Le Bon and the Don: model companions? (2024)

At what point does a model take a strong stance instead of a mere pose? The Londoner has been reading rumours of a boycott of Trump Models, the New York agency owned by President Donald. Big Apple stylists and creative directors, The Guardian says, have been avoiding hiring the agency’s clothes horses. One of those on its books is Yasmin Le Bon, one of London’s most striking faces.

Le Bon’s father, Iradj Parvaneh, was born in Iran. The Londoner tried to contact Le Bon recently to talk about Trump on a separate issue — how she and other public figures felt about Trump’s proposed travel ban for citizens of seven countries including Iran. She did not respond. A case of not biting the hand that feeds? At the end of the last year Le Bon gave an interview to D’Scene magazine and was asked if she backed the then President- elect. “At least we’ll all have an impression we can do,” she said.

“He is the easiest person to impersonate. I think the thing to take away is, ‘Well, if Donald can do it, anyone can do it!’” Who knew they were on first-name terms?

Trump’s agency primarily focuses on younger models — its website says it is seeking girls only, from the age of 14 — but it also represents well-established faces such as veteran actress Ali MacGraw, 77, model Carol Alt, 56, and Le Bon, 52. Could a boycott be the straw that breaks the model’s back?

The Londoner called Models 1, Le Bon’s UK agency, to ask if she was still working under the Trump brand name, and received a short “yes”.

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Former Kids Company boss Camila Batmanghelidjh ’s long-awaited book Kids is set to hit the shelves. Last year, publisher Biteback told The Londoner the project might have stalled but the signs are now good for a summer publication. “It is going ahead,” a spokesperson said yesterday. “She is still working on it”.

Batmanghelidjh spent nearly 20 years helping disadvantaged children at the helm of Kids Company, before the charity closed in 2015 following claims of financial mismanagement.

Biteback has a new cover picture and blurb, promising a work of “hope” and “optimism”. While the outline of the book has not changed, it is now “more of a manifesto,” the Biteback spokesperson added.

Boris Johnson’s eldest daughter, Lara Lettice Johnson-Wheeler, has dipped her toe into the world of journalism. Last week Lara, who has inherited the Johnson blonde mop, published an extended interview with legendary fashion photographer Nick Knight for Google’s Arts & Culture platform.

Knight also happens to be the 23-year-old’s boss: Lara is an editorial assistant at his fashion website SHOWstudio, so if the interview is a bit tame don’t blame the employee.

Stylistically a bit of a change from Boris’s knockabout journalistic columns but give it time...

Sotheby’s shook off its fusty image for a saucy evening with guests including Amorist editor Rowan Pelling and burlesque queen Immodesty Blaize, for Erotic: Passion & Desire Exhibition. What a crowd — Coco de Mer premiered its new film featuring brand ambassador Pamela Anderson and a sex toy. Also at the party were showgirls Missy Fatale and Miss Polly Rae, with Sunday Times writer Cosmo Landesman. He inquired whether Pammy was in a relationship with Julian Assange. “I’m seeing somebody,” is all she would say.

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Last night journalist Deborah Orr joined many across the city by going out for a slap-up meal on February 14. She chose the Canton Arms, a Stockwell gastropub which, The Londoner recalls, serves a mean negroni. “I’m dining out, alone, on Valentine’s Day,” she tweeted. “Single for the first Feb 14 in 20 years. God, it feels good.” Orr was married to dry-witted writer Will Self but we wish her well: it is far more important to love yourself than your Self.

Forget bra burning, writer Emily Hill has instigated a new feminist craze: burning your wedding dress. In Battersea last night, Hill launched the Unbound literary crowdfunder for a volume of short stories called Bad Romance. “It’s a book about how s*** it is to be a single woman in London.” The publicity for the book is unorthodox: “I don’t think I’m ever going to get married so I thought I’d buy a hideous Eighties dress on the net and have an impromptu bonfire.”

The craze is catching on. Writer and comedian Ariane Sherine also bought a dress and created a video where she romps with a Jeremy Corbyn lookalike. “He’s had three wives already, should he want a fourth one I’ll be waiting in the wings,” she told us. Also there was Cosmo Landesman who arrived from the Sotheby’s party. He told us his dating column in The Sunday Times Style mag is now axed. “I’m here to drown my sorrows.” He’s already applying to romance and sex mag The Amorist. “I’ve pitched to be their agony uncle,” said the chap who’s known a few agonies.

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Tweet of the day: “Paul Nuttall says he remembers when the names on everyone’s lips were: John, Paul Nuttall, George and Ringo.”

Poet Michael Rosen, pictured, imagines an alternative Beatles fact from Ukip’s Paul Nuttall, who had to admit he hadn’t lost friends at Hillsborough.

Georgia May Jagger’s modelling career was helped by Jagger genes and a distinctive tooth gap. So finally some credit for her finest feature: last night she posted this image of her on the Tube, the warning “Caution, Gap” at her feet. Get the London look ...

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Literary lingo of the day: Philip Pullman calls his new follow-up to His Dark Materials neither a sequel, a prequel but an “‘equel’. It doesn’t stand before or after, but beside.”