SUPER NATURAL
There are two things you can rely on in life: a little lace dress and your bestie. Celebrate both in a palette of creamy white
we’re high on a clifftop near Malibu in the Villa de Leon, a 1926 mansion groaning under the weight of endless gilded antique furniture (the effect only slightly marred by paper signs taped to almost everything to remind the crew not to move or sit on anything). After days of uncharacteristic rain, LA has turned back on the charm – the sky is blue, the light is perfectly hazy, the Pacific is shimmering outside of every soaring arched window and Carlos the set caterer is cooking eggs while performing some fairly dodgy South American dance moves. The unusually relaxed mood on set is despite the fact that there’s a huddle of paparazzi below the balcony – Snapchat means there’s no such thing as a secret cover shoot anymore. Thankfully, they don’t bother our subjects, British supermodel (and reigning Queen of Snapchat) Rosie Huntington-whiteley and her half-british, half-american counterpart Lily Aldridge, best friends who have agreed to be shot together to celebrate Australian charity Pink Hope’s Pinky Promise campaign (see p90).
In some ways, all models are freaks of nature, the trifecta of face/body/height not being something the gods hand out often, but these girls make you understand why the prefix “super” was added to the mix. They’re not “interesting” looking, in that high-fashion model-of-the-moment way; they’re just straight-up gorgeous. They don’t have the angular, clothes-hanger bodies still favoured on the runway; they’re fit and lithe and sexy (and the clothes are all the better for it). In front of the camera, they move together like it’s been choreographed, barely an off shot between them (I find myself doing an internal victory dance when I see a picture of Lily pop up on the screen with her eyes mid-blink – proof of fallibility!). All that willowy-limbed, honey-toned perfection would seem other-worldly – except they’re also so incredibly kind and easygoing and real that it’s easy to forget they’re goddesses and you’re a mere mortal. (Until you get a selfie with them, then you remember all too well...)
Case in point: Lily apologises profusely for being late – she got stuck in a traffic jam dropping her four-year-old daughter Dixie (with husband Caleb Followill, from the Kings of Leon) off at preschool. Rosie volunteers to take over the ELLE Snapchat while she waits. They order breakfast – Lily asking for an omelette with “a bit of everything”, without stopping to enquire what “everything” might be; Rosie giving the chef a bemused look when he asks if she wants cheese in hers (“who wouldn’t want cheese?!”). When Pink Hope founder Krystal Barter visits the set with a 60 Minutes crew and shares her story, Lily breaks down in tears, then after the shoot they both worry about getting to dinner late in case their friend Taylor arrives first and has to sit alone. (Taylor, we find out later via the Daily Mail, being Taylor Swift.) While their hair and makeup is being freshened up for the night to come, we sit in on two friends discussing life, loves and Givenchy heels. Looks, bodies, personalities, social-media sense, hearts and #girlsquad to match? We want what they’re having…
ROSIE: I can’t remember the first time we met, but I remember we bought apartments together in the same building in New York when I was 19, and I think our mutual friend Harley [Viera-newton], who was Dj’ing, also bought in the building, Derek Blasberg bought in the building…
LILY: We had this amazing crew in the one building. R: Really early on we went and sat in the park and you were like, “I’ve met this guy… I think he’s really cute.” L: I know, I remember! That was so sweet. R: It was lovely. So that’s nearly 10 years ago. It’s funny because, you know, you don’t get to see each other as much as you’d like. There’s just a handful of girlfriends I’ve made through my career, but when you click with somebody, it’s just easy. There’s always this thing around “do models really get on?” and I find with the girls we’re friendly with – Behati, Candice – there’s just this ease and understanding of each other’s lives that no-one else has. Right now in the industry there’s a real celebration of friendship, women and feminism, girls sticking together, and I think that’s really special, to be celebrating, lifting each other up, being happy for each other’s achievements and to be helping each other get along in life.
L: I truly believe it’s harder to be mean to people and to have that front up all the time. It’s much easier to be nice and positive; once you start being mean, you have to keep that up and it’s exhausting and it drains your soul. Just be nice and open with people – it’s so much better for you.
R: I always think the energy you put out comes back to you. You have those days where everything seems hard. But it’s about finding how you can stay on that positive note. I can honestly say, in 13 years of modelling, every girl I’ve met is pretty cool. A few here and there, but that happens in every business; there’s always someone you’d rather not spend your time with. But it’s always nice because, funnily enough, we rarely talk about work. L: Never, it’s like the last thing we talk about. R: I think that’s what’s kept the friendship pure – keeping career out of it, so it’s not about “what are you doing?”.
L: Yeah, when we met we were just little baby models so you see each other go through things and congratulate each other, and if we don’t see each other for however long, it’s like we pick right up when we do see each other. Those are my favourite kind of friendships – effortless and easy. And you’re there for each other when the time to be there for each other comes, and you understand when life’s busy. Because life is busy! It’s so hard when you have kids – kids become your priority and it’s the best. But, Rosie and I are having a girls’ night tonight. I’m so excited.
R: We’re lucky – doing what we do, so much of our lives is spent going from one lovely event to the next and one gorgeous location and one fabulous shoot, so my free time actually goes against that and I really want to be at home, with my loved ones. I want to be in good company. I want to make good food and listen to good music and be in a nice climate, be in nature, be with my animals – just doing very domesticated and very real things.
