In Bed With Neil Moodie

In 2011 at the age of 15 Rosie Tapner was discovered by Storm Model Management at the Birmingham Clothes Show Live, and within weeks became the face of Balenciaga's 2012 campaign shot by Fashion Royalty Steven Meisel. Rosie hit the ground running with modelling and was suddenly THE New British face of the moment being tipped as the next Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne. Within a year she had become a Vogue cover star, was in the Chloe, Burberry and Selfridges campaigns and walking many of the major fashion shows… But then something happened!!! Rosie retracted from the fashion industry as quickly as she had been thrusted into it, completely re-thinking her life trajectory. Rosie tells me about her transition from modelling into becoming a Sports TV presenter, and how she protected her mental and physical well being.

My guest on this episode is my dear friend, top fashion illustrator Nuno da Costa. Born in London to Portuguese parents, he opted to leave studying Modern Languages and Hispanic and Latin American cultural at uni to pursue his first love of art, choosing a career in fashion illustration. HIs love of fashion photography and collaborating with hair and make up artists in the fashion industry, has allowed him to create a singular style of illustration that he has now become famous for. Now residing in Portugal he is the current Official Illustrator to Vogue Portugal, and is the first illustrator in over a decade to be given a Vogue Cover with his work.

Tom Chapman, founder of the Lions Barber collective and Model turned TV presenter, and myself discuss raising awareness about mens mental health outside of metropolitan cities, following a recent research conducted by Ironmongery Direct, in collaboration with charity Mind, which has shown that male construction workers are three times more likely to die from suicide than the average UK man, and half of UK trades people experience mental health issues due to work. Tom Chapman is not only an award winning founder of Lions Barber Collective, but also multi published author, public speaker and Internationally renowned barber. Rosie Tapner is a TV Presenter, Model, as well as ambassador for Well Being For Women and Children's Air Ambulance.

My guest on this episode is Maranda Widlund. Maranda's Swedish mother who sadly passed away quite young was a hedonistic Model, living her life to the max, packing in an inordinate amount of drink and drugs. Miranda's father, Gavin Hodge was one of the first “celebrity” hairdressers in the swinging 60's of London, who also packed into his life an inordinate amount of drink, drugs and sex. Growing up amongst this chaos Miranda managed to forge her own life, and become one of the most lauded hairstylists in the US. Her sister Gavanndra who is on episode Ep 4, launched today, released her first book in 2020, The Consequences of Love, a best selling memoir which examines grief, addiction, trauma and what it means to come to terms with the past.

My guest on this episode is Gavanndra Hodge. She has worked in newspapers and magazines for over twenty years, including the Daily Mail, the Independent and ES Magazine. Gavanndra is the sister of my guest on EP 5 Maranda Widlund, launching today too. She was the deputy editor and acting editor of Tatler. In 2018 she left Tatler and became a freelance writer, contributing to publications including the Sunday Times, The Times and the Telegraph. In 2020 during the 1st covid lockdown, Gavanndra released her first ever book, The Consequences of Love, a memoir which examines grief, addiction, trauma and what it means to come to terms with the past. The book became an instant best seller and catapulted Gavanndra into the spotlight, as she shared her story about growing up with her father Gavin Hodge, one of the first “celebrity” hairdressers in the swinging 60's of London who packed into his life an inordinate amount of drink, drugs and sex, but also about how amongst all the chaos of her teenage life, her younger sister Candy, sadly passed away suddenly whilst on a family holiday.

This episode is part 2, of my interview with the wonderful Oscar nominated Costume Designer and Fashion Stylist Arianne Phillips. In this episode Arianne talks about being nominated for awards , especially the Oscars, plus her support to sustainability and onwards…

My guest on this 1st of a 2 parter episode is the marvellous 3 X Oscar Nominated Costume Designer and Fashion Stylist, Arianne Phillips. US born Arianne is one of the most lauded costume designers and fashion stylists of our generation. She chats with me about her upbringing, how she got into fashion, music and film and how her amazing career unfolded.

My guest on this episode is the wonderful barber Tom Chapman. Tom is also an author, public speaker and charity founder. He talks to me about his upbringing, playing music, training to be a hairdresser then becoming a barber. Following the sad, sudden death of a close friend he founded the super successful charity Lions Barber Collective, where they train barbers ( and now hairdressers too) to recognise mental health issues in clients and aid in the prevention of suicide.

