Read our conversation in full, below.
Did you always know you were a good storyteller?
Not until I started TikTok. But I feel like a lot of things make sense more when you look back… like in therapy and stuff. I’m like, oh… at the dinner table, it was only me talking. At my dad’s house, it was a fight between me and this one other girl for who could talk the most at the table. And with my mum and my sister, it’s always very much been, they just sit and listen at dinner.
Who was the other girl at your dad’s?
My stepmum’s kid. Yeah, stepsister is probably the word for that. [Laughing] that was really rude. But actually, I don’t even think we would really compete at my dad’s house because she was so loud that it would just be her. She kind of took my spot.
What’s the first TikTok you can remember doing well?
The third or fourth. I was meant to meet the Queen [her activist mother Mikey Argy was awarded an MBE], and thought it’d be really funny if I grew loads of pubes for it. I was like 14 or 15. I was going through Facebook one night, and saw this picture on my mum’s thing of us at the Palace and wanted to tell my friends. I used to be one of those people who would post novels on my Snapchat story to three or four friends. I just flipped that over to TikTok, and more people started to see it.
Read More
Unpacking Dua Lipa And Callum Turner’s Already Captivating Couple Style
By Alice Newbold
Tell us more about this…
This is such a tragic backstory, but I had read that pheromones make you like or dislike people on a brain level. I was like, maybe if I have loads of body hair, I’ll have more pheromones and people’ll want to, like, be my friend – I’d just started a new school and I had no friends. It was around the same time as the Queen, and I was like, yeah, I just won’t shave for the Queen.
Where does the dichotomy between being shy but also willing to share stories most people would be too embarrassed to recount online come from?
A good example is somebody from Vogue earlier today was like, could you take the camera and film an intro like, “Hi, I’m Madeline Argy, get ready with me for British Vogue…” – whatever. That was all I had to say, and I could not do it. We had to change the creative. But then I’ll happily go home, and the second I’m alone, tell the most disgusting thing to however many people. I’m so comfortable alone. I just am not comfortable around other humans. I don’t know what it is – I’m not worried about what they think of me, I just literally can’t speak to them or be creative around them. It’s great.
The numbers don’t feel like real people.
Yeah, if it did feel real, I would be a lot more overwhelmed by it. When you’re face to face with another human, you’re like, [freaked-out face] “You’re real.”
What has helped you become less anxious?
Not to make it sound like it’s ever just a choice, because it wasn’t a choice for me and you can’t just be like, I’m not gonna be anxious anymore. But, I wasn’t going anywhere, I couldn’t go to school, I couldn’t leave the house. You have to make the decision that you’re going to really scare yourself and do the thing that you’re terrified of doing in exchange for a life. That doesn’t mean that I’m less anxious, though. I’m just anxious in different locations.
I imagine being in the public eye to be quite anxiety-inducing, do you find that?
I really do. Because I know what it feels like to have everyone have the incorrect perception of you and there’s nothing you can really do to fight against it. But also, I think, as long as you have good people around you, and people in the industry that know you correctly, then that’s very soothing.
Read More
Men Aren’t Their Potential. They Are Who They Are Right Now
By Annie Lord
You had an amazing fashion month in September, attending Valentino, Saint Laurent and Prada shows.
Usually, I don’t really attend events, but I’ve been going to more because I want to be able to go by myself. I think it’s really important to learn how to conduct yourself like that and to not hide behind someone else’s leg. I’ve always done that. For ages, it felt like my first day at a new school and everyone knew each other. If you’ve not grown up with any exposure to this industry it’s a complete brain f**k, you have no idea what’s going on. Then you very quickly find out that a lot of people did grow up in this industry, which is quite disheartening.
Nepo babies!
Yeah, somehow everyone is a nepo, I feel lied to! Or just they’ve been here longer and they know what they’re doing. Or even if they have no idea, a lot of people are really good at making it seem like they do, which is a skill that I want to develop.
What are your dreams?
I wish I had some. My friend actually yelled at me on the phone for not having any because she was like, “I hate wasted potential, it gives me the ick!” I’ve been saying to everyone, “Oh no, this just kind of happened suddenly, and I don’t really have a game plan.” That’s only cute for so long. But I just want to keep doing what I enjoy, which is what I’m doing at the moment. I guess the dream is just what I’m doing right now… Which is quite nice. I’m pretty happy, I’ve got my dog. Yeah! It’s all I really wanted.