L: Yeah, just a nice dinner with the girls... R: Catching up on TV... I love reality TV – The Bachelor is my new favourite thing in life – and I love documentaries and box sets. I love anything to do with a murder mystery. [It’s] just having a routine – I thrive off it. I’d say over 60 per cent of my time is not at home, it’s on the road, getting on or off flights, a different location. As much as that’s so inspiring and I love travelling, when I can I like to be at home. I go to work so I can have my own home and live the life I want to live.
L: For me, going to the grocery store is such a nice thing to do – being somewhere long enough to stock my fridge, cook dinner, be normal. Those are the luxurious times of my life.
R: Keeping up with your fitness is the hardest part, because when you’re travelling you’re jet-lagged, and the last thing you want to do is get up at 6am to go to the gym before work. A full workday can be long and demanding, quite physical sometimes. On top of that, you’re in a location where you can’t just get to the gym. It’s a struggle, but I try to be disciplined at home. In New York, we both work with Justin Gelband, who’s trained just about every Victoria’s Secret babe. In LA, I’m a fan of Body By Simone – she’s an Australian dancer who created this dance-cardio fitness regimen, which is basically an hour of dancing. It’s a lot of cardio and butt stuff.
L: Even if I wasn’t in this job, I think working out is so important for your body, your soul and your mind. When you work out you feel good, it really does make you feel better. You make better decisions, with food and all different kinds of stuff. It just makes it a much healthier life.
R: I totally agree. A huge part of my confidence starts with exercise – that moment where you’re really present in your day, you’re focusing on your body, you’re doing something good for you and healthy for your body. If you spend time at the gym you’re going to make healthier choices when you eat – you’re not going to spoil it. You just feel good, you feel a release. And at the end, you see great results in your body; it’s the cherry on top. I always think confidence and happiness are things you have to work on for yourself… I mean, there are moments in life which are brilliant and easy, and there are moments where you have to get spiritual and get centred – and like anything in life that’s great, it takes work. To me that creates happiness. Well, that and a kick-ass pair of heels.
L: True! Like the Givenchy pair [from the ELLE shoot]. They made me feel pretty good, I’m not going to lie… R: Lily and I have a really similar style. L: Yeah, like everything I see Rosie in, I want. R: And everything I see Lily in, I want! We’re each other’s style-crushes. We both love Isabel Marant. We’ve managed to bump into each other a couple of times in the store, like, “Oh hi – you’re here! Which rack are you looking at?”
L: I’m a regular there. I keep coming back and they’re like, “You’ve bought everything 100 times – I promise I’ll call you when new stuff comes in!”
R: People always ask how I’d describe my style, and I say it’s really on the go. I want to look polished but feel relaxed – I’m a real jeans and T-shirt girl. If I’m going to invest in designer pieces, I want to buy things I can wear again and again. Every season, it’s a well-tailored jacket or a leather jacket.
L: I try not to buy the trendy pieces each season, because you can’t wear them for long. I try to get something classic.
R: But you’re like the bohemian rock chick, that’s what I think you are.
L: I definitely have a rock’n’roll edge. You always look sexy-chic. Does that make sense? You always look like a babe but really put together. Polished but still super-sexy. R: Cool, I’ll take that. L: There’s so much pressure now with social media… I can’t imagine growing up in this age as a young woman, looking into these glimpses of fabulous moments of people’s lives. To me, it’s about just loving yourself and enjoying yourself, and being present; not being so obsessed with celebrity and social media and what other people are doing. Really focus on what you’re doing because it’s your life.
R: I’ve started to set boundaries with the amount of time I’m spending on my devices. Whereas before I might have reached for my phone first thing in the morning and started on my emails because, even though I live in LA, most of my work is all over the place and there’s this expectation that you’ll get back to people immediately... You know, you get on social media and it’s the first thing you do, and it’s the last thing you do at night, and there’s no break for yourself, you’re not making that time to just be centred. So I’ve started, in the mornings, to wake up and have my coffee – because I can’t even breathe in the morning without my coffee – then I usually have a little snuggle in bed with the dogs, then have a little chat with my man and then I spend time meditating, and then I go off to the gym, at around 8-9am. I try to go to the gym – we see each other at the gym all the time – four times a week if I can, and then when I get back, that’s when I’ll allow myself to start working on my phone and sitting down with my laptop and answering emails. Also, just limiting that time spent on social media.
L: So much of our lives are on our phones now, it’s crazy. I just started meditating in January – it’s something I never thought I could do but it’s become an amazing moment in my day that I look forward to so much. It’s just a beautiful thing to adopt. I wish more people practised it because it’s such a grounding thing, it makes you realise what’s important. It gives you that moment for yourself.
R: Meditation has this thing around it, like, “There’s supposed to be flashing lights, you’re supposed to go to another place and come out like Deepak Chopra and have this enlightenment.” I believe there are levels of meditation that can get to places like that, but I try to look at it like 10, 15, 20 minutes in the morning where it’s just breathing and trying to push aside all those chaotic thoughts, those things you’ve got to do that day, the chatter you’ve got going on, and trying to still that for a moment. It’s a challenge, but the more I keep up with meditation, the easier [it gets]. It’s the same process for me with the gym. I kill myself in the gym and get a whole hour where I’m not thinking about anything, because I’m in such pain. But I’m truly present in the moment, and I’m happy, I’m really happy.