This episode is part two of a two part episode, with my first guest of Series 3, make-up maven, Lisa Eldridge. Raised in New Zealand and Liverpool Lisa is considered as one of the most top, respected make-up artists of her generation and is also an award winning Business women, NY Times Best selling author and Youtuber. Lisa gave me a tour of her latest Pop-up shop, currently open in Covent Garden London until December 31st 2021, then we sat and chatted all things House of Eldridge. from her humble beginnings, as a child collecting make up to a department store skincare specialist and now entrepreneur. Part one ended with Lisa about to embark on her Youtube journey. We pick up on her story from that point and how her empire began to grow not long after......

This episode is part one of a two part episode, with my first guest of Series 3, make-up maven, Lisa Eldridge. Raised in New Zealand and Liverpool Lisa is considered as one of the most top, respected make-up artists of her generation and is also an award winning Business women, NY Times Best selling author and Youtuber. Lisa gave me a tour of her latest Pop-up shop, currently open in Covent Garden London until December 31st 2021, then we sat and chatted all things House of Eldridge. from her humble beginnings, as a child collecting make up to a department store skincare specialist and now entrepreneur.

For episode 11 of series 2 I’m so excited to announce that I’m joined by a dear friend of mine, make-up artist extraordinaire Lucia Pieroni. I interviewed Lucia a couple of weeks before the UK's COVID 19 outbreak in her North West London home and this episode is being released during the UK pandemic lockdown. Lucia and I have shared flats and apartments together and also holidayed together as good friends and as toe dipping yogis. I felt very honoured that she agreed to do the podcast with me as she’s a very private person and rarely gives interviews. We chatted about her youth, and frequenting the famous jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s as a child, her rise to the top of the fashion industry to become one of the World's leading make-up artists, her recent new edition Teddy the cat, plus her new position as a beauty director that she’s about to embark upon...... oh and just about everything else in between………

I’m joined by the wonderful make-up artist & young entrepreneur Zoë Taylor in this episode. Born and raised in London, Zoë went from studying art & design at college to doing a course on beauty therapy which is where her love of make-up really began. After leaving beauty therapy school she eventually went on to assisting one of the biggest make-up artists in the world before going it alone, and has since forged a career as one of the leading make-up artists in the UK & internationally. She is a mother of 2 children, plus she has now gone on to be an ambassador for Chanel Make-up as well as starting her own lip care brand Tinker Taylor Beauty in 2019. All at the young age of 39.

My guests in this episode are the fabulous Erin O'Connor and Jade Parfitt who both began modelling just after the Kate Moss grunge furore in the early 90's. Like Kate their careers went stratospheric, being shot by the best photographers for the biggest magazines, ad campaigns and walking the runways for the biggest fashion houses in the world. Unlike Kate though, these 2 women were both over 6 feet tall and defined another new era of models, whose looks were so individual that they could never be mistaken for anybody else. In this their virgin podcast interview, they talk to me about how their modelling careers began, their defining moments, motherhood, charity work and working again as models in a new diverse era.....

Entrepreneur Kathryn Danzey began training in beauty back in 1973 so with over 40 years of experience she has channelled all her expansive knowledge into her multi award winning, family run company Rejuvenated UK and the 3 books she has written. They were the 1st company to come up with idea of a potent collagen drink for general health and well being. In this interview she tells me about her childhood, her training, how Rejuvenated started and where they’re going next, plus how her wealth of knowledge helped her figure out what our bodies need internally in terms of ingredients. She also discusses all the ingredients in Rejuvenated products explaining why we need them. I also somehow got around to discussing my momentary singing career with her.

This episode forms the 3rd and final part of a special trilogy featuring the New York born Francesca Sorrenti. Francesca and I are also joined by our dear friend Karl Plewka, Stylist and editor of Beuaty Papers magazine who I invited to join me to co-host the interview. This special trilogy of interviews, Karl and I have chose to call "The Godmother" Like Mario Puzo’s fictional Sicilian-American family of the The Godfather series, the Sorrentis are to fashion what the Corleones were to organised crime. Part 2 ended with Francesca about to explain why she put her camera down for the last time. We pick up on her story from that point, which was not long after her son Davide passed away. Francesca takes us through to the current day with this final part So sit down, put your feet up and get super comfortable, for this 3rd and final part of Francesca’s epic story.

