At the Cole face
With beauty and brains behind her — Cole’s clotheshorse career began at 14 and she became British Vogue’s youngest cover star at 16 — last June saw her graduate with a double first in history of art from Cambridge.
Bright, certainly. Looking to make a difference? It seems so. As she phases out her modeling career and moves into film — she’ll appear in Snow White and the Huntsman this summer — Cole is also co-owner of ethical clothing line The North Circular and has worked with NGOs like Water Aid.
It’s clear that this 24-year-old is going to be no ordinary beauty ambassador and will be a hand-in-glove fit for a brand which pioneered community trade and counts ethics, activism and environmentalism as core values.
“I’ve always been interested in how you can make the world seem fairer, and over the last ten years of my career I’ve become aware that one of the main things to address is business. If you don’t address changes in production lines then everything is just surface to the damage at the end of that system. When The Body Shop approached me I’d been feeling that way and I believed it, so it’s amazing to be able do my job and speak that way. It’s a good marriage,” she says.
Cole’s tenure will initially last two years and her arrival as the first face of the company coincides with a new Beauty With Heart movement. This encompasses a revitalised shopfit plus new products like silky Beautifying Oils. Look for her first beauty collection, Cruelty Free Make-Up, a fun, pretty edit that goes on counter in June.
There’s also an ethos of looking, feeling and doing good. She has used the products since she was a teenager. “There was a Body Shop near school and I have specific memories of going into the store and it was always fun, it was quite playful, trying out these things from all around the world and using the testers.”
Lily Cole’s knowledge of and trust for the company over the years makes her representation feel honest. Plus, “the products are great,” she smiles. “I hope I can be a vehicle to the work that they’ve spent a very long time doing. I think they’re an amazing company and a rare example of one sticking to values and being really successful with that too. That’s something to be celebrated.”
The model recommends her top five Body Shop products
“I’ve used them since I was a teenager and I think they’e amazing. They make skin so soft.”
“This is really nice because it’s quite subtle.”
“I have such fair lashes that this takes me from no makeup to a lot of makeup!”
“It brings back nostalgic childhood 90s memories of the classic White Musk fragrance.”
“This is great as is the Tea Tree Oil for blemishes.”
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