Katie Price: ‘It’s only taken me 30 years to do a high-fashion shoot!’

As George Orwell famously wrote in his incendiary novel 1984, “Big Brother is watching you.” And while the author’s dystopian vision of the future has largely turned out to be accurate, it’s likely even he would be surprised at just how hard he hit the nail on the head. From the CCTV cameras that jerk back and forth on sidewalks and street corners, clocking drivers with their feet pressed a little too pedal-to-the-metal, to the FBI agents supposedly monitoring us from behind our screens, we’ve never been more surveilled than we are now – and it’s only getting worse.

It seems like we’re not being sneaked on enough for that kooky little Belgian designer Glenn Martens, though. Presumably taking a break from putting together his first Maison Margiela collection, Martens just outed himself as something of a voyeur, by way of an uncanny new Diesel campaign. Photographed by Frank Le Bon, The Houseguests dumps an eccentric cast of models into a small living space, imagining what they’d get up to as allegiances are formed and personalities clash. And while this was just a three-day shoot and the cast didn’t actually get to lay it bare in the diary room or try to leg it over the fence, there was one star with real-life experience in the Big Brother house in the mix, in the form of Katie Price.

More likely to be found splashed up and down the showbiz column of a news outlet that will remain nameless or all over @loveofhuns’ Instagram Stories, the Pricey just made her high fashion debut for Diesel. “Only took me 30 years,” she laughs down the phone as she takes a minute away from a shoot she’s currently on to talk about the project. While plenty of other glamour models, adult film stars and sex workers have walked the runway or starred in glossy fashion ads – think Jeff Stryker at Mugler, Lana Rhoades at Dilara or Mia Khalifa at KNWLS – Price has historically been shunned by the fashion world, despite being one of the most in-demand models and highest earning reality star in the UK circa the mid 00s.

Though Price reveals she’s been a lifelong fashion fan and admits she would have loved to have worked on more avant-garde stuff, the former glamour model was largely just relegated to bikini editorials. “I mean I’m still in a bikini in the campaign, but the rest of it was way out of my comfort zone,” she reveals. “I absolutely loved it.” The ad speaks to Martens inherent wit and a definitive lack of the snobbery that runs deep in most of the industry’s biggest designers, and beyond all that, is just a lot of fun. It also makes you wonder. If celebrities and VIPs were as central to fashion in 2006 as they are now almost 20 years on, would she have been given her high fashion shot way sooner? Whatever: the Pricey’s just happy to be here now.

Read on for our conversation.

First of all, how did the collaboration come about?

Katie Price: It was honestly so random. About a week before, my brother said