My life in fashion: Sophie Dahl admires Her Majesty for finding a style.
The model and writer Sophie Dahl is the granddaughter of the author Roald Dahl. As a size 16 model she was lauded for her fuller figure when she made her debut on the catwalk aged 18. In 2000 she sparked controversy for posing nude in the YSL Opium perfume advert. She is this year’s face of the charity fashion campaign Fashion Targets Breast Cancer.
It sounds like folklore. I was 18, having an argument with my mum, and was on Isabella Blow’s doorstep, crying. She got out of a cab wearing this incredible Philip Treacy hat in the shape of a galleon. She asked “Why are you crying?” and I said it was my mum, and she said, “Do you want to be a model?” I said OK and that was that.
My biggest catwalk disaster was during the Agent Provoca-teur bikini show. I was carrying a leopard cub that scratched me. I put it down and it scratched my calf. Then it went shooting off in to the audience. I don’t know whether anyone really registered.
I saw the Opium story-boards and took a deep breath. I don’t know how easy it ever is to be virtually naked in front of a few people, no matter how well you know them. In most fashion shoots they give you a glowing bronze blend. The idea in the Opium shoot was very white, almost Kabuki-like skin. Pat (McGrath, the make-up artist) got her powder puff out and powdered me up.
The result made me happy. I hope to look back on it when I’m 85, show my grandchil-dren and roar with laughter. I was surprised it was banned in France. Weirdly the French feminists were up in arms; I don’t know why, it was a celebration of nudity.
To have your body held up as some sort of standard is very odd, particularly as a teenager. You’re just working out how you feel about yourself; things that for the average person are private. Then it suddenly becomes a national debate. Is it that surprising that I came to New York and lost weight? You do all of that privately if you’re at university. One day you and your parents look at photos of you when you were 18 and there’s cause for family mirth because you’re wearing a PVC corset in front of thousands at London Fashion Week.
For the number of alleged size zero models, there are plenty that are size 10. Yes, things need to change. You can’t have a picture of somebody frighteningly skinny on one page and on the following they’re lauded as a style icon. It sends a conflicting message. But I also live in a country where obesity is one of the biggest killers. There has to be an educated look at the problem.
For the Queen’s jubilee tea party, Sue Stemp made me this beautiful dress. But sadly, it was impossible for me to wear it — for modesty’s sake, when I realised I had to get out of Thomas the Tank Engine and walk up some stairs. Instead I chose a pair of Temperley culottes and a pink Louis Vuitton jacket — more in keeping with the event.
I love the Queen. And I love her taste in fashion. I identify with her! I think she’s found her formula.
In terms of one of the most recognisable of my grandfather’s characters, I would dress like the Grand High Witch. The high neck, the gloves, the long wig — she’s very austere and looks absolutely frosty and terrifying.
I am thrilled to be involved in the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign. Cancer is about six degrees of separation; it hasn’t affected my family but it has affected friends. In the past couple of years I have been involved with a number of things that, without modelling, I wouldn’t have been able to do.
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