Lily Cole
Lily Luahana Cole (born 27 December 1987)[2][3] is a British model, author, film director, actress and entrepreneur.[4] Cole pursued a modelling career as a teenager and was listed in 2009 by Vogue Paris as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.[5] She was booked for her first British Vogue cover at age 16, named "Model of the Year" at the 2004 British Fashion Awards, and worked with many well-known brands, including Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Jean Paul Gaultier and Moschino. Her advertising campaigns have included Longchamp, Anna Sui,[6] Rimmel and Cacharel.[7][8] In 2020, Lily published Who Cares Wins, a book about how our lives impact the planet and how we can respond to the climate emergency challenges we face. In 2021, the book was turned into a podcast in which Lily invites guests with different perspectives to explore critical issues - and their relationship to the environment - from technology, food, to mental health and capitalism.
Lily Cole | |
|---|---|
Cole in London, 2013 | |
| Born | Lily Luahana Cole 27 December 1987 Torquay, Devon, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Organisation | Impossible.com |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | Honorary degree for contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes, Glasgow Caledonian University, 2013.[1] |
| Modelling information | |
| Hair colour | Red |
| Eye colour | Blue |
| Agency | IMG Models (worldwide) CAA |
| Website | www |
Cole's first leading role as an actress was as Valentina in the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Her other film work includes Passages, a short directed by Shekhar Kapur, and There Be Dragons directed by Roland Joffé.[9] In 2013, Cole founded impossible.com, an innovation group and incubator (previously a gift economy social network, now renamed Impossible People).[10][11]
Early life and education edit
Cole was born in Torquay, Devon, to Patience Owen, an artist and writer, and Chris Cole, a fisherman and boat builder. She has no contact with her father, who left home when she was a baby; she and her sister were raised by their Welsh mother in London.[12]
Cole attended Hallfield Primary School, the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and St Marylebone School.[12][13] At Latymer Upper School, where she completed her sixth form studies, she achieved A grades in her A-levels in English, politics, and philosophy and ethics.[12][14]
She gained a place to read Social and Political Sciences at King's College, Cambridge in 2006, deferring entry twice.[14][15] In 2008 she switched to history of art and graduated in 2011 with a double first.[16]
Modelling edit
Magazines and fashion shows edit
Cole was photographed in 2001 at age 13 by fashion photographer Mariano Vivanco.[17] According to the Evening Standard in 2004, her modelling career began in 2003 when she was approached in the street by Benjamin Hart of Storm Models.[18] She signed with Storm and in 2003 was photographed by Steven Meisel for Italian Vogue.[7][19] Her distinctive red hair attracted significant media attention.[20] At the 2004 British Fashion Awards, she was named "Model of the Year".[19][21]
Cole worked with many prominent photographers, including Craig McDean, Nick Knight, Juergen Teller, Arthur Elgort, Irving Penn and Tim Walker.[22] She has appeared on the covers of Playboy in France, Vogue, Citizen K, and V, among others.[23] She featured on Vogue's "best dressed" list in December 2005, and had cover appearances on Numéro and Interview.[24]
She modelled on the international runway circuit and at many fashion shows on behalf of Chanel, Shiatzy Chen, DKNY, Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, Alexander McQueen, Jasper Conran,[25] John Galliano and Louis Vuitton.[7][8] She was nominated, for the second time, for the "Model of the Year" award at the 2007 British Fashion Awards.[26] In December 2009 she was listed by Vogue Paris as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.[5] Cole made a cover appearance on the January 2010 issue of the Canadian Elle[23] and opened Hermès's winter 2010/2011 collection at Paris Fashion Week in March.[citation needed] Towards the end of 2010, she featured in a documentary chronicling the career of Rolf Harris in which he painted her dressing up as Titania from A Midsummer Night's Dream.[27] Cole has additionally graced the covers of Vogue (UK, Russia, Korea), Harper's Bazaar (UK, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Russia, Ukraine, Taiwan, Turkey) and i-D.