This episode forms the 2nd part of a special trilogy of interviews featuring the amazing New York born, stylist turned photographer, mother and curator, Francesca Sorrenti. Francesca and I are also joined on this trilogy by our dear friend Karl Plewka, Stylist and Editor of Beauty Papers magazine who I invited to join me to co-host the interview. This special Trilogy of interviews, Karl and I have chosen to call 'The Godmother' Like Mario Puzo’s fictional Sicilian-American family of the The Godfather series, the Sorrentis are to fashion what the Corleones were to organised crime. We left part one with Francesca being asked if she wanted to go and work for Fiorucci…….. This episode continues her story with the answer to that question and a whole lot more So sit down again, get even more comfortable, and enjoy part 2

This episode forms the 1st part of a special trilogy featuring the escapades of the amazing Francesca Sorrenti. Francesca and I are also joined on this trilogy by our dear friend Karl Plewka, stylist and editor of Beauty Papers magazine who I invited to join me to do the interview. This special Trilogy of interviews I have chosen to call The Godmother. Like Mario Puzo’s fictional Sicilian-American family of the The Godfather series, the Sorrentis are to fashion what the Corleones were to organised crime. It all began with a girl from Brooklyn called Francesca whose epic story commences in the vibrant music scene of Manhattan in the late sixties. Fran, as she is know to her friends, later gave birth to Mario, now a legendary fashion photographer, Vanina, a stylist & photographic artist and the late Davide, a searingly brilliant young photographer whose untimely death in Feb 1997 has led Fran to campaign for the protection and treatment of young people in the fashion industry. Now a recent documentary, book and exhibition of Davide’s work have received critical acclaim and as the Sorrenti dynasty reaches it’s 3rd generation, as Mario’s photographer daughter Gray’s star begins to ascend, now seems like the perfect time to hear Fran’s story from the beginning. And it is a blockbuster of The Godfather proportions. So sit down, get comfortable, and enjoy part 1

My guest in this episode is the lovely and amazing Dr. Michael Brady. Michael is a very important Doctor within the UK's NHS and husband to celebrity hairstylist Mathew Soobroy. In April 2019 Michael was appointed as the first ever National Advisor for LGBTQ+ Health with the aim being to reduce health inequalities for LGBTQ+ communities and improve their experience of health and social care. After studying Medicine in Nottingham and moving around the UK with the NHS, he ended up at the Kings College Hospital in Brixton, South London, as a HIV and sexual health consultant. Michael eventually became clinical lead for Sexual Health services at Kings College Hospital and also a trustee of the Terrence Higgins Trust (the largest HIV and sexual health charity in Europe) where in 2007 he was appointed as their first Medical Director. I met Michael in my home in London to chat about his life, HIV and why he took on his newly created role for the UK.

I met Zoe in her south London studio where we chatted about her growing up in the south of England, starting out as a hairdresser turned entrepreneur manicurist and co-founder of Nail Rocks, suffering from depression, and recovering from that through learning to up-cycle furniture and unexpectedly turning it into a new business which lead to her also becoming a TV presenter too.

In this episode my guest is Danny Gray founder of War Paint for Men. Danny grew up just outside of London and began to suffer from body dysmorphic disorder in his early teenage years. On leaving school he went from creating his own bouncing castle hire company to becoming a travelling salesman, until his mental health issues manifested and began to get in the way. After taking time to try and deal with them he decided to start a men’s make-up line, based on the fact, from a teenager he wore make-up himself to cover up teenage spots. In this interview Danny talks about his early personal struggles, how he deals with them and how he’s gone on to create one of the newest, fastest growing, influential brands the beauty industry has seen in a while, plus he shares his experience about appearing on the BBC TV’s Dragons Den. Check out War Paint for Men on the website https://warpaintformen.com

My guests on this episode are the amazing, make-up artists and Youtube sensations, sisters Sam Chapman and Nicola Chapman Haste, aka Pixiwoo. Born in Essex and growing up in Norwich, Sam and Nic grew up with domestic violence in their childhood home. Overcoming these troubled early years with amazing support from their mother they both followed the same m-up route, studying at college, then going on to work for MAC Cosmetics and Estee Lauder. In 2008, during the latter stages of pregnancy, Sam posted her first Youtube tutorial video. Its popularity led her to invite her sister to join in on future videos, and so Pixiwoo was born. They’ve gone on to be become known as the most influential family in Britain, as quoted by the Times Newspaper magazine when they appeared on the cover in Jan 2019. Sam and Nic came to meet me in my London home to chat about their childhood, their early careers, what corners they’ve been forced to turn due to health issues and talk about what they’re planning to do next.

