I’ve lost a fortune as I won’t straighten my Afro ... but NO black person should be put under pressure to conform
From Wester Hailes to London, Paris and Milan, to kids’ champion, Eunice Olumide is FAR more than just a supermodel
HER face graces the covers of leading fashion magazines and she has modelled for some of the biggest names in the business. But as Scotland’s first black supermodel, Eunice Olumide is on a mission – and it’s one that has seen her awarded an MBE for her contribution to the arts and charity.
In between a modelling career which now spans almost two decades, the 34-year-old, from Edinburgh, has written books, produced documentaries, appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, bought an art gallery and is even about to launch her own fashion label.
However, it is her quiet and determined campaigning in schools around the UK – much of it away from the public eye and driven by personal experience – which has earned her a new army of young fans. Ms Olumide is determined to challenge the scourge of racism, as well as mistaken preconceptions about Afro hair that have seen youngsters expelled and suspended from school.
She declines to name or shame companies, but says: ‘Early in my career I was dropped by one of the biggest agents in the world for refusing to chemically relax or straighten my hair, so it’s something I’m extremely passionate about and have always campaigned for. Growing up in Scotland, I’d always allowed my hair to grow naturally but suddenly found myself under pressure to conform.
‘It’s a stance I’ve continued to this day and, yes, it has meant certain brands won’t use me in their campaigns and it has probably lost me thousands of pounds of work in my career. But I have to be true to myself and not pretend to be something I’m not.
‘It’s an important message I try to pass on to youngsters in schools, many of them who are suffering mental health issues or are feeling suicidal because of constant criticism of the way they look, particularly about their hair.
‘Much of my time is spent talking to headteachers to try to make them understand. It’s ludicrous to think that black kids are being expelled or suspended from school because of a lack of understanding about their hair.’ Ms Olumide, who has appeared on ITV’s Lorraine show to highlight the issue, is referring to teenager Ruby Williams, who was sent home aged 14 from her school in London because teachers said her Afro hair blocked other pupils from seeing the whiteboard.
Thanks to campaigners such as Ms Olumide and the efforts of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the youngster was awarded £8,500 compensation in February 2020 after a ‘humiliating’ three-year battle.
She adds: ‘I’m a social justice campaigner who happens to be black and cares ferociously for the Afro Caribbean community. But I’m mainly an artist, who works in fashion.
‘I don’t regard myself as a racial commentator and, despite constantly finding myself put in that situation as a woman of colour, I don’t particularly want to be seen as a representative or a poster girl.
‘There are others much better qualified than me to articulate the issues we face each day.’
Preferring actions to words, her photoshoots speak for themselves. Within the past few months, she has been pictured on the front covers of a number of international fashion magazines, including the Serbian edition of Harper’s Bazaar and the Slovenian edition of Elle, because of her ‘authenticity’.
First scouted in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street at the age of 15, her career has led her on to the catwalks of London, Paris, New York and Milan for designers including Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane and Mulberry, as well as modelling campaigns for Vivienne Westwood, who has described her as a ‘muse’.
The feeling is mutual, says Ms Olumide, who says of the doyenne of fashion: ‘I think she’s amazing and I’ve loved all the times I’ve spent with her. She’s so normal and cares about human beings and you can see that with the way she treats all her models and in the clothes she designs.
‘I also love Christopher Kane. He’s one of the early designers that I met at a young age and he still dresses me, making one of the most amazing dresses for me to wear at a recent awards ceremony I attended.’
She admits finding herself rubbing shoulders with the fashion elite is a world away from the tomboy lifestyle she led growing up in the sprawling, once-drug-ridden estate of Wester Hailes, where her mother, who came to Scotland from Nigeria, still lives. She prefers not to dwell on the racism she experienced throughout her childhood – describing it as both ‘blatant and covert, not just in Edinburgh but elsewhere too’ – adding: ‘I was into athletics, football and basketball and wore no make-up. I didn’t think that was the look of a fashion model.’
