When meeting Olivia Dean in person, the first thing that strikes you is the intense aura of calm that surrounds her. On set for her ES Magazine cover shoot, as assistants field myriad Deliveroo orders for lunch and stylists methodically steam her YSL looks in the background, she sits unfazed on the terrace of a Hackney Studio, cocooned in a trench coat, quietly pulling on a cigarette.
‘What’s the point in making things stressful? I think I’m good at zooming out,’ she laughs, when we sit down for our interview a few weeks later at a restaurant in King’s Cross. In her off-duty uniform of white tank, jeans and a leather jacket casually slung over her shoulder, she apologises for running a little late (‘I was at a driving lesson — think it’s about time I learnt’) and promptly orders lunch, a pea and shallot ravioli which she seems a little miffed about when it arrives with only nine pieces.