In this episode I'm joined by the courageous and unbelievably inspiring 19 year old Ben West. Ben lost his 15 year old brother Sam in Jan 2018 after Sam tragically took his own life, on what was a normal Sunday evening at their family home. Following this terribly sad incident, Ben decided to channel his grief into saving others the same pain he and his family have suffered, through campaigning for mandatory training in mental health first aid, for all educators of the UK’s young people, With the help of friends he organised a walk to raise awareness and funds for the foundation set up in Sam's name, plus he created a campaign and petition on change.org calling for this mandatory training. Aiming for 15,000 signatures the campaign to date is now just shy of 300,000 signatures and has since been presented to the UK’s prime minister, surrounded by huge amounts of press. The work Ben and his friends have done has lead to Ben being nominated and winning many awards this year for his phenomenal work. Ben talks to me about what happened, his charity work, the awards, and how the campaign is about to spread much further afield. To support Bens campaign go to www.benwest.org.uk and to sign the petition go to www.change.org/p/saveourstudents To donate to the Sam West Foundation go to www.samwestfoundation.org and you can follow Ben on Instagram. His account is @Iambenwest

My guest on this episode is Serena Rees MBE. Serena grew up in Central London working various jobs, and in 1994, tired of seeing women dressed in drab undergarments - came up with the idea to start a lingerie store in partnership with her then husband Joe Corré, son of Vivienne Westwood. That store was Agent Provocateur. The first shop was on Broadwick Street in Soho London. Agent Provocateur grew into a brand spanning into 13 different countries with over 30 stores. Following Serena & Joe’s divorce the company was sold in 2007. Since then Serena started Cocomaya, a bakery and chocolatier with several branches in London, which eventually closed, and in May 2017 she founded Les Girls Les Boys, a men’s, women’s and unisex underwear meets street wear label. I met Serena in her London home to chat about her recent new venture. Check out Les Girls Les Boys on their website: https://lesgirlslesboys.com//

My guest on this episode is Karl Plewka, legendary fashion stylist, consultant, and the current editor of Beauty Papers Magazine in the UK. He regularly collaborated with our dear friend, iconic photographer Corinne Day on numerous shoots from Vogue magazine through to iD. On August 28th 2019, exactly 9 years to the day of the passing of Corinne, we were sat in my flat having a conversation. reminiscing about meeting, knowing, collaborating and working with Corinne, raising a little toast to her and talking about her legacy that will continue forever. We decided that our conversation would make for a good podcast episode. Corinne has a website where you can view her work www.corinneday.co.uk plus you can see her images and regular new posts on the Corinne Day Instagram account @corinnedayofficial

My guest on this episode is Bay Garnett who was born in Bath, is a stylist, author, editor, wife and mother of 2 She studied art history and modern history at the University of Exeter gaining her first work experience in Venice and New York In the 90’s Bay co-launched the New York version of underground, anti-fashion magazine Cheap Date, which began in London The magazine was completely based around Thrift store clothing ( or second hand clothing as it was then known in the UK) . She went on to became a contributor to British Vogue in the 2000’s and has consulted on many big fashion brands bringing to them, her unique fashion sense. Her thrift store style has won her the unofficial title of The Queen of Thrift, and currently she is contributing fashion editor to the UK weekly, and award winning supplement ES Magazine. Bay also currently styles the Oxfam fashion show, which is the UK charity whose commitment is to fighting poverty.

My guest on this episode is a born and raised Essex geyser, who began hairdressing in 1978 after falling for a girl who worked in a local salon. Luckily he fell in love with hairdressing too and he went on to open his own salon 10 years later. Stewart came to visit me in London where we talked about him being 13 years sober from alcohol, setting up The Sober Living Action Group in 2013, a programme with holistic treatments for alcoholics, and also in Nov 2014 creating the award winning Haircuts for Homeless. He also discusses the struggles homeless people go through and about his new haircutting training scheme for the homeless to join and help give them a career and hopefully a new start in life. To donate or check out Haircuts for Homelesss go to www.haircuts4homless.com with the word four like the actual number 4, you can also check out the Sober Living Action Group on facebook.

My guests on this episode each have over 25 years of experience in the beauty industry. Anna Marie worked her way through the ranks as a beauty journalist eventually becoming UK Vogue's Beauty Director for 6 years, eventually leaving to go freelance. She is one of the most respected beauty journalists in the UK. Millie is the ultimate queen of PR and marketing, having successfully launched many beauty brands to the UK( hence her MBE for services to the Beauty Industry) Together they are the co-founders of Beauty Mart an online and retail store with handpicked beauty products that reflects both past and current trends and they also founded Brandstand Communications PR. In 2018 together with some other prolific figures within the UK beauty industry they came up with the idea of setting up the first ever British Beauty Council, to represent the voices, opinions and needs of the British beauty industry, which is a significant contributor to the British Economy. In 2019 they launched the British Beauty Council website, putting the whole concept on the world map. We met at Anna's London home to discuss both their careers, all things beauty and beyond.

