A day in the life of Rachel Hennessy, owner of Happy Days fashion rental

To celebrate Malfy’s status as an icon of Italian style, with its elegant blend of botanicals and handpicked juniper, we asked Rachel Hennessy, owner of the Dublin-based fashion rental platform Happy Days, to share an insight into her unique working day.

7am

Every day, I wake up and walk around to the local coffee shop, grab a coffee and take my golden retriever Charlie for a walk. We live by the sea so I love doing a loop around by the Forty Foot. If it’s a sunny day we will stop so Charlie can have a dip in the water. I might catch up on some emails or DM’s then. I love listening to music on my walks and try not to go on my phone and just enjoy the stroll. When I get home I will cook myself some eggs and get ready for the day ahead.

9am

If I’m working from home in the morning I will sit down in my home office with my productivity planner and write out my to-do’s for the day. These are split by quick ticks (less than five minutes), tasks (five to 30 mins) and projects (more than 30 mins). If I don’t sit down and do this I will have a hectic day and feel totally on the back foot.

Then I’ll check if there were any orders in from the night before that need to be looked at urgently, i.e. a rental going out immediately. I’ll check my emails and Instagram messages and send out responses. I’ll do a post on the Happy Days Instagram account and pop up any stories I had planned for that day. I’ll get working on my to-do list which can range from anything such as making payments or planning a photo shoot to updating the website, scheduling staff, and reviewing the previous month’s data… the list is endless.

11am

I’ll try to take a break and grab a snack. My go-to at the moment is a pitta bread cut up with hummus and The Happy Pear sun-dried tomato pesto on top – so delicious! I’ll check WhatsApp and Instagram messages to see if there is anything urgent that needs my attention. Then back to the never-ending to-do list.

1pm

Sometimes if I’m working from home for the full day I will head over to Bibi’s cafe for lunch. The bircher there is my absolute favourite; the cafe is so cosy and the staff are lovely. Bonus points if it’s a nice day and I get to sit outside with Charlie.

Rachel Hennessy

4pm

If there is an event in the store in the evening I will start to get ready and go up there for around 5pm. I’m not very fussy when it comes to hair and make-up so it usually only takes me about 20 minutes to get ready. My go-to outfit at the moment is a dress with an oversized jumper and my new Ganni buckle ballerina flats. They make an outfit instantly dressier. I get a lot of inspiration from Scottish influencer Hollie Mercedes. She pulls off amazing oversized looks and I love her style.

5pm

I’ll go to the store to make sure everything is ready and is looking the way I want it to. I love hosting events in our store as we get other brands or creators in and they bring their customers or audiences in which means we get to meet new people. We had Aoife Mullane in for a pop-up and had a really fun event with The Smooth Company in demoing their product. The vibe in the shop was amazing with Malfy Gin providing the cocktails of course!

Rachel Hennessy

9pm

I’m always absolutely exhausted after the events so I’ll head home and hopefully have dinner waiting for me. I’ll unwind by watching some TV (currently binging Yellowstone). I’ll then head up and have a warm shower and I recently started using the Groung Wellbeing Sleep Sound range. I use the Codladh Body Oil after my shower and the face balm before I get into bed. I swear it’s making me sleep better! I’ll get into my favourite pyjamas by Honna, which I got as a present from a friend, and will read my book to help me get to sleep. I just finished Sophie White’s My Hot Friend and I loved it.

Rachel Hennessy