During the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, Cole was one of the British models wearing fashions created by British designers specifically for the event.[28]
Advertising edit
Cole has appeared in advertising campaigns for Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Hermès, Longchamp, Cacharel, Topshop and Anna Sui cosmetics, as well as being the face for Moschino's perfume "I Love Love".[14] In September 2007, Cole was announced as the follow-up model for Accessorize, taking the place of Claudia Schiffer,[29] also designing a line of handbags for the collection.[30]
Cole has been modelling for cosmetics company Rimmel London since October 2009,[7][31][32] as well as featuring in advertisements for jewellers Tiffany & Co.[33] Along with Twiggy and others, Cole became a "face" of Marks and Spencer clothes advertising campaign, making her the youngest model to become involved in a campaign for the line.[34]
She launched a campaign in June 2010 at Gatwick Airport for modelling agency, Storm Model Management. The campaign aims to find new modelling talent from people passing through the airport, with the agency hoping to re-create the discovery of Kate Moss, who was spotted at JFK Airport in 1988 by the agency's founder.[35][36]
In March 2012 The Body Shop launched its Beauty With Heart campaign, naming Cole as its first ambassador.[37]
Acting edit
Films edit
Cole made her acting debut as Polly in the 2007 comedy St Trinian's, a rework of the black and white films of the 1950s and '60s,[38] alongside Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Russell Brand, Jodie Whittaker and Stephen Fry.[39]
Her first leading role came in Terry Gilliam's 2009 fantasy film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, playing Valentina, the teenage daughter of Christopher Plummer's title character, Dr Parnassus, whom Parnassus has promised to the Devil (Tom Waits) upon her 16th birthday.[40][41] Acting alongside Heath Ledger (who died before filming had finished), Cole, in an interview for the Daily Telegraph admitted that, at times, she felt out of her depth in the role — saying "I'd only done a couple of films and here I was surrounded by amazing actors like Christopher Plummer and Heath Ledger, and it was intimidating at times",[7] also describing the role as "the biggest role I've ever done".[7]
Gilliam said of Cole: "She has an amazing look and grasps what is required so very quickly. If she wants a career as an actress, she has a brilliant future".[7] According to Mark Olsen of The Los Angeles Times, writing as Parnassus was released in the United States, "Cole brings a surprising well of emotional tenderness to her part as Valentina",[40] while Ryan Michael Painter wrote of the film on 'inthisweek.com' that "all of the performances are delightful, particularly Cole's as Valentina, proving that the haute couture model has more to offer this world than a pretty face".[42]
Cole appeared at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival in December 2009 to promote Parnassus.[43] She was featured as herself in one episode of the online series T Takes, a series of short, improvised films published by The New York Times.[44] Cole appeared as "Lettuce Leaf", a celebrity supermodel in the 2009 film, Rage, directed by Sally Potter. Cole also played "Aline" in the 2011 film There Be Dragons.[14]
In January 2010, Cole gave an interview to the Canadian edition of Elle in which she expressed her desire to focus more on acting than on her modelling career, saying she "wouldn't want to treat acting as a convenient thing to do now and again", going on to mention her roles in the upcoming films There Be Dragons and Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll and saying of her modelling "I've been doing modelling for years and I feel like I've taken out of it what I need to and I'm ready for new things"[citation needed] and that "film asks for a much bigger emotional and intellectual commitment."[23] Cole had a part in Mary Harron's The Moth Diaries, which was released in 2012.[40]
Other roles edit
Cole made a minor appearance in the music video for the Girls Aloud and Sugababes cover of "Walk This Way" in aid of the British telethon charity Comic Relief, in which she struts up and down a catwalk in "hilarious ways", interspersed by the bands and several well-known British television personalities.[45] Cole had another minor role in Primal Scream's 2008 video "Can't Go Back", in which she and other models featured in a horror-style video based on the films of Dario Argento. The models, including Cole, are graphically "murdered" and "meet their ends in rather striking ways" with the aim of looking "hot even when dead".[46] Cole again starred in a music video for Sir Paul McCartney's song "Queenie Eye" featuring a number of actors and musicians including Gary Barlow, James Corden, Jude Law and Johnny Depp.
