Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud

Erin O’Connor is a British supermodel, writer, and advocate. She grew up in the West Midlands and was scouted as a teenager at the iconic 90’s cult show The Clothes Show live.

Erin O’Connor’s modelling debut was in i-D magazine in 1996, shot by Juergen Teller. She soon rose to prominence, walking the runway for esteemed designers including Prada, Gucci, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior, Versace, John Galliano and Jean-Paul Gaultier. More recently, Erin has walked for Tom Ford and Willy Chavarria.

Karl Lagerfeld once described O’Connor as “one of the best models in the world” and Erin has been photographed by industry giants including Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Nick Knight, Mario Testino, David Bailey, Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Lindbergh and Tim Walker. Erin featured in the Channel 4 documentary This Model Life in 2003, and has since written and presented two documentaries about fashion for BBC Radio 4, as well as contributing articles to British Vogue, The Times, i-D, and GQ.

Alongside her modelling, Erin is an advocate for model well-being and mental health. Through her position as Vice Chair of the British Fashion Council Erin founded Model Sanctuary, a non-profit initiative, providing support and resources for models during fashion week. 

Since 2011, Erin has been an ambassador for Save the Children and is an ambassador for Borne, a UK-based medical research charity dedicated to preventing premature birth and improving outcomes for mothers and babies.

In recognition of her substantial contributions to fashion and charitable causes, Erin was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II.

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Erin O’Connor discuss walking for Alexander McQueen, coming from a working class background and being described as aristocratic, and holding her own against an unfriendly Feminist.

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Richard E. Grant is an actor, director, writer and presenter. Born in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), his father worked for the British government and Grant grew up as part of an ex-pat community in the country. He made his film debut in 1987 as the titular character in Withnail & I, about an alcoholic out-of-work actor. Grant played a series of eccentric characters in the 1990s, from a fashion designer in Robert Altman’s Pret-A-Porter, to a villain terrorising Bruce Willis in Hudson Hawk, and the manager of the Spice Girls in Spice World. More recently, Grant has starred in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Emerald Fennel’s Saltburn, and Can You Ever Forgive Me? for which he received Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar nominations as Best Supporting Actor. 

In 2005, Grant made his directorial debut with Wah Wah, a fascinating account of his childhood in former Swaziland. He has written several books, his most recent A Pocketful of Happiness in 2023, about his grief following the death of his wife Joan Washington from cancer after 38 years of marriage.

Richard E. Grant has become a muse to fashion designers on the catwalk, walking for Burberry AW25 and Miu Miu SS26. 

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Richard E. Grant discuss his narrowly avoiding being shot by his father, his life long crush on Barbra Streisand, and how to play comedy straight.

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Charlotte Gainsbourg is an actress and musician. The daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, she was born in London and raised in Paris. She made her acting debut at the age of 13 playing Catherine Deneuve’s daughter in the film Paroles et Musique, and her musical debut the same year with the song “Lemon Incest” duetting with her father Serge. In 1986, she won a Cesar Award for her starring role in the film L’Effrontée. Her debut album was released the same year, produced by her father to accompany the film Charlotte For Ever, which starred a 15 year old Charlotte alongside her father Serge. Gainsbourg has since released four further albums, her most recent Rest in 2017, which explored her grief following the deaths of her father and sister Kate Barry.

In 2009, Gainsbourg starred in Lars von Trier’s film Antichrist, for which she won the Cannes Best Actress award, marking the beginning of a collaboration between the actress and director. She went on to star in his 2011 film Melancholia, and 2013’s Nymphomaniac. Gainsbourg directed and produced a documentary about her mother, Jane par Charlotte, in 2021, exploring their relationship two years before Birkin’s death. 

Charlotte Gainsbourg is a reluctant fashion icon, cited by all those with a love of fashion, independent film, and music as a truly original figure of glamour and cool. She has fronted campaigns for fashion houses including Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent, with YSL’s Anthony Vaccarello directing Gainsbourg’s most recent music video Blurry Moon.

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Charlotte Gainsbourg discuss relationships with powerful fathers, her work with Lars von Trier, and love and grief.

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Esther Perel is a psychotherapist and author, recognized as one of today’s most insightful and original voices on modern relationships. Fluent in nine languages, she helms a therapy practice in New York City, serves as an organizational consultant for Fortune 500 companies, and is an advisor to both Hinge and Culture Amp on the intricacies of human connection.

Esther was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, the daughter of two Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors who owned a clothing shop. She gained a Masters degree from Lesley University in Expressive Art Therapy in the 1980s, and has lived in the United States with her partner, Jack Saul, for more than 40 years.

Her celebrated TED Talks have garnered millions of views, and her bestselling books, Mating in Captivity and The State of Affairs, are global phenomena which have been translated into more than 30 languages. Perel is also the host of the hit podcast Where Should We Begin?, which has captivated millions of listeners around the world for nearly a decade. 

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Esther Perel discuss Perel’s childhood in her parents’ clothing shop, the rules of dressing as a therapist, and fragile masculinity.

Esther Perel’s podcast Where Should We Begin? can be found on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and her Substack is Entre Nous, estherperel.substack.com

This is the last of our Fashion Neurosis in New York series - see you next time.

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Abiodun Oyewole is an American poet, painter and author, and one of the founding members of the music and spoken-word group The Last Poets. Born in Ohio, Oyewole was raised in New York by his aunt, whose love of jazz and gospel music greatly influenced him. He was given the name Abiodun Oyewole aged fifteen, by a Yoruba priest at a temple in Harlem.

The Last Poets were formed by Abiodun Oyewole, David Nelson & Gylan Kain in 1968, releasing their first album in 1970. The group is credited, along with Gil Scott-Heron, as having had a profound effect on the development of the hip-hop genre. 

Abiodun missed the launch of The Last Poets first album after being sentenced to four years in a North Carolina prison for robbing the offices of the local Ku Klux Klan. During his time in prison he attended a nearby college where he earned his B.A. degree. He went on to earn a Ph.D. from Columbia University, where he has served as a faculty member. Oyewole rejoined The Last Poets during its 1990s resurgence, with their latest albums released in 2018 & 2024, and he has also released several solo albums. Oyewole has published two volumes of poetry, Naked, 2020, and Branches of the Tree of Life, 2020, and an essay collection titled Black Lives Have Always Mattered. 

Oyewole hosts Sundays @ 110 each week at his home in Harlem, opening his doors to fellow artists, encouraging performance and a shared creative experience.

Oyewole is one of several poets credited for liberating American poetry by creating vocal, spontaneous, energetic and uncensored vernacular verse that paved the way for spoken word and hip-hop. He continues to write poetry every day. 

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Abiodun Oyewole and Bella Freud discuss how they first met, being treated as the Pope of Poetry, and spending time backstage with Nina Simone.

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