Edie Campbell has one of those faces that screams London. The 33-year-old model, famous for a grippingly stern, androgynous look, was born and raised here — she’s a Westbourne Grove girl — attended its educational institutions (alum of St Paul’s Girls’ School and the Courtauld Institute) and got her first big break aged 16 with a Burberry billboard campaign.
‘I still had my braces on — it was blown up on the roof of a building on Piccadilly Circus and I had train tracks on my teeth. The pictures were so big you could see the blue elastics,’ she says over the phone from Stansted Airport. In the career that followed, she frequented the cover of British Vogue, became a fashion week staple, won model of the year at the 2013 British Fashion Awards — the whole vive London fandango.
Today, though, Campbell is a staunch London leaver. ‘I’m such a country mouse. I feel very affronted by the city,’ she says. Four years ago, she made the move to Northamptonshire where she lives, alongside her seven horses, in a corrugated house made with her mother, architect Sophie Hicks. ‘It wasn’t my intention, I thought I would split my time. That wasn’t the case: I’m now almost entirely in the country and just commute when I need to.’
Why? ‘I lived in London for 30 years — now I find it too busy and scary. I guess you acclimatise to the level of interactions that you want with the world. I can go all day in Northamptonshire without having an incidental interaction with someone, and that is all intentional.’ She also finds it warmer. ‘There’s a really sweet community and everyone says hello to everyone. Hardly anyone has that in London. I find that kind of like soul food.’
Her life now revolves around exercising her horses for three-day events; dressage, showjumping and cross-country training all mandatory. Bye bye front row, hello Badminton and Burghley horse trials. ‘That’s my goal. Those events are five star, I’m currently competing at four.’
But it doesn’t come without its hiccups. In 2019, she had an accident that left her with a brain injury. Just before last Christmas, she took a violent hoof kick to the face. ‘It was quite dramatic. I thought, “Oh my God, I’m gonna have to get a job. This is a nightmare,”’ she says. During reconstruction, she also wondered ‘if it was my opportunity to get incredibly snatched’. In the end, it has healed leaving a shadow of a scar on her left cheek. ‘The way my face moves is different now. My smile is quite wonky; luckily, I never made any money as a smiling model.’
Campbell, ever a style pin-up, is regularly seen flaunting her friends’ designs (anything Molly Goddard is a go-to). The mucking-out wardrobe never makes its way to town. ‘I’m really conscious of not looking too rural,’ she says. ‘I’d never wear anything tweedy or look like I’m on a day trip.’ And she hasn’t swapped out all the stilettos for Ariats yet, either.
She has caught Burberry creative director Daniel Lee’s eye for one. He has had her walk in the past two London shows, and made her a face for the label’s Spring 2025 campaign. ‘Since Daniel’s been at the brand, it has been amazing to revisit my relationship with them — it’s been kind of full circle,” she says. “Shooting this campaign was manic, in the best way. They asked me to look like a bored wife at the Polo — I said, “I can do that.’” In 15 minutes, she will board a flight to do another modelling gig in Puglia. ‘It’s a privilege,’ she says.
She is travelling now for work, but has her eye on ‘a Greek island or a French moment. Just a bowl of pasta with the view of sea’ this summer. Back home, it will be Olympics-mania. ‘I love the Olympics,’ she says. ‘Mad for it. I’d love to compete in something f***ing random, like be a shot putter.’
It is not to say she will turn away from the pressing matters coming to the UK in the coming months, though. July will be defined by the general election, which comes off the back of Pride Month. ‘It’s important, neither major party is particularly good on LGB — or specifically — T issues,’ she says, of the treatment of trans people in the UK. ‘I saw trans activist Charlie Craggs say, “There are more sexual assault claims against Tory MPs than there are against trans people in the UK.” That’s telling. We know who we’re going to be scared of.’
Campbell will be watching — albeit a safe 70 miles away from Westminster — with bated breath. ‘I do love an election,’ she says. ‘It brings out the worst in my competitive spirit.’