It was reported in October 2009 that Cole would make her stage debut at the Old Vic Theatre in London's West End at the theatre's annual "24 Hour Plays" held in November, but "scheduling commitments" forced her to pull out.[47] Cole ultimately made her stage début at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge, as Nina in a student production of The Seagull.[48]
She appeared in "The Curse of the Black Spot", the third episode of the sixth series of science fiction series Doctor Who, in May 2011. She played a Sea Siren.[49] Cole stars in the music video for Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 2013 single "Sacrilege" as a woman burned alive by the many men and women with whom she has had affairs.[50] In 2017, Cole starred in the title role in the three-part docu-drama miniseries Elizabeth I, which aired on Channel 5 from 9 to 23 May.[51][52]
Charity work edit
Overview edit
Cole supports a variety of humanitarian and environmental causes. She supports the charity WaterAid, speaking for the organisation's "End Water Poverty" campaign,[19] and the Environmental Justice Foundation[14][53] Cole has modelled a T-shirt with the slogan "Save the Future" to fight child labour in the fashion industry for the Environmental Justice Foundation.[54] Most recently Cole put a plaster cast bust of her torso on the auction site eBay to raise money for British telethon charity Comic Relief.[19][55]
In December 2009, Cole attended a party, hosted by Elton John for which guests were asked to design their ideal bar with the designs then sold at auction in aid of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.[56][57]
In October 2010, she helped launch the World Land Trust's Emerald for Elephant Exhibition, which was designed to create awareness and raise important funds for the protection of the critically endangered Asian elephant.[58]
In August 2012, she was part of the judging panel at the Festival of Code, held at the culmination of Young Rewired State 2012.
In 2013, PETA cited her efforts to make consumers aware of animal products in cosmetics and declared her to be one of the "Sexiest Vegetarians" of the year.[59]
For the bi-centenary of writer Emily Brontë, The Parsonage Museum, Haworth, has appointed Cole to be its "creative partner" to "commemorate the legacy of one of England's most important, and mysterious, writers".[60]
In 2016 Cole was appointed a Fellow of the Foundling Museum in London. In 2018 she co-wrote Balls, a short film exploring connections between the Foundling Hospital story and Emily Brontë’s much-loved novel Wuthering Heights. Balls is co-written by Lily Cole and Stacey Gregg, and produced by Kate Wilson at Fury Films. The film has been co-commissioned by the Foundling Museum, Brontë Parsonage Museum and Rapid Response Unit, with support from Arts Council England.
Environmental campaigning edit
In 2005 Cole announced she would no longer model for De Beers after being alerted to the situation of the Kalahari Bushmen being evicted from their lands in Botswana.[61]
Cole wrote the foreword for Tamsin Blanchard's 2007 book Green Is The New Black, a guide to being fashionable while remaining eco-friendly.[62]
In 2013 it was announced that Cole would receive the Doctor of Letters for her "outstanding contribution to humanitarian and environmental causes" from the chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University, Professor Muhammad Yunus.[1]
Cole was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas at the 2015 general election.[63]
Business activities edit
Cole is the founder of Impossible.com, an innovation group and incubator.[10] Cole is also part-owner of a London bookshop[64] and an advisor to Wikitribune.[65]
Cole was involved in creating an environmentally friendly knitwear company, The North Circular, which launched in 2009.[66] The North Circular products are hand knit in the UK with British yarns,[66] from which 5% of all profits, and all of Cole's, are donated to the Environmental Justice Foundation.[67] She launched a womenswear range for the company in February 2010.[68]
Personal life edit
On 28 February 2015, Cole announced she was expecting her first child with boyfriend, Kwame Ferreira.[69] Their daughter was born in September 2015 and named Wylde.[70] In 2021, Cole came out as queer during an interview with The Sunday Times Style.[71] Cole is a pescatarian but eats "mostly vegan".[72][73]
Filmography edit
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | St. Trinians | Polly | |
| 2009 | Rage | Lettuce Leaf | |
