You might be forgiven for mistaking Lucy Williams for an Australian. Just look at that rumpled, unmade bed of golden hair, that glowing tan, that particular way of making bikinis look like an acceptable item of clothing in locations without sand and/or an ocean horizon stretching out around her. Failing Australian, your second guess might be a Los Angeleno. (The essential sartorial DNA is the same, but you can always weed out an LA native by their manicure.)

In fact, Williams is British. A fashion blogger, writer, designer and creative who calls West London home. That is, when she’s in residence. So often her work calls her away to destinations as far flung as Positano, the Bahamas, Mykonos and, most recently, a whirlwind two-day trip to Sydney.

It wasn’t her first time in Australia – she travelled up the east coast for three months when she was 19 (“classic Brit backpacker,” she jokes), and had the time of her life – but it was this trip that crystallised what she loves about the Australian lifestyle, or rather, the Australian life and style. “Australian fashion is right up my street,” she explains. “It’s laid-back, cool and directional all at once.” She namechecks Bondi boutique Tuchuzy and brands Zimmermann, Peony and SIR the Label as some of her favourite local offerings. “I love the balance of cosmopolitan city and laid-back beach life,” she says. “I came straight home and told my boyfriend I wanted us to go and spend a few months living in Australia sometime.”

We know she’ll fit in just fine. Her style, “casual, relaxed and eclectic with playful or vintage elements,” she sums up, and her way of looking at the world, as an adventure, not a chore, is so aligned with our own.

Williams is a big reader – just check out her blog’s ‘Living’ section if you don’t believe us – so please permit us the following literary idiom. In her bookshop of a wardrobe, the genres look a bit like this: Denim (“blue wash, vintage-fit jeans” from Re/Done and M.i.h are her favourite), white t-shirts, leather jackets from Acne, flat, black leather ankle boots, sneakers, and a tangle of gold jewellery, either from the high street or her collaboration with Missoma. Throw in a “cool, playful bag” from a brand like JW Anderson, Proenza Schouler or Chloe, and you have a typical, easy, everyday outfit in Williams’ London life. (The other genres in the wardrobe are dresses from Reformation, Realisation Par and Ganni, mini-skirts from Alexachung and accessories from Loewe).

But the handbag is the thing, really. Williams’ first big-brand purchase was a Louis Vuitton bucket bag, bought secondhand when she nabbed her first job in the fashion industry. “I remember going to fashion week every day in top-to-toe Zara and that bag made me feel a million bucks,” she recalls.

This season she’s craving ‘00s vintage numbers – “old school Chanels and Fendi Baguettes” – from Vestiaire Collective. “I feel like a bag can really change what a whole outfit is saying” Williams explains. “My staple vintage-fit jeans and a t-shirt, for example, is completely different if it has a straw basket with it, or a vintage Dior saddle bag.”

She’s right. One screams Londoner on-the-go and the other says Sydney-sider taking it easy. We’ll let you figure out which is which.

For more style inspiration, follow @lucywilliams02 on Instagram.