Normal People actress Daisy Edgar-Jones steps into the big time with Jimmy Choo campaign after starring role
HER role as love-struck teenager Marianne in raunchy TV hit Normal People catapulted Daisy Edgar-Jones to worldwide fame. But an army of fans became just as obsessed with her quirky sense of style, helping her to become the face of designer Jimmy Choo’s winter campaign. And Daisy is over the moon, admitting in one interview: […]
HER role as love-struck teenager Marianne in raunchy TV hit Normal People catapulted Daisy Edgar-Jones to worldwide fame.
But an army of fans became just as obsessed with her quirky sense of style, helping her to become the face of designer Jimmy Choo’s winter campaign.
And Daisy is over the moon, admitting in one interview: “I love fashion, I love clothes, I love shoes.”
The down-to-earth Londoner is also thrilled with her plum new fashion role because it means she can dress up post-lockdown. She jokes: “I can show my lower half! It’s all been waist up, but now I can celebrate my feet, which have been in slippers for the past five months.”
Daisy, 22, looks amazing in what is her first professional modelling shoot, wearing head-to-toe Jimmy Choo, with a £995 slinky black dress and racy thigh-high boots. Other chic photos show her with a pearl bag that sells for £1,195 and a glamorous Bon Bon bag, priced at £2,295.
Daisy recalled that she first realised the power of cool shoes when she was a schoolgirl growing up in Muswell Hill, North London.
She says: “It was when my cousin Jacqueline, who was studying shoe design, moved in when I was around seven and she was 22. She was the coolest person and I would try on all her shoes. I was devastated as my feet were always too small for them. Then she moved out. When she moved back in, my feet were too big!”
Daisy was born into a TV family. Her dad, Philip, 54, is the director of Sky Arts and was an executive producer on Big Brother, while mum Wendy worked as an editor on TV dramas. Philip gave Daisy the same warnings he gave to the Big Brother contestants about life in the public eye.
Daisy said: “My dad had a really good insight into handling the spotlight.
“He gave me what he called the ‘talk of doom’, which was something they used to do for Big Brother, where they’d give you a talk on what fame was like. He was good at saying, ‘Keep your head screwed on, keep your feet on the floor, don’t get swept up.
“ ‘You’re still you — you haven’t changed, even if people around you might’.’”
But it didn’t put her off acting. She started out in the sitcom Outnumbered in 2016. At 17 she got her first paid acting job, playing Olivia Marsden in ITV’s Cold Feet, before landing roles in Silent Witness, Gentleman Jack and War Of The Worlds.
She met her boyfriend, Game Of Thrones actor Tom Varey, 29, on the set of indie movie Pond Life two years ago.
Now she is preparing for the next instalment of War Of The Worlds and a leading role in movie thriller Fresh.
But it is Normal People that has been her runaway success — it was the most- watched show BBC Three has ever had.
The romantic drama had been seen on 6.75million devices within two months of it being aired.
Daisy says her boyfriend handled the love scenes between her and Paul Mescal “really well”.
After the series screened, Daisy told how she was “proud” of the 41 minutes of sex scenes across its 12 episodes and said: “I’m really excited for young people especially to watch the scene where they have sex for the first time, where Marianne loses her virginity.
“I think it’s such a healthy and wonderful way of depicting sex.”
Daisy is content coping with her fame. She was recently chosen alongside the Queen in Vogue’s most influential women in Britain and experts predict her tie-up with the A-list footwear brand is just the beginning for her.
When Normal People first appeared on our screens back in April, her character Marianne’s quirky wardrobe, which included flirty summer dresses and chunky jumpers, won her legions of fans.
Before long, Daisy was being admired for her own individual off-screen style in outfits ranging from High Street to designer — and she was seen on the front row during London Fashion Week in February.
‘HER LOOK IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR’
When the planned publicity tour and photo calls for Normal People were switched for Zoom interviews, Daisy nailed a casual “at leisure” look that was every bit as stylish. She made a dazzling red carpet comeback at the Bafta TV awards in August in a Miu Miu dress — and a pair of killer heels.
Lauren Jobling, who has styled stars including Mel B, told The Sun on Sunday: “Daisy has that rare girl-next-door-meets-style-icon appeal, similar to Audrey Hepburn.
“Her look is a breath of fresh air. She mixes chic classic pieces with fun styles her age group can relate to.
“She doesn’t try too hard to follow trends or look like anyone else.”
Celebrity stylist Krishan Parmar, whose clients include actors Anna Friel and Vicky McClure, agreed. He said: “Soon we’ll be seeing her everywhere.
“People are bored of over-styled, over-saturated celebrities, so it’s refreshing to see someone like Daisy with a shaggy fringe and minimal make-up.
“She looks super-effortless and unstyled — and she rocks it.”
The star’s trademark shaggy fringe was styled by Meghan Markle’s favourite London hairdresser, George Northwood.
But Daisy revealed that she only got the haircut after she failed to land an acting role she was hoping for.
She said: “I was so upset that I did the thing you do when you break up with someone — I got a break-up haircut — which was my fringe! It has since been the best decision I’ve ever made, because I genuinely think it’s the only reason I got the role of Marianne — because she has a fringe.”
As well as her new fashion role with British brand Jimmy Choo — whose campaigns have featured Nicole Kidman and top models Cara Delevingne and Kate Moss — Daisy has also secured a deal with cruelty-free beauty firm Hourglass Cosmetics.
She recently went bare-faced to give a make-up tutorial to her almost 750,000 Instagram followers, recreating her favourite looks.
Most read in Celebrity
Just a few years ago Daisy was suffering from anxiety after choosing her career over university, and was applying for jobs at John Lewis while auditioning for roles. Now she is the face of one of the most famous shoe brands in the world — and she is loving it.
Talking about the fun she had during the Jimmy Choo shoot at London’s trendy Chiltern Firehouse, she said: “I didn’t have any prior experience . . . so it’s just become normal.”
And since landing her role in Normal People it is clear that Daisy’s life is now far from normal — she really does have the world at her feet.
GET THE LOOK
DAISY is fast becoming the latest darling of the fashion world.
While she may rock high-end designer pieces that are out of our budget, the actress looks just as good in High Street staples. And you can steal her style.
As Marianne in Normal People, she looked charming in an Asos teal dress, £44, and H&M burgundy velvet blazer, £45, as well as Topshop denim dungarees, £49.
But Daisy has stylist Nicky Yates to thank for her red-carpet looks, including the £895 mother of pearl white gown she wore to the Baftas.
GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk