Pretty In Punk

Actor, model and now Dior Addict Stellar Shine face CARA DELEVINGNE talks to EUGENIE KELLY about courageous characters, pre-show nerves and makeup as war paint.

CARA DELEVINGNE is pacing the floor of the penthouse suite of Paris’s Le Bristol hotel, understandably perturbed. Her sister Poppy has just FaceTimed to inform her that their security team is questioning the identity of an uninvited house guest who has materialised in the Hollywood Hills home the girls co-own. The 26-year-old model’s trademark bold brows rise and fall at an alarming rate. “I didn’t invite anyone to stay!” she assures her sister. “It could be a stalker. Who is in my house?” Delevingne drifts off to a corner to continue the conversation in private, then hands her phone to an assistant, who promises to take care of the situation.

“Sorry about that!” she apologises to me, pulling herself together. Game face on, she snaps herself back to business. It’s a bit of a dramatic start, but that’s part and parcel of Cara Delevingne. This effervescent personality meant she was destined to be more than a model. She burst onto the fashion scene in 2011 when Christopher Bailey appointed her a face of Burberry, and the rest is history. Her natural talent as a performer saw her quickly expand her CV to include acting, taking on ambitious roles in Paper Towns and the blockbuster Pan in 2015; Suicide Squad in 2016; and Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and Justin Chadwick’s Tulip Fever in 2017. A frenetic work schedule and intense tabloid scrutiny saw her pull back from modelling during these years, but in 2018 she returned to the runway for Bailey’s last Burberry show, and these days she fronts campaigns for a select few, namely Balmain, TAG Heuer and now Dior’s new lipstick, Addict Stellar Shine.