will hyper fixate on it for the rest of the day. Which is why working with Reebok feels like such a proud moment. I hope that everyone can see in the shots, just how confident, and comfortable I feel in my body. Wearing these pieces allowed me to show up as my best self on the day.
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What I love about the looks from the campaign is that they are authentic to my style. Versatility and comfort is essential when I am on the go, whether I am wearing the pieces to the gym or running errands. I always like to bring a bit of my personal style and a fun twist to everything, so I love pairing athleisure pieces with stylish accessories and a bit of makeup to make me feel my very best. Sportswear has the ability to contribute to my confidence and mood just the same as any outfit can. If I’m happy with how a look has come together, I will wear it again and again as I already know how it makes me feel.
Oh absolutely. There’s a couple of mantras and techniques I use for not only low confidence days, but they also transcend to lower days as a whole. When my inner saboteur likes to rear its ugly head, I like to remind myself “Not everything I think is true”. Also, I like to remind myself that these low confidence, fleeting thoughts don’t need to infiltrate my entire day. I address the thoughts that are there rather than pushing them back, otherwise they’re more likely to linger the whole day.
I think the longer I have been online, the more I have learnt to set boundaries with myself. The truth is, being on social media and existing in any body, gives people the opportunity to see themselves in you and your body. That can be a brilliant thing, but it can also mean that you can have perspectives and comments thrust upon you that you could never foresee. For me, it’s important to remind myself of that notion, and also when the inevitable happens and I find myself hurt by something I’ve read or seen, to make steps to spend more time nurturing the IRL version of myself, rather than the online depiction of myself.
