A Swedish duo like no other: meet Mabel’s stylist and long-time friend, Simone Beyene
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
Courtesy of @simoneb.se
NAME SIMONE BEYENE
AGE 25
STAR SIGN Cancer
LOCKDOWN LOCATION London, England
LIFE MANTRA No one really knows what they are doing, so you’ll be fine.
Stylist Simone Beyene first met her long-time friend and collaborator, zesty West-Ten singer MABEL, back at school in Stockholm. But they didn’t always have the MTV-obsessed friendship that’s become the reoccurring theme tune to their ‘90s/’00 inspired work. “We were in different classes, so we didn’t really know each other then. But she moved back to London straight after school finished. So when I also moved to the big city at 20, Mabel and our other two friends from school were the only people I knew in London. We slowly become friends and then it just naturally progressed to me doing jobs here and there, to me working with her full time,” muses Beyene, who champions the aesthetic of Hip-Hop and R&B as the mischievous pairs mutual pleasure. Beyene’s wildest memories from being on tour with the chart-topping musician? “Oh god haha, we’ve had a lot of fun times... but we had a wild night in Singapore where we ended up in a club that had a ferris wheel inside of it. That was a fun one!”
With the understanding that their close relationship might be unique from the more conventional stylist-talent relationships, Beyene underscores the importance of accentuating a client’s individuality in each and every outfit she musters up. “It’s super important to always remember that when you’re working with a talent you have to think about the personality of the talent,” muses the power-puff-pink haired stylist. “It’s really a collaboration.” Eager to continually straddle the interlude between fashion and music, Beyene hopes for more of the same in her future. But for now, it seems Beyene is already living the dream. “I do love working on music videos, so Boyfriend is a video that was a big highlight. I love when she’s dancing with all her girls and the vintage Nokia jacket,” the soon-to-be CSM graduate enthuses. “But I also got to style an H&M campaign with Mabel that was a collaboration with Kangol. That was huge because it was a global campaign so working on something with that big of a production was really cool and getting to do it with my best friend for a brand that is both Swedish and important in Hip-Hop culture… that was really special.”
Ella Bardsley: Fashion designer on your radar right now?
Simone Beyene: Right now, I’m just super exited to see everyone’s final collections. But I would have to say other than that: PARNELL MOONEY, ERIKA MAISH, MARSHALL COLUMBIA and OTTOLINGER.
EB: Worst chat up line you’ve received?
SB: It’s been too long! But my favourite is when someone stopped me on the street to compliment my hair and said: “thank you for expressing yourself” (I had a shaved head with a colourful cheetah-print dye).
EB: Most iconic celebrity style moment?
SB: Lil’ Kim at the VMAs 1999.
EB: Worst lie you’ve ever told?
SB: That I have everything under control haha.
EB: Decade you wish you’d been alive in?
SB: I don’t mind this one, every decade has its bad times lol.
EB: The first song you hope to hear when the clubs re-open is…
SB: That’s so hard...but probably Say Something, the Zak Samuel remix with Karen Harding.
EB: A trend you hope will never re-surface?
SB: Not sure…I always think it’s fun when an old trend re-surfaces. But I hate jeggings and hope they never come back.
EB: A film you’ll never get bored of?
SB: Coffy (1973).
EB: Your last meal on earth would be….
SB: The Ethiopian food ‘Injera’.