Loving reality TV is in Edgar-Jones’s DNA: her father, the
creative director of Big Brother for a decade, is known in the
entertainment biz as the godfather of reality TV. He is
famous for giving “the talk of doom”, where he warned
aspiring contestants that the public will not see them as real
people and will come up to them on the street and be
horrible. He gave his daughter a mini talk of her own. “They
call it ‘notions’ in Ireland. It’s just being aware that it [fame]
is all so silly, that the joy of it is in the making of something.
And everything else that comes out is out of your control
and not worth worrying about.”
With fame comes a social media following, and Edgar-
Jones has more than a million followers on Instagram, which
she describes as “a weird thing. Having to post all these
pictures of me, it’s not very ... ‘me’,” she muses. But she enjoys
the fashion opportunities that have accompanied her celeb-
rity status — she has starred in campaigns for H&M and
Jimmy Choo, has worked with Chanel and sat front row at
Gucci. Her favourite brand, however, is the quietly functional
Toast, a perhaps surprising choice for a 23-year-old with
couture brands at her feet. Today she’s wearing the brand’s
khaki shirt with a beaded collar, boots, denim jacket and a
scrunchie. “I went a bit mental in Toast recently,” she laughs.
Celebrating her anointment as a member of Hollywood’s
A-list with a splurge in Toast is arguably a reflection of quite
how firmly Edgar-Jones’s feet are planted on the ground.
“I’ve always been quite a good girl — I was head girl — and
I found a diary entry recently,” she giggles, “where I was
stressing out, aged 15. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I am so stressed
because I feel such responsibility to be a role model as head
girl, but I want to join in with my friends and laugh.’ I think
I am sort of the same now. But your twenties are for discovery
and mistakes, and I’m a bit of a hot mess too. I take the pres-
sure off by reminding myself that I mean well and that I try to
be a good person. But if you mess up, you mess up.”
She’s fascinated by every part of the film industry. “I would
love to direct and I’d love to produce too, because you’ve got a
bit more control.” She greatly admires Reese Witherspoon,
the executive producer of Crawdads, for “finding books that
are female-focused and adapting them. She’s an incredible
person and businesswoman.” When I ask her what’s next, she
surprises me with her answer. “I’d love to direct music videos
but I’m not sure how to start.” Record bosses, you know what
to do — hotfoot it down to Toast and the rest will follow. ■Under the Banner of Heaven will be available to stream on
Disney+ soon. W here the Crawdads Sing will be in cinemas
this summerThis page Cut-out dress, £850,
Supriya Lele. Shoes, £950, Prada.
Opposite Silk dress, £1,300,
Maximilian. Corset and shoes,
POA, Acne Studios. Tiffany T T1
gold ring, £1,975, Tiffany & CoHair Daniel Martin using GHD.
Make-up Kim Brown at Premier
Hair and Make-up using Chanel Les
Beiges Summer in Grand Style and
Chanel Sublimage La Protection
UV. Nails Cherrie Snow using Dior
manicure collection and Miss Dior
hand cream. Set design Nicola
Bell. Corbi sofa module by Klaus
Uredat, 1972, set of three available
from Béton Brut; betonbrut.co.uk