Extraordinary Routines

Extraordinary Routines · Megan Morton

Today our monthly contributor Madeleine Dore of Extraordinary Routines shares with us the daily routine of super stylist, author, founder of The School and busy mum, Megan Morton!

Megan’s working days are jam-packed, but always flexible. Each morning she starts with a big breakfast cook up, before spending her day either at her studio in Rosebery, writing, shooting, or hosting classes at The School, or on the road propping for an upcoming shoot.

 

Written
by
Madeleine Dore

‘Our latest campaign is our own. We are taking our first ever School excursion to Paris to coincide with Paris Design Week and Maison Objet. As it has been almost two years in the planning, we shoot something for it every week,’ says Megan. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

‘I always tell my team to bring a change of shoes! Anyone who is a working stylist knows you can only work in comfortable footwear!’ says Megan. ‘We had an intern who turned up in super chic wedge heels and I had to say: Look, I adore Robert Clergerie as much as the next person darling but you really need to go home before you do yourself harm!’ Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Megan Morton in her mezzanine office, above her photographic studios in Rosebery, NSW. ‘I love to write from here and develop my ideas. It’s honest, white, transparent and isn’t burdened by a huge printer, books or large screens,’ says Megan. Table by Vampt. Verpan system 1-2-3 divider screen and Vitra toolbox caddy from Space. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

 

‘The portholes in our office are so you can talk quietly into someone’s desk space without yelling out!’ says Megan. ‘This has led to many moments where you would go to speak with someone in their little corral and there would be Darryl Kerrigan’s face, a ‘no’, or Kanye staring back at you!’ Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

‘Stylists are literally loaded with receipts and bad bits of paper that can’t be lost. I empty totes, folders and pockets and dump them in here’ explains Megan. French cardboard boxes circa 1940 by Quintessential duckegg BLUE. Urn bag by Rosie Assoulin. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

‘Roots exist without flowers but no flowers can exist without roots. I have always treated The School as the flower, and the students its roots. The School only exists when its students turn up, and this is what makes the air and the learnings so special,’ says Megan. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Daniel and Emma designed our new mobile SMEG kitchen which helps out for those that want to cook during our new Styling Photographic Practical Workshop,’ says Megan. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

‘Our office is sometimes two of us and other times ten of us. This is why we designed these desk screens and had Willow & Wood make them up to wrap around our desks,’ says Megan. ‘We are stylists so it’s a messy office affair; this gives us the chance to reveal and conceal plus it gives people the privacy they need to go on and do beautiful work.’ Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

 

Writer
Madeleine Dore
7th of April 2016

As one of Australia’s most beloved stylists, a mother of three, a published author, the brains behind The School, and dozens more creative projects, one word that might come to mind to describe Megan Morton is busy.

Yet while certainly a creative powerhouse, Megan refuses to buy into the hype of busy as a badge of honour. ‘There is a lot of white noise around being everything and having everything, and we can all be really hard on ourselves’ Megan says. ‘But I don’t think any of us can have it all, I really don’t, and I don’t think it’s something to really want anyway. I think we can have bits of it all at different times.’

Megan has a thirst for knowledge, and does an incredible job of imparting it – even a glimpse of Megan’s daily routine feels like you’re being let in on some kind of universal secret to life.

To nourish her creativity, Megan alternates being an early bird and a night owl. ‘Your body can go up and down in ebbs and flows. If you’ve got a plan for this, such as a month of really early starts and a month of really late nights, you get to touch both sides.’

From strolls at her local Redleaf Beach, to lucky dip activities with the family, Megan teaches us how to instil simple moments of stillness and fun into the everyday, to help keep focussed on the good stuff. ‘Your body doesn’t know if it’s being paid a lot or a little – it only knows work exhaustion. Especially in 2016, with information overload and major FOMO every time you open your phone’ Megan explains. ‘For me, it’s about prioritising, and conserving your energies.’

Megan Morton’s Extraordinary Routine

5.00
I get up either really, really, early and retire early, or I swap out for a schedule of late starts and late nights. Styling is a job that requires more than to-do lists and straightforward production – that’s just the backup mandatory stuff. What it really requires is magic, imagination and sheer creativity. This is the stuff that you can’t really schedule in or add to a to-do list, which is why I try to be flexible in how I plan my days.

Because I work freelance, and every day can be different, I do have to have a sense of habit and routine though. I can’t be too on the edge out there, because it just feeds this sort of glutton button in me that makes everything wild and woolly. So one thing I have is my coffee from the same Jasper Conran coffee cup every morning – if it isn’t washed and ready I think ‘oh shit, what is going to happen?

5.30
When I’m doing early mornings, I go to Redleaf Beach with my coffee – where the real work is done.

As a person who deals in the manufactured and the overtly deliberate, I try to schedule equal time in the natural world. Styling is about creating beautiful energies for your client or brief, so there is a lot of smoke and mirrors. I like to get grounded in the natural environment. This can sometimes look like an entire day sitting at the beach! Or having this stolen morning moment.

6.00
As I don’t cook well, (and it has got nothing to do with my unrenovated kitchen!) to temper out any lurking mother’s guilt, I make ridiculously large breakfasts. I want the kids to be full as googs, and tackle the day on a QLD trucker’s full stomach! All in the one Le Creuset pan – but so many fried things!

8.00
I have what I call my second breakfast at a cafe. I really found my freelance feet in the camaraderie of the early morning world at Fratelli Paradiso. I used to drive out of my way to go there and soak up the ‘you can do this’ vibe. I often have a meeting or a catch up here, and savour the timeless elegance, perfect coffees, beautiful milky brioche tops and exceptional staff. As I leave, I plot when to come back for dinner or lunch. It’s my all-time favourite place to feed in Sydney.

9.00
Some days are booked in the studio, other days are spent sourcing and I’ll do my rounds to four or five shops, it’s very social. I believe in styling every other day, even if we aren’t formally booked on a job. Doing it daily or every other day builds up your styling muscle. It is never wasted and it is never just faffing.

Good image making is also the most potent wordless marketing. With this in mind, as a person who loves words, I balance out my beauty-chasing with reading to fuel my other passion, writing. This is why alternating between different morning start times is ideal for me – shooting and styling is a morning job, but sourcing and writing is an evening one, so you can see how exhaustion can set in unless you have a plan.

12.00
We might have a work lunch in the studio and then a big WIP meeting, where we set everybody up for the week. It’s really short because a lot of time can be wasted in meetings. We actually run a small business that appears big – it’s just me, my husband Giles and our stylist producer Katie full-time. So I need to have people who are gifted and multi-talented – no one in the office does one thing only.

14.00
A typical day can be hard to define. Styling really is the business of infinite pleasure. Everywhere you go, every roadside, every place you travel, every shop, whatever it is, there is material for your art. Once you are tuned in you are never able to not see and that’s why I find it such a 24/7 job – it’s quite a lovely long process, like slow cooking.

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