My life is so hectic, I’m surrounded by a lot of people all the time, it can be very over stimulating. I like to have something calm at home, so it’s very neutral, with just a few pops of colour.”
Leomie Anderson is showing me her home via video chat, while settled into her sofa. “I need a piece for this area here,” she gestures to a space near her dining table, flanked by a series of huge portraits of my interviewee, looking exquisitely beautiful in a range of high fashion looks.
“I know, I know, I’m vain,” she laughs when I point them out; there’s something so comfortingly down to earth and matter-of-fact about the way she says it. So much so, that I’m convinced vanity isn’t part of her personality at all. It’s as if her obvious beauty is just an abstract, ever present and unimportant fact that’s useful only for her job. Or maybe she’s just really nice. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
Most people look terrible on video calls. Especially on a mobile. Not so with Anderson who is glowing, confident and full of smiles when normal people would look a bit like a thumb on this kind of call.
It transpires she doesn’t live very far away from me in South London, and it’s not far from where she grew up. “I was born in St George’s Hospital, and I grew up in Colliers Wood,” she beams, as we share our love of multicultural South West London. We spend over an hour chatting and keep getting side tracked by mutual interests, passion projects, celebrity gossip, relationships and more: Anderson is outgoing and easy to connect with.
Her transition to presenter of TV show, Glow Up, seems like the perfect switch-up alongside her modelling career, activewear clothing brand and activism. We’re slated to discuss her role on the hit programme, Interior Design Masters, for a one-off special in aid of BBC’s Children in Need hosted by Alan Carr, supporting young carers in the West Midlands. Her eagerness to get her hands dirty and stuck in is clear.
Square Mile: I got a sneak preview of the show: I’m sworn to secrecy but I’ve seen a little of what you created for Interior Design Masters. Well done! It’s for a great charity, but why did you get involved?
Leomie Anderson: It’s literally a mix of all the things I find interesting and it’s something worthy. In my industry, we get a lot of opportunities to get dressed up but not represent much. I jumped at the chance when it was offered to me, I was grateful for the opportunity to donate my time to something meaningful.
SM: It’s for a Young Carer’s space in the West Midlands, do you have experience with caring for a loved one?
LA: My first experience happened later on in life, a few years ago. When I found out that my dad had cancer I became one of the people who was looking after him. At the time I also became the guardian of my two young cousins [ten and 15 years old]. I wasn’t the youngest carer but I felt a huge amount of responsibility with all of that happening within a few months of each other. I have an immense amount of respect for people who are younger than me who have to take on that role.
SM: On the show, you were partnered with comedian Jon Richardson. What was it like working together?
LA: It was really fun. It was something that was new to me. He was great and it was great having interconnected spaces to design, and having somebody to lean on for advice and to share ideas. But you know what? There were plenty of comedians working on the show, but I still think I was one of the funniest! I’m just saying.
SM: So I can add comedian to the list. I researched your CV and your accomplishments are really impressive. International model, runway star, your own fashion label LAPP The Brand, a TED talk, speeches at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. And it all started when you were scouted in McDonald’s?
LA: Yeah, I was at school and I initially thought “Er, stranger danger!”
SM: And you were so young; what did your family think?
LA: My mum was really supportive, saying if I didn’t like something I could always just stop. I am really grateful for that as I know loads of models whose parents try and live through them. They feel obligated to do it, even if they don’t enjoy what they’re doing.
If I don’t speak up for myself the only person unhappy in the end will be me
SM: It sounds as though you’re very close to your mum. She empowered you.
LA: We’re very close and she’s always given me the freedom to make my own decisions. She’s so caring and helpful. Doing something like Interior Design Masters for Children in Need is something she would be really proud of. I get to do runways and huge campaigns; but this is something where I get to give back.
