May 5, 2026

Cellotape Talks with Jasmine Blackborow

How to introduce Jasmine Blackborow alongside these images and the interview? Well, she simply does the best job herself through her character play with the shoot team, and her responses to the questions. Of course Dani, Kim and Rachel did a great job with the creative narrative but jumping off the page is an actress with the ability to invest in the moment.

Fashion shoots, theatre and performance are inextricably linked, yet the model at the centre of the work has to be an active participant. Jasmine offers us someone who can pull off any silhouette, a pose to die for and enough attitude to stay centre stage and focussed.

Stage and screen, audio books and television, Shakespeare to gritty modernity her versatility is obvious. Convincing us she is the character is at the heart of her craft and in this fashion story she convinces us the boots or bows, tailoring or ruffles it’s all suits her and she loves it all.

Read carefully her responses to the interview and the fully rounded life of a performer is demonstrated. Divorcing private and public life, performance and reality is essential, yet the person at the heart of the professional life must have a heart and mind not simply “do the job”, passion, and brains uniting heart and mind makes any performer worth their weight in gold.

Thank you Jasmine for talking to us and to the team who invented the story we see. It’s a portrait but not in the conventional sense of a single posed image, it’s a mix of words, and make believe. It’s the classic example of the business of communicating, it’s always about story telling.

Words by Tony Glenville

Above; Full look: Edeline Lee

Cellotape: Do you come from an acting or performing background and family?

Jasmine: No, my mum is a teacher, and my dad is a carpenter, so this is quite a departure! But they are both passionate about what they do, which instilled in me a drive to work hard and pursue what I love. Funnily though, when my Nana on my father’s side was researching our family tree (we’re Londoners through and through) she discovered a few of my ancestors worked in the Music Halls as compères and musicians. My uncle is also a musician and had a very cool band in the late 80s called BOB. So, performing is somewhere in the blood.

Cellotape: Were you a “make believe” kind of child?

Jasmine: All of the time. My mum would tell people I could play with the peas on my plate. Witches, fairies, playing teacher to all my cuddly toys. I played with my Barbies until I was about thirteen and would have carried on if it wasn’t so socially mortifying!

Cellotape: Costume, even if it’s modern, how important is this to you?

Jasmine: It’s essential, it’s the final piece of the puzzle, and something I’ve grown to be more collaborative with designers about. I used to just accept what I was being put in, even if I didn’t feel comfortable or confident, but it’s such an integral part of the process that I feel I can be more vocal with my ideas now. It also helps that I’ve worked with some extraordinary designers the last few years – Oscar winning Madeline Fontaine and Marie Fremont in Marie Antoinette, Suzie Harman for Odyssey, James Brown and Sara Beale for Moss & Freud and, of course, the sensational Loulou Bontemps for The Gentlemen. Fashion and film are having a bit of love affair at the moment and she manages to straddle this so well. Charly’s wardrobe is impeccable this season (I kept so much of it!), and is so in keeping with the world and the role too. I always feel like I’m stepping into her shoes (well, Holland Cooper Wellies), not onto a catwalk.

Above; Full look: Edeline Lee

Cellotape: Do you enjoy fashion as opposed to the clothes you wear for a role?

Jasmine: I do, costume is a very different thing, it’s telling someone else’s story. But with fashion I’m trying to tell my story. I don’t follow every trend, it has to suit me and make me feel great first and foremost, and also, I don’t believe in the waste culture that comes with fast fashion. I’d rather invest in something classic and bold. I still wear things I’ve had since I was a teenager! I love how trends drift in and out and can be adapted over time.

Cellotape: How was wearing for so long all those costumes and wigs for Marie Antoinette?

Jasmine: Agony! Breastfeeding while wearing a corset is not cool. My wigs were actually a combination of my own hair and headpieces, which were surprisingly light as they’re hollow. It would take hours in the chair, but my goodness it was a work of art. Sébastian Quinet and Julie Hughes are masters of their craft

Cellotape: Is there a period or time in fashion you love?

Jasmine: I’m a 1960s gal, no doubt about it. I love the silhouettes; I think they’ve always just flattered my figure. Not so much the boho look, more the tailoring: A-line minidresses, miniskirts with knee-high boots, roll necks, defined pointy collars on jackets. I can’t help but be drawn to it! But I also love punk; I’ve never knowingly not owned a pair of Dr Martens boots.

Above; Suit, Shirt & Tie: Bella Freud, Shoes: GINA, Hat: Nerida Fraiman

Cellotape: Which matters more. Fashion or style?

Jasmine: Style, undoubtedly. It’s something that evolves with you – it’s more about your own identity and sense of self. Fashion is what other people are telling you is cool. Style is knowing inherently what’s cool for you.

Cellotape: What are your thoughts on how today even off stage or screen, you’re “on show”?

Jasmine: Yes, this really dawned on me when I was trying to tell my daughter what I do for a living. The fact that “Mummy’s on the telly” means nothing to her, as we’re all “on the telly” all the time – in the form of videos on our phones or reels online. In her mind, funny videos of her aunty’s kittens are also “on the telly”. Younger generations are going to be so unfazed by this sense of a public self, but it’s something as parents we’d like to be conscientious of. It’s also pretty humbling… I was very excited to show her a scene of me in Legends and she just said, “my want paw patrol now”.

Cellotape: What is your view on having a stylist for professional appearances?

Jasmine: I was just reading an article about “tourdrobes” and the expectation we now have that the press tour will have its own costume storyline – think Wuthering Heights or The Devil Wears Prada 2. If you have the opportunity to work with a stylist, why wouldn’t you? I’m an actor, I do not have the eye or knowledge they do. I’ve really loved working with Tilly Wheating and Loulou Bontemps who I think can marry this kind of storytelling with my individuality and what suits me.

Left; Dress: Edeline Lee, Right; Suit, Shirt & Tie: Bella Freud, Shoes: GINA, Hat: Nerida Fraiman

Cellotape: Whose fashion style, past or present do you admire?

Jasmine: I often ask myself, “What would Jenny Lewis do?”. Style is an attitude, and she is one of my icons in that regard.

Cellotape: Any roles or people you’d love to play?

Jasmine: Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire and Lady Maccers from the classics. I heard that Ben Aaronovitch is adapting his Rivers of London book series for TV, and I’d give my right arm to play Molly. I’d also love to play a cop in something – I was obsessed with Scandi noir and would love my own Sarah Lund moment.

Cellotape: What is the one look or style you’d never wear?

Jasmine: I’m not really a tracksuit kind of gal.

Cellotape: Biggest fashion or style mistake, can be anything from hair to shoes!?

Jasmine: Nothing really. I think it’s always worth giving something a go! It’s the only way to learn what works and what you actually like. It can always be a bit mortifying to be too slow on the change in jeans cuts though – the switch from flares to drainpipes in the noughties was sudden and brutal if you were a teenager.

Cellotape: Anything you’d like to add about yourself and clothes and fashion?

Jasmine: I covet the ‘cool French girl’ look, but I’ll always be a Londoner. I’ll always choose to scruff it up in some way – make it grungier. I spent a long time living in central Paris, which was quite the fashion learning curve. I took my dog out first thing in the morning in my PJs, with a denim jacket thrown over the top, and the looks of derision from the Parisiennes was hilarious. In London you could get on the tube wearing a traffic cone and no one would bat an eye. I love that.