The home to a new breed of models, the Anti model, whose personality transpires through their look and attitude for whom modelling is just another string to their bow.
Successful London Stylists Pandora Lennard and Lucy Greene, the co founders, talk to us about how the anti models are taking over.
WONDERLAND: Hey girls, so can you tell us abit about your backgrounds and how you came to setting up Anti Agency?
Pandora: I was fashion editor at O: magazine and Tank magazine, I was there for 6 years before going freelance to work as a stylist and consultant on brands like Office, Adidas, Boots as well as contributing to other magazines like Tank, i-D, Purple.fr.
Lucy: I was also freelance styling, predominantly in celebrity after assisting Cathy Kasterine, Jane How and other stylists. As part of being stylists we were already casting for the jobs we worked on. More recently the brands and magazines we shot for were craving personalities not just models, and we were already casting our friends and people we knew for them, so it just made sense to start making it official! We started really small just with people that we knew and liked and thought were cool and from there we kept getting more and more recommendations and applications. We never publicised the agency, as we hadn’t really officially launched. Somehow word got out and spread pretty quickly and we started to get crazy busy!
A lot of the models on your books are part of a slasher (/) generation, DJ/model etc, do you encourage everyone to have a creative outlet?
We found all our models because we thought they were interesting and cool and deserved a bit of recognition. It just so happens that being cool and driven seems to go in hand with them all having an interesting and unique aesthetic too. All our models have really incredible talents and careers outside of the agency. We encourage them to prioritise these over modelling as that’s what they really care about. The model part comes at the very end of all the other slashes basically. It’s just a good way for them to fund their passions and promote what it is they really care about. Which we totally support!
You’ve only been around for a very short amount of time, what has the response been? What kind of jobs and campaigns are your models getting?
We’ve been in business for about 4 months now. Its been completely overwhelming! We had no idea it was going to take off quite as quickly or on the scale that it has. We’ve done campaigns for Adidas, Asos, Urban Outfitters, Dr Martens, Versus, Uniqlo and lots of other smaller brands too. We’ve had features in i-D, i-D online, MTV and the cover of the ES magazine. It’s crazy really!
Do you feel like the industry is changing for the better?
I think the industry is definitely evolving. I don’t think it will ever change completely because what we offer is so different to what standard model agencies provide and there will always be a demand for that. I think that for certain brands they’re definitely moving in a different direction which suits us.
How much of an influence do you feel that social media has had?
Social media has a huge input, people who have never modelled in their lives before can suddenly have more infamy; more followers on instagram or tumblr than models who are really established. That world wide influence that social media provides is a reach that brands need and it’s nice to see them approach and work with people who’ve gained a following organically just by being cool people!
What do you have planned for the future, any exclusive campaigns or faces that we should watch out for?
We shoot new faces all the time and everyone is really exciting to us. We just signed Tyler who is a little star, we have a new guy Jelani as well who is a sweetheart!
Can you describe a few of your models, looks/personality/what they have to offer which makes them different?
Everyone is very unique. They’re all opinionated, fiercely intelligent, creative and no bullshit! We’ve got a lot of feminists actually. Amy is a shaved head, Oxford graduate and published poet. Ayesha has blue hair, wears sequins on her eyes and is a sort of other worldly skater artist. Isabella is an incredibly talented illustrator, Alison is a music journalist, Arvida and Dasha are photographers, Caspar and Alex are in bands, Rico is a skater, Georgie is a knit wear designer, James is a jewellery designer it goes on and on really! Everyone has something that they’re exceptionally talented at that we’re really proud of them for and proud to promote.
If anyone reading this thought that they could be a part of the Anti Agency, what would you advise?
Get in touch, send us honest, simple photos of what you actually look like. Tell us about yourself, we care about what you do and who you are just as much as what you look like!
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Words by Siobhan Frew