As one of fashion’s favorite faces, model LILY DONALDSON’s career has spanned the globe. She talks to LAURA CRAIK on home soil about her jet-set lifestyle
Ask Lily Donaldson where she has traveled recently, and, even by top-flight model standards, the list is extensive. “Oh God, a lot of places. I went to Prague this weekend – not for work but for fun,” she says. “Berlin, Milan, Miami, LA, Paris, Mexico… Just in the last month. This is why I’m falling apart!”
We meet in a hotel in London’s Piccadilly area, where Donaldson is staying for the next two days. Even dressed anonymously in a stripy Frame Denim T-shirt and jeans, the man at the next table finds it hard not to stare as we order coffee. She has a sore neck from a recent job where “my head was so far back it was like I was going to be decapitated!” Donaldson says this very cheerfully, because she is very cheerful. She is also very funny. “It’s a modeling injury,” she deadpans. It’s this intoxicating blend of cheeky humor and glacial beauty that has propelled her to the top of her profession, where she reigns alongside a handful of girls – Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls, Jourdan Dunn – who also happen to be her closest friends. Straight after we meet, Donaldson will fly to Cannes where, thanks to social media, we can vicariously share in the fun she is having with her gang. She has 154k followers, despite only Instagramming seriously since January this year. “I’m just finding my Instagram flow,” she says. “It provides an opportunity to show you have other interests. You just have to take it with a pinch of salt, which is what I try to do with everything.” She pauses. “That’s quite a British thing to say.”
No matter that she has lived in New York’s East Village for seven years, 28-year-old Donaldson is still resolutely British; a North London girl (she was scouted, aged 16, in Camden Market) whose career took off with velocity, despite her misgivings: “When a random dude to you in the street and gives you a model card, you’re like, ‘Okay…’” Bizarrely, she was scouted again on the way to the agency. “I was ridiculously shy when it came to cameras,” says Donaldson. “But it’s funny how things happen when they’re meant to happen – nobody ever said a f***ing word to me until that day!” Her first shoot was with David Sims; her first campaign was for Jil Sander; her first British Vogue cover was shot by Mario Testino. “And the rest is history,” she says, laughing at the cheesiness of the sentiment.
With a career that has already spanned twelve years and taken in numerous magazine covers, A-list ad campaigns and an ongoing stint as a Victoria’s Secret Angel, Donaldson’s longevity is matched by that of only a handful of other models. What is most striking about her success is that she has walked away from it – twice. Aged 23, Donaldson took time out to travel. “I’d [modeled] solidly for a long time and it was great, but I had to take a step back,” she explains. Traveling is a passion. “I go on crazy exploration missions, everywhere and anywhere,” she enthuses. “I’ll go to Detroit for ten days in the winter, just to see what it’s like. I love to learn.”
It’s an impressive feat to take these trips alone; after all, a 5ft 10in blond beauty isn’t likely to be able to travel incognito. “Oh yeah, I’ll go on my own for sure,” she says breezily. “If I’m shooting, I’ll go off afterwards. When I was 19, I went to China for a [one-day job] in Shanghai. I ended up spending two weeks there on my own. It was fine, I wasn’t ever really hassled. I know what to do, just be respectful and nice. I’m very fearless – always have been, since I was little.”
Donaldson’s second career break wasn’t a choice but a necessity. She was rehabbed, though not for the usual celebrity reasons. In 2011, aged 25 and out riding in a London park, she was thrown from her horse, landing against a tree. “I’m so, so lucky,” she says. “I was knocked out by the tree, so I don’t really remember anything. But it readjusted my feelings. It was like, ‘Oh, you can hurt yourself.’”
Unable to walk for three months, she hobbled around on crutches, doing rehabilitative exercises and having plenty of rest. Who looked after her? “My family, friends, myself,” she says, tellingly. “I wasn’t good at being incapable of doing things. It was the worst.” She says the accident made her feel “lighter about life. You’ve had a brush with death, so you have to enjoy yourself. I would’ve been f*****d if I had come out of that and been super-grumpy!”
Donaldson is anything but. Ask about her beauty routine and she says, “Coconut oil – love that.” Where do you put it? “On your bum! No, joking. I use it as makeup remover, then put it back on to moisturize. When I’m travelizing… Travelizing? Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” she says, laughing in horror at her own made-up word. “I’m exhausted, and trying not to be. When I’m travelizing, I take a little pot of it. It’s good, and it’s cheap.”
Her fitness regime is similarly low-key, and consists of “rolling around on the floor for a few minutes,” she jokes. “I’m not very good on my own, in a gym. But I like swimming and walking.” She describes her diet as “healthy, but I’ll have a burger”, and cooks when she’s home, which is unusual in New York: “I have friends who keep their bags in the oven. It’s extra storage! But I like to make a roast.’’
Family is important to Donaldson. She is extremely close to her grandparents, as well as to her fashion editor sister, Aurelia, and younger half-brother, Jesse. Her great-uncle, she reveals, is none other than Mick Fleetwood, currently on tour with Fleetwood Mac. “His drumming skills are ridiculous! I’ve known Stevie [Nicks] since I was a kid,” she adds casually. “She’s lovely.” On her boyfriend, however, Donaldson is circumspect (“He’s an artist,” is all she’ll mumble coyly).
She has “a plan” for life after modeling, she says, “but it’s quite different from what I’m doing now. I love film: I’d love to make documentaries.” What about acting? “I’m open to everything.”
It’s a stock phrase, but in Donaldson’s case, you imagine it is true. Fortune has always favored the brave: add beauty into the mix and the world is there for the taking. “[Modeling] gives you space to make your own nugget,” she says, then dissolves into laughter. “I don’t know why I said ‘nugget’... But it allows you to make your own little space.” And off she goes, back upstairs, in preparation for a gala and a wonderful future.