Ms Olumide, who is 5ft 9in, was approached on the street four times before she relented and decided to give modelling a try.
She says: ‘Where I came from, it didn’t sound like a real job. But I remember, after being scouted in Glasgow, thinking I may as well see what it was about. That first visit to the agency with my mum, I felt quite overwhelmed by it all.
‘It wasn’t long after that that I found myself in London, juggling modelling with my schoolwork. It felt crazy but was probably the first time in my life I felt celebrated for my appearance.’
With the importance of a good education drummed into her, however, she went on to study a communications degree at Glasgow Caledonian University, before going on to do a Masters degree in metaphysics at Queen Mary’s University in London. She laughs: ‘I’m a closet geek, what can I say?’
Her other great passions are the Olumide art gallery she founded in London in 2016, and being a DJ, mostly pre-pandemic at London’s trendy Groucho Club, as well as a notable one-off on the decks at a party for US film director Spike
Lee in Cannes on the French Riviera.
But she has also turned her hand to acting and is due to appear in the forthcoming Mission Impossible 7 movie this year, which is produced by and stars Tom Cruise.
With security surrounding the project tight, she only says: ‘I’m not a main character but I did
I’m a social justice campaigner who happens to be black
meet Tom. He’s a really cool guy, who is a total perfectionist. I watched him fly his own helicopter to the set and do some of his own stunts, which I was amazed to see.’
She has her own Star Wars miniature toy after she appeared in two cameo roles, firstly in Rogue One (2016), and The Last Jedi (2017). During the same period, she made a guest appearance in the Absolutely Fabulous movie, based on the hit comedy TV series and starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. She is most proud of her part in last year’s YouTube Originals documentary series The Outsiders?, which gave an unfiltered picture of succeeding as a black creative in today’s society and featured a number of celebrities, including Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock and TV comedian Mo Gilligan. However, Ms Olumide adds: ‘My favourite acting role has got to be in
Noughts and Crosses, based on the Malorie Blackman novels. Stormzy was also in the series and it was so much fun. I had to play a posh English person, who was African at the same time, so I had to do my best received pronunciation, which I thought was personally hilarious.’
As an author, she has published a guide for wannabe models, called How to Get Into Fashion, and has recently contributed to a Unescosupported book on cultural diversity, along with scientists, academics, faith leaders and diplomats.
‘I think it’s interesting the authors thought I had something to contribute as a fashion model,’ Ms Olumide says modestly.
She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2017, receiving it at Buckingham Palace from Prince Charles.
Today, that honour is on display in the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh, after she donated it to ‘help generate the debate’ about colonialism and slavery, as well as the lasting impact of the British Empire.
There is no doubt that her charity work – as well as visits to schools as an ambassador for the World Afro Day campaign – have made a difference, and not just to youngsters like Ruby.
She also successfully petitioned for Scotland to include black history in the school
curriculum and produced a short film, in collaboration with BBC Teach, for teachers and children, aged 11 and under, aimed at challenging racism, learning about colonialism and talking about her MBE.
With the Covid pandemic and lockdowns forcing her to stay closer to home over the past two years, her latest venture will see her launching her own fashion label.
She already has a series of collaborations with Top Shop, Puma and fashion label Evisu to her name but she’s now determined to strike out on her own – with the help of a small innovative textile mill, based in Dingwall, Inverness-shire. Run by
As a model you learn what it takes to launch a fashion brand
Clare Campbell, who has her own successful brand, Prickly Thistle Scotland, she is designing a range ‘made locally, sustainably and with transparent manufacturing processes’.
Ms Olumide says: ‘As a fashion model you really learn what it takes to launch a successful fashion brand and it is not for the fainthearted.
‘I’m not looking to follow in the footsteps of Alexander McQueen or anyone like that, though. Operating at that level would mean I couldn’t continue doing all the other things I
love doing.’