Marian Newman is a world renowned manicurist. Born in London and a true cockney who was born within the sound of the Bow Bells, her early love for sciences lead her into working for the forensic dept within the police force, but after having children, she changed direction to go and study make-up, where she discovered nails and manicures, going on to open one of the first nail only salons in the UK in the late 80’s. Following a chance shooting with fashion photographer Nick Knight, Marian began her career as a manicurist in the fashion industry. She has worked with some of the top designers and brands and also on some of the most iconic images in fashion over the last 20 years and all of this work has now been published in her latest book, Nailed It. Nails, Fashion Technique. Marian came to visit me in London where we sat and chatted about her career and her new book, plus what this UK Queen of Nails is up to next.

My guest on this episode is top British male model turned movement coach Roger Frampton. Born in Northamptonshire, but spending his teen years growing up in East London he began weight training at 15, and trained as a carpenter when he left school Scouted as a model at the age of 19, Roger modelled for 15 years and continues to do so for special projects. He was also a personal trainer but a chance gymnastics class, made him re-think his training regime, focusing on movement instead of fitness. He created The Frampton Method which lead to his appearance on Ted Talks, discussing why sitting on chairs destroys you. His talk resonated with so many people that The Frampton Method is now world renowned, leading to him publishing his own book and his work being in high demand the world over. I met Roger in his new London home to discuss all things Frampton and what this movement guru’s next plan is to get the whole world bending, stretching and touching it’s toes. .

My guest today is the wonderful Lucinda Chambers. Born and bred in Notting Hill Gate, West London, Lucinda was introduced to fashion very early on by her mother who was very crafty and one of her skills was dressmaking. She started her fashion journey when she decided to make and sell her own earring designs at Camden Market whilst she was at Art college, eventually working her way up the ranks of the top editorial fashion magazines. Lucinda became the fashion Director of British Vogue for 25 years, plus she consulted on the brands Prada and Marni in their early days, introducing both brands onto the worlds fashion map. She left Vogue in 2017 when the editorship changed. She has now set up her own fashion design company called Colville and is about to launch another online venture later this year. We talk about her amazing career to date, some of the fun stories along the way, plus all her exciting new ventures.

My guest on this episode is 90’s Supermodel turned nutritionist and naturopath, Rosemary Ferguson. Rosemary was scouted as a model at the age of 15 and went on to become one of THE faces of fashion in the 90’s and 00's. I’ve also had the pleasure of working with her on numerous occasions over the years. Now a mother of 3 children and still modelling for special projects, Rosemary has become one of the UK’s leading nutritionists and naturopaths, with a clinic in Harley Street, London, writing regular columns for Vogue and Beauty Papers Magazine, she's the founder of the 5 Day Plan, author of her book Juice: Cleanse, Heal and Revitalise and more recently is the co-founder of the most delicious healthy burger venture called Filth Burger. Rose came to visit me in London so we could have a much overdue catch up, find out what she’s up to, and where exactly we can get our hands on one of those Filth burgers.

My guest on this episode is Beauty Journalist and brand creator Alex Steinherr. Born in Belgium, raised in northern Europe & USA, now residing in London, Alex worked her way through the ranks from receptionist in her early years to Beauty Director of Glamour UK magazine for 11 years, as well as consulting on leading beauty brands. After leaving Glamour in Oct 2018, she has since launched her own amazing brand of skincare with Primark. Here's her fantastic story so far in her own words.

HIs guest today is make up maven Val Garland. Val is one of the worlds leading make up artists, whose career has span over 25 years and still ongoing. I’m talking to Val about her amazing make up career, her 1st book published in Oct 2018 and the new BBC TV show called Glow Up in which she’s starring as a judge.

In Bed With Neil Moodie focuses around the professional and personal life stories of individuals trailblazing within their individual industries. For this 1st of 3 launch episodes,, International hairstylist Neil Moodie interviews his friend Wendy Rowe. Wendy is one of the worlds leading make up artists in the fashion and beauty industry who not only has a succesful make up career spanning 25 years but has also published her own book Eat Beautiful, launched a cold press juice, and was also recently appointed as Global Creative Director & Make-up artist for Max Factor.

My guest on this episode is the wonderful New York born Linda Rodin. She is a former model, fashion stylist and beauty brand creator, who recently launched her new range of dog accessories called Linda & Winks. Linda discusses what makes her entrepreneurial and keeps her motivated to constantly think outside the box