Puma creative director June Ambrose talks taste

My personal style signifier is a hat. I’m vertically challenged, so I use a chapeau to extend my height when I’m not wearing heels, or when I’m wearing a silhouette that needs me to look taller. A good lid ends the sentence in every look – it’s the punctuation. I keep my collection in storage, rotate them, then sell them off when I’m fully done. I’m launching a bespoke range of my own one day.

The last thing I bought and loved was a pair of Dries Van Noten mesh basketball pants I got when I was in Paris for the Louis Vuitton menswear show. They’re just so genius. I also recently bought a bunch of Comme des Garçons at the Dover Street Market sale that kicked off my fall wardrobe. I’m obsessed with Japanese fashion.

A place that means a lot to me is Antigua, where I was born. I like to brag about being West Indian. The island itself is so beautiful and it reminds me of my mom and home. Up on Shirley Heights, the air is really crisp. It’s where I can celebrate myself.

The best souvenir I’ve brought home is a great big black and white Nelson Makamo painting from Johannesburg called What makes me is everything the good, bad and the, in charcoal and acrylic.

The best book I’ve read in the past year is The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F•ck by Mark Manson. The title is obnoxious, but when you dive into the book it’s more about unpacking trauma and not taking yourself too seriously. I think it’s a healthy read – I gave it to my kids, who are 19 and 22.

My style icon is my grandma, Ernestine Dukes. When I came to America as a child, I lived with her. She was very into old Hollywood glamour – she would wear gowns to the grocery store. It was wild. She taught me that a feather boa can make a sweatshirt nice, and when I was older and dropping my kids off at school, I’d wear over-the-top pieces like kimonos as a way to elevate my sweatpants. My mom was a single mom and totally the opposite – she worked so hard and put all her money into us. But my grandma had a husband who was well-off, so she would spend all his money!

The best gifts I’ve given are wellness gift certificates. I feel like everyone I know is operating at such a high frequency, so a self-care voucher is the best way to force people to get a vitamin IV drip or a massage. The Equinox club in New York has really skilled therapists who understand sports massages and fitness.

The best gift I’ve received was a portrait of my mom and me, from Missy Elliott. I’d told her I didn’t have a lot of pictures of us when I was young, so she merged two images of us and had a picture painted. It was a beautiful gift and I wept when she gave it to me. It’s hanging in my mom’s old room in Georgia, where my sister lives.

I have a collection of shoes, hats, sunglasses, sneakers… I have a number of units; as a designer, I want to have things in my archive that I can reference. If there were a fire, I’d probably save my Hermès Kellys. But what about my vintage Chanel? Don’t do it to me!

My beauty gurus are Joanna Vargas for facials, who alongside my make-up team is very supportive of this face, and Nicole Newland, who is my hair partner in crime. We’ve come up with plenty of hair trends – we do them, then we start to see celebrities doing them. Right now I’m doing natural bohemian braids, inspired by Lisa Bonet.

In my fridge you’ll always find June’s homemade nut milk. I’m vegan, and making your own non-dairy milk is life-changing. I soak my almonds for over eight hours, skin them and then blend with a little bit of sea salt, and four cups of filtered water to one cup of nuts. Then you put it in a cheesecloth bag and milk it and squeeze ’em like you would a cow’s nubs. I have a glass in the morning with my coffee. And I keep dark non-dairy chocolate in the fridge for a snack. It kills the sugar cravings right away.

When I need to feel inspired, I sit people-watching in Central Park or in a café. I always ask questions. I’ll walk up to a stranger and ask, “Where did you get those sneakers? Can I feel that fabric?” It’s about connecting with human sensibilities, creating product for the consumer, not the celebrity or the extraterrestrials.

The last podcast I listened to was How I Built This with Guy Raz. It’s stories about how brands have been built, and is a nice listen.

I recently rediscovered how to be still. It’s a beautiful form of meditation that I do every day. I don’t sit in bed looking at my phone when I wake – I get up and spend some quiet time on the carpet. Keeping still for 20 minutes is hard for me because I’m so easily distracted, but I’m up to 20!

An indulgence I would never forgo is my daughter Summer’s cookies. When I went plant-based, she perfected a vegan chocolate-chip flavour. Her baking skills are unmatched. summerchamblin.com

I don’t go to parties to stand around, I go to hit the dancefloor

An object I could never part with is my mom’s earrings. They’re not fancy or anything. They’re not even my style. But they’re really special to me. They’re these dangling florals with a ruby, which was her favourite stone and favourite colour.

The artists whose work I Would collect if I could are Basquiat and Warhol. When I was in Paris, I went to the Fondation Louis Vuitton exhibition, and the work they had collaborated on together was incredible. There were works I’ve never even seen before – pretty extraordinary.

The beauty staple I am never without is CO Bigelow’s Lemon Lip Cream No 1420 ($9). A good lip balm for me is essential.

My favourite room in my home is my bathroom. We recently did a gut renovation of our house and I was very insistent on having a tub. I wanted slabs of marble and waterfall marble sinks. I love just looking at it. It makes me feel opulent and relaxed. I’ll do a hot shower, then a cold plunge in a tub filled with cold water and ice – that’s my new thing. It’s mindblowing, but it’s been helping me to sleep better.

No party is complete without a mash‑up of genres that gets you on your toes: old-school disco, Afrobeats, reggae, hip hop. I don’t go to parties to stand around, I go to hit the dancefloor. Let my body go loose and swing it. “Candy” by Cameo, which Beyoncé sampled on “Before I Let Go”, is what gets me doing full aerobics.

In another life I would have been an actress. I studied theatre in high school, and when I look at the film Mahogany, I feel like I could have been Diana Ross, even though I was a baby when that came out.

The best advice I ever received is “always have options”. People say, “What’s plan B?” But you need more than just a plan B. Having more options makes you feel more confident and secure. A music publicist called Angelo Ellerbee gave me that advice on the first job I ever did. I was making a costume piece, and I only made the one thing but I should have made more. I learnt a valuable lesson.