Fast friend. SW meets Hannah Sandling

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Author, presenter and style expert Hannah Sandling covers everything from hippie hair to celeb style with Shannon Denny

Hannah Sandling moved to Fulham at the age of 18 and never left. She arrived from her native Cornwall to study at Chelsea College of Art and Design on the King's Road, and 15 years later she lives less than a mile away from there. But while her postcode has remained fairly constant, most everything else in Sandling's life has been marked by change.

"I had full-on dreads. I had bicycle tyres in my hair, I had feathers in my hair, I had reflective material that you find on trainers stuck in my hair. I was literally such a scarecrow!" the glossy blonde exclaims, casting her memory back to her years as a fine arts student. It's a pretty difficult picture to imagine when facing the put-together and pretty TV presenter and author who earned her stripes as a top fashion and interiors stylist.

As a student, her work was shown in the National Gallery and her short films made it to the Berlin Film Festival. "I didn't study fashion, I didn't study interior design," she says. "In fact, I didn't even know what styling was till I fell upon it by accident." The accident came about when some scarves she'd created caught the eye of the fashion editor of Country Life, Jennifer Guerrini-Maraldi, who spotted her talent and asked her to assist on some shoots. "She said, 'Right, the first thing that's got to happen is you've got to get rid of your dreadlocks.'" Thus came the end of Hannah Sandling's hippie hairstyle, but the start of her career.

With her natural eye for style, she became adept at dressing A-listers for success, with clients including Carmen Electra, Jamelia, Craig David, Emma Bunton, Sienna Miller, Duncan James and Dita Von Teese. Her bulging portfolio features shoots she's styled for magazines from GQ to Heat to Tatler, as well as campaigns for a host of heavy-hitters like M&S, Nivea, B&Q, Morgan and Boots.
These days though you're more likely to find her in front of the camera than behind it, presenting shows like Cbeebies' Clutter Nutters or The Big Day on BBC1, and contributing regularly to Richard & Judy, BBC Breakfast News and GMTV. She's commentated live from the red carpet for the BAFTAs and the Oscars too.

In the past weeks she's been presenting and designing interiors on ITV's 60 Minute Makeover, and she's relishing her third series with the show. As a girl who lives life at full-tilt, the pace seems to suit her perfectly. "The whole thing is exactly 60 minutes!" she assures me. "I've had it where curtains haven't gone up... situations where the dining table hasn't gone in. It's real. We don't get one hour, one minute - it's never like that."

Her seriously practical streak is handy for getting those curtains up and tables in place on TV, but she's equally efficient in real life. Her first book, titled The Lazy Goddess and released last year, covers grooming shortcuts and wardrobe solutions for girls constantly on the go. It's also got tons of ideas for looking chic on the cheap. "I am literally the thrifty queen," she insists. "I hate wasting money!"

A new book, The Lazy Princess, is aimed at tweenies, the same audience that makes up the loyal fanbase of Clutter Nutters. It's a girly, chatty go-to guide that's crammed with tips on clearing out your closet, customising old clothes, making limited pocket money go further and generally putting your most fabulous face forward in any situation that adolescence might throw in the way.
The book isn't even back from the printers as we chat, but already Sandling's turned her focus to another project. "I'm doing this 250k run," she tells me while my jaw descends to the floor. "We do six marathons in a row across the Gobi Desert. I've been told my feet are going to look like they belong to the butcher's shop window!"

She leaves just three days after the release of the book, and in preparation she's been running four hours a day around Richmond Park while carrying 10 kilos of stuff. "Everything we want we have to carry on our back, all of our food and gear. I don't change my knickers - nothing gets changed. You're given one-and-a-half litres of water every 10k; if you're caught washing with it you'll get disqualified!"

No doubt Sandling has enough grooming tips at her disposal to help undo the damage of the desert. Then she'll return home to celebrate in low-key style: "My best way of rewarding myself is having the most perfect breakfast with my best friend Emily [Compton], just putting the world to rights."

From what I can tell, relaxing over coffee won't last long. Soon she'll be off running up a dress on her sewing machine, painting floorboards, fronting a TV show and sharing style secrets in the press. She also mentions a two-day trek through Argentina on Arabian horses is planned for August, before revealing, "Every year I'm going to do an ultra endurance marathon - next March I'm going to do the Sahara Desert." A goddess? Possibly. Lazy? Not on your life.

The Lazy Princess, Metro, priced £7.99

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