Ignore the fact that Suki Waterhouse is wearing Levi’s at a Levi’s Haus listening party for her new album. Ignore also that the album is called Memoir of a Sparklemuffin . There is much to like in the artist’s lo-fi look for a Wednesday night in London.
Back on home soil after a whirlwind introduction to motherhood in the States that saw her play Coachella six weeks postpartum and front Vogue ’s August cover shortly after, Waterhouse is now in full promo mode for her second LP, due for release on 13 September. Her uniform reflects this gear shift. Absent were the feathers, sequins and frills that have become part and parcel of her disco bohemian stagewear.
In their place were beatnik basics – a cropped slouchy tee, striped baggy jeans and burgundy loafers worn with white ankle socks – that still represent Suki as the beloved Brit girl with bedhead hair, but with the retro flare she is carving out for herself as a California-based artist (the louche printed jacket she slung on later indeed had shades of Penny Lane), who is captivated by sparklemuffins. The title, she told Olivia Marks, is “absolutely ridiculous”, but is actually an “interesting metaphor for being in the public eye”. A sparklemuffin, you see, is a “very fuzzy, wildly colourful spider”, which performs a “razzle dazzle” mating dance culminating in the female eating the male if he is unsuccessful.
“If they don’t like your dance, they will eviscerate you,” says Suki, nodding to the paps. Waterhouse – who was scouted at 16 by Next Management in Topshop or H&M (she can’t remember) – knows this firsthand, but the girlish curls and crop tops she wears now, at 32, suggest she can park this feeling and have fun in an industry that fetishises youth. Ditto her unapologetically twee video ensembles that are at odds with the ’90s minimalism and craftcore her peers are subscribing to.
Indeed, one of Suki’s stylists Cassy Meier – who praises her “innately cool, ’70s rocker thing” – previously told us that the joy of working with Waterhouse is her chilled, collaborative energy: “There are no restrictions.” The various strands of her life as a model, musician and mother feed into an image that for all its eccentricities is uniquely her in a crowded space. When deciding to take her baby daughter on tour, Suki looked to other performers, such as Neneh Cherry, who have trod a similar path.
There is a little of this spirit shining through. And creepy crawlies aside, this playfulness is refreshing to watch on a press trail that would usually be curated to the nth degree..