| 2009 | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Valentina | |
| 2009 | Passage | Tania | Short film |
| 2011 | There Be Dragons | Aline | |
| 2011 | Doctor Who | The Siren | Episode: "The Curse of the Black Spot" |
| 2011 | The Moth Diaries | Ernessa Bloch | |
| 2012 | Confession of a Child of the Century | Elsie | |
| 2012 | Snow White and the Huntsman | Greta | |
| 2013 | The Zero Theorem | Woman in street commercial | |
| 2013 | Red Shoes | The dancer | Short film |
| 2015 | The Messenger | Emma | |
| 2015 | Orion | ||
| 2015 | Gravy | Mimi | |
| 2016 | Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Herself | |
| 2017 | Elizabeth I | Elizabeth I | Miniseries; 3 episodes |
| 2017 | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | Lovey | |
| 2018 | London Fields | Trish Shirt | |
| 2018 | Upstart Crow | Ephie | |
| 2019 | Icons - Artists | Herself | BBC documentary series |
| 2022 | The Split | Bella | Series 3 |
| 2022 | Hilma | Mathilda |
| Year | Title | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "Walk This Way" | Girls Aloud and Sugababes |
| 2012 | "UK Shanty" | Clean Bandit |
| 2013 | "Sacrilege" | Yeah Yeah Yeahs |
| 2013 | "Queenie Eye" | Paul McCartney |
| 2018 | "Selfies in the Sunset" | Gruff Rhys |
Notes edit
^[n 1] Cole gives her date of birth as 27 December 1987.[2] Several sources, such as New York Magazine and Fashion Model Directory, cite 19 May 1988 as her date of birth, however, her birth was registered with the General Registry Office of England and Wales (GRO) three months earlier, in February 1988 and checkcompany.co.uk confirms December 1987 as her date of birth.[3]
References edit
- ^ a b Ella Alexander, "Lily Cole's Third Degree", Vogue, 3 July 2013.
- ^ a b "Autobiography" 21 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, lilycole.com.
- ^ a b "Lily Luahana Cole – London – Model". Check Company. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ Marre, Oliver (6 January 2008). "Pendennis: Lily's in the pink, not the red". The Observer. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
- ^ a b . Vogue (in French). 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- ^ "Anna Sui Make Up Fall 2007". models.com. Models.com. 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g Lawrence, Will (8 October 2009). "Lily Cole interview for The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ^ a b . Top-fashion-models.info. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ . Vogue Paris. France. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ a b "Achieving the impossible with Lily Cole". Wired.co.uk. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "Forget glamor, model Lily Cole wants tech for good to encourage women, girls". Reuters. 8 November 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ a b c Rumbold, Judy (24 January 2010). "Lily Cole: Angry young mannequin". The Irish Independent.
- ^ Jo Knowsley, "Miss Colyer & Mr Bearman by Lily Cole", TES magazine, 12 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Mottram, James (19 September 2009). "Lily Cole: the catwalk queen who conquered Hollywood". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022.
- ^ . Hello. 18 August 2006. Archived from the original on 26 April 2007.
Marre, Oliver (15 July 2007). "Pendennis". The Observer.
- ^ "Lily Cole graduates top of her class". The Daily Telegraph. 24 June 2011.
- ^ "Lily Cole", National Portrait Gallery.
- ^ Alexa Baracaia, Luke Leitch, "Schoolgirl Lily gets Vogue cover", London Evening Standard, 25 February 2004.
- ^ a b c d "Lily Cole – Model Profile". New York. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
- ^ "Fiery reds are turning heads this season". STV. 12 March 2010.
- ^ Bumpus, Jessica (1 September 2009). . Vogue. Condé Nast Publications. Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
- ^ Sells, Emma (8 January 2010). . Elle. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011.
- ^ a b c Foster, Kimberley (27 November 2009). . Catwalk Queen. Aigua Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ Petrou, Andrea (18 December 2009). "Lily Cole poses in Marc Jacobs and Jean Yu for Interview Magazine". Shiny Style. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013.
- ^ Jasper Conran Autumn/Winter 2007 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ . Vogue. Condé Nast Publications. 27 November 2007. Archived from the original on 18 July 2009.
- ^ Vikram Jayanti, "Rolf Harris paints A Midsummer Night's Dream", The Daily Telegraph, 29 December 2010.
- ^ Sarah Karmali (13 August 2012). "Closing Couture". Vogue (UK).