SM: You’re very vocal about the causes you believe in. You’ve campaigned for Women’s Rights and have become a strong advocate for women of colour…
LA: I learnt very early on in my career that if I don’t speak up for myself and advocate for myself then the only person unhappy in the end will be me. I then realised that by advocating for myself it had a positive effect on other people.
I know there are a lot of people in the world who aren’t given those opportunities, and I don’t take for granted the position that I’m in. I have a lot of young female followers who look up to me and I want to show them more than just glamour and runways. That’s why it was important for me to start my own business, do networking events, use the skills I learnt to write my speeches. While I have people’s attention I want to give more than just pictures of myself. I want to leave behind something worthwhile. There is so much you can do in and give to this world and I want to embody that.
SM: You’ve said that there are finally more opportunities for black women in your industry, but there is still inherent, institutionalised racism and it is still a global issue. Has the industry changed a lot since you started out?
LA: I definitely think there have been positive changes. I grew up in a time when if you’re of any ethnic origin they would want you to change your whole look to fit into European standards of beauty – chemically straightening your hair, or I would arrive for a job and them not having the right makeup, all while being told that you should be grateful to be in that position in the first place. Things have changed but it’s still very surface level because brands don’t want to be called out on social media. Consumers do have more power now and call out brands when they don’t see themselves being represented, which hasn’t really happened before.
But overall the fashion industry hasn’t changed enough. I can still go on set, there could be 50 people there and I could still be the only person of colour. I can still be paid a lot less than my white counterparts doing the same work. We do have a long way to go before we can say that fashion is an equal playing field. Considering how much brands need people of colour – for inspiration, as employees, as customers, just as part of society – it’s surprising how little effort is being made.\
SM: And as a businesswoman, have you experienced racism as an entrepreneur?
LA: I think it’s something like less than 1% of VC funding goes to people of colour: counterparts who started their businesses much later than me were able to get investments a lot more easily. Even when my business was generating a great profit,
I struggled to be taken seriously. Even down to mentorship: finding a mentor is a lot harder for a woman in general, even harder when you’re a black woman, I think. But it made me learn a lot and give back more to help. The more successful I become, the more I have to pass on to others.
SM: So, a social responsibility…
LA: From a very young age I was put in a position that not a lot of people are in.
I think it would be a waste of the privilege and opportunities that I’ve been given. We can be all doom and gloom but in the time I have I want to inspire with something positive. I feel like I’ve achieved more by giving talks, networking, speaking with young women.
SM: Any plans to extend your brands and design your own interior products?
LA: Ooh, maybe! But I really want to complete my home exactly as I want it to be first before I start thinking about other people’s houses. I need people to see my distinct style, what I love before creating something without any credibility. My style is very neutral, very peaceful. I do have some really beautiful, interesting things so I need to get the right furniture to display it on.
SM: How has 2024 gone for you?
LA: It’s honestly been one of my favourites so far; it feels like things are in a good rhythm and I’m doing a lot more travelling which I love. I love my creature comforts, so I like to stay in nice hotels. When I was working my way up in the industry, I did my time staying in model apartments, paying an extortionate amount while still being in bad places. Now I pay for my own nice hotels because I remember the rats and cockroaches I was living with before. I’m looking forward to Christmas this year in Ghana because that’s where my boyfriend lives. It’s a fairly new relationship but I’ve known him for years, and he comes to London too and travels a lot. We’re going to Vegas in November. We travel around but because my dad passed away on Christmas Day two years ago; I’ve struggled and felt happy to be away for Christmas because it can be weird.
SM: It must have been incredibly hard…
LA: I was incredibly close to my dad. I’m happy that he lived longer than his original diagnosis, so I was able to prepare. Ghana is going to be really beautiful and although I’ll be sad, it’s exciting to be able to honour him on the day too. And I think my dad would be really proud of me.
The new year is also a nice time of renewal. My new year starts in September, though, with projects – like a school term. But I don’t like new year resolutions: just get on with it, live your life.
The Interior Design Masters Children in Need Celebrity Special is on BBC iPlayer now.
