the menu. “I don’t like juices, I want full-fat!” she grins. With
a superfast metabolism, she’d down a couple of Aero Peppermint
milkshakes every shift. “We had every chocolate bar under the
sun; you’d throw one in, add some milk and ice cream, and
Bob’s your uncle,” she says. “If someone ordered a medium,
I’d always make it large, so I could have what was left.”
Despite the wealth of confectionery, the sweetest thing
about her days as a milkshake “barista” was that she fell in
love while on shift. “He’d always buy a canned drink for £1.50,
when the cornershop next door sold them for half the price,”
Saffron recalls of the boyfriend she’s been with for six years.
“I’d always point it out to him, until one of the girls said that
he fancied me. He would conveniently turn up at the end of
my shift, so he could drive me home.” Osman Ahmed >Leaning elegantly on the Neapolitan-style counter of an ice-
cream parlour, Saffron Vadher looks every inch the supermodel
as she navigates Balenciaga’s hooped neckline to sip a
milkshake. There’s no mistaking her for a waitress now, but
not long before Saffron glided down the catwalks of Burberry,
Chanel and Alexander McQueen – and appeared on the
cover of the December issue of British Vogue last year – she
was working behind the counter at a now-defunct milkshake
bar in North Harrow, the London suburb where she grew
up and still lives with her parents.
Back then, the sort of drinks preferred by the fashion set –
dairy-free smoothies packed with antioxidants – were not onSAFFRON VADHER^
Milkshake parlour waitress281SAFFRON WEARS BLOUSE, SKIRT, SHOES, EARRINGS AND NECKLACE. ALL BALENCIAGA09-19-Well-FirstJob.indd 281 05/07/2019 10:55