- ^ . Catwalkqueen.tv. 9 February 2007. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ . Bagbliss.com. 18 September 2007. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Foster, Kimberley (2 April 2010). . Catwalk Queen. Aigua Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ "Rimmel London launches new faces Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Lily Cole online". Brand Republic. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Coulson, Clare (22 August 2008). "50 Years of the Peace symbol". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ . Fashionunited.co.uk. 17 November 2007. Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ . The Daily Telegraph. 2 June 2010. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010.
- ^ Foster, Kimberley (2 June 2010). . Catwalk Queen. Aigua Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ^ Warr, Philippa (23 June 2012). "Lily Cole embraces drapery at Body Shop Beauty With Heart launch". My Daily. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
- ^ Lawrence, Will (14 December 2007). "The St Trinian's girls go to pot". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ "Lily joins St Trinians". Metro. 10 April 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ a b c Olsen, Mark (31 December 2009). "Lily Cole already has a fan in Terry Gilliam". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
- ^ "Posts tagged Lily cole at Cinematical". Cinematical.com. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Ryan Michael, Painter (5 January 2010). . In Utah this Week. Utah: MediaOne. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
- ^ "Lily Cole at The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus premiere at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival". Digital Hit. December 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
- ^ Muhlke, Christine (8 January 2009). "'T Takes'- Season 2 of Our Video Series". The New York Times Syle Magazine. New York City: The New York Times Company. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
- ^ Pickard, Anna (8 March 2007). "Sugababes vs Girls Aloud – Walk This Way". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Bubble, Susie (21 July 2008). "Lily Cole and Alice Dellal are among the victims of "Can't Go Back"". Dazeddigital.com. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ Bumpus, Jessica (29 October 2009). . Vogue UK. London. Archived from the original on 2 November 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
- ^ "Lily Cole appears in Cambridge University student play". The Telegraph. 2 March 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
- ^ Nissim, Mayer (11 February 2011). "Lily Cole cast in 'Doctor Who'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
- ^ "Watch Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Sacrilege" Video, Starring Lily Cole, Announce Tour". Pitchfork. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ O'Grady, Sean (9 May 2017). "Last night's TV review: Elizabeth I: Battle for the Throne (Channel 5); A1: Britain's Longest Road (BBC1)". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
- ^ Cumberbatch, Aimee Grant (9 May 2017). "Elizabeth 1: Battle for the Throne – Everything you need to know about Lily Cole's new series". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
- ^ "Lily Cole's Charity Work". Looktothestars.org. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ . Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ . Vogue. Condé Nast Publications. 23 March 2007. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Cole, Olivia (14 December 2009). . Evening Standard. London. Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
- ^ Bumpus, Jessica (11 December 2009). . Vogue. Condé Nast Publications. Archived from the original on 19 December 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
- ^ Lily Cole: People and elephants can live in harmony New Scientist
- ^ "Bishop, Cole Sexiest Vegetarians", Belfast Telegraph, 30 December 2013.
- ^ "Emily Bronte bicentenary events unveiled". BBC News. 17 December 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ International, Survival. "Supermodel Lily Cole refuses to work for De Beers again". www.survivalinternational.org. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
- ^ "Journalist and Writer". Tamsin Blanchard. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Elgot, Jessica (24 April 2015). "Celebrities sign statement of support for Caroline Lucas – but not the Greens". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Lidbury, Olivia (12 February 2014). . The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015.
- ^ "WikiTribune". Retrieved 25 April 2017.
- ^ a b "ABOUT US". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "The North Circular". Beauty and thedirt.com. 17 November 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
- ^ Haywood, Linda (23 March 2010). . The Global Herald. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
- ^ Farmer, Ben (1 March 2015). "Lily Cole announces she is pregnant with picture of yellow post-it note". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
- ^ Lidbury, Olivia (14 September 2015). "Lily Cole welcomes a baby girl". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ Javed, Saman (16 August 2021). "Lily Cole comes out as queer and says labels on sexuality are too 'rigid'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- ^ "Lily Cole: My Sustainable Life - ‘Please can someone invent teleportation?’". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Lily Cole". alainelkanninterviews.com. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
External links edit
- Official website
- Lily Cole at IMDb
- Lily Cole at Fashion Model Directory