Toned and athletic: five women with a discipline that shows in how they stand
An athletic frame is less about muscle than about bearing. It shows in a straight back at the end of a long dinner, in heels that never seem to pinch, in the ease of someone who would cheerfully walk from Hyde Park Corner to Chelsea Bridge rather than wait for a cab. Five women in the edit have it, standing between 158 and 172 cm.
Each came by it differently, and the way she did tells you a good deal about the evening she will make. Four keep a discipline most weeks of the year; the fifth simply never sits still.
Toned and athletic, in the edit
The court: Angelika
Angelika plays tennis most mornings, which accounts for the 172 cm of easy athleticism beneath her poker-straight black hair. She is in her mid twenties, playful once the ice breaks and serious about contemporary art, and her ideal evening moves from a gallery by the Serpentine to a small room with live jazz. She is the one to choose when you want the night to have a second act.
The saddle: Laura
Laura rides on Rotten Row at seven most mornings and carries herself accordingly: straight backed at 169 cm, with sun-streaked light brown hair and green eyes. She skis every winter and would choose a slow train across Italy over a flight any day. Her evenings in SW1 often open at The Grenadier on Wilton Row before a stroll down to Hyde Park Corner.
The long walk: Nora
Nora, 166 cm, honey blonde and hazel eyed, built her frame on long walks and early starts, and once a week her day begins before dawn at the flower market at Nine Elms. She draws dresses in her sketchbook, knows grower champagne by the village and can make a crossing of Chelsea Bridge at dusk feel like the start of a long weekend.
The barre: Sonya
Sonya spent years in ballet class and, at 162 cm, has kept a dancer's carriage. Now in her early thirties, she meditates every morning, watches ballet rather than dancing it and collects rare fragrance a bottle at a time. From her Knightsbridge home the Rose Garden in Hyde Park is a short and very calm walk.
The workroom: Tina
Tina, at 158 cm, owes her athletic build to no single sport. She is simply never idle: sketching and sewing her own pieces, hunting through record fairs for old jazz and soul, and mixing a considered cocktail once the day is done. She lives in Covent Garden and is quickly in Westminster, where the Corinthia is her favourite place to begin.
Evenings built for energy
These five make excellent travelling company, as happy on a platform at dawn as on a long walk from a station, which is why they suit departures from Victoria so well, whether a run to Gatwick or a weekend by train. Closer to home, three hours at £1,050 leaves room for a walk across the park and dinner on the far side.
The five in other sets
Tina and Sonya also appear among the petite plates, Angelika with the raven haired and the statuesque, Nora with the blondes, and Laura with the brunettes. Whichever of the five you ask for, the hour is £400; the rates page lists the longer formats, and one message through booking starts things moving.
Seen a face you like? Ask for her by name.
Or describe the evening and let Rosie choose. Either way you receive a written reply naming who is free, what it costs and when she can knock.