MY NAME IS... GRETA BELLAMACINA

As part of our series of conversations with women of style and substance, we sit down with the mesmerising Greta Bellamacina. A total polymath, the poet, model and actress is known for her singular vision and romantic aesthetics. Greta is married to artist Robert Montgomery and together they have two sons and have founded publishing house New River Press.

Greta's critically acclaimed poetry collection 'Tomorrow's Woman' was described by the Financial Times as a "beguiling, urgent, beautiful, lamenting, tender and powerful ode to the complexities of contemporary womanhood". She shares what she is manifesting for 2022 and how she finds joy and energy through solar powers.

MY NAME IS RIO IS A MANTRA. WHAT IS YOURS?

To keep an open heart. I think if you can do that then you keep a good amount of space inside of you to create and learn. As children, we seem to do it naturally. It's about leaving the dogma behind and following something deeper and more sacred.

WHICH WOMAN CAPTIVATED YOU GROWING UP?

Patti Smith has always been a consistent voice in my head. Something about the way she writes and sings. Only later I discovered her interviews online; I have a couple I like to read back from time to time. I like her ability to hold onto romantic truths. Also actresses like Sissy Spacek and Gena Rowlands I have long admired.

WHAT ARE YOU MANIFESTING FOR 2022?

'Tell That To The Winter Sea' is a feature film I have co-written with director Jaclyn Bethany, which I will act in later this year alongside Amber Anderson. It is a story told partly in dance and partly through flashbacks. I really want to explore film through other mediums and dance is something I am very drawn to. This film is what I am manifesting this year.

WHERE DO YOU GO TO RECONNECT?

I stand in the sunshine. I do this everyday, it can be the coldest day but in it there will always be a moment of sunlight. Sometimes I will be writing and then the light will pass by the trees for a moment and I will run outside to stand in it before it passes. It's important to remember we are just like the fruit and the flowers, filled with sun and starlight.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE PIECES FROM THE COLLECTION?

I love the Alma lilac mohair cardigan, I'm very drawn to that colour right now. I think it's the blue in it that gives it a translucence power. I have a room in my house that is a similar colour, even with the light off it glows.

WHICH SONG LIVES IN YOUR MIND RENT FREE?

'God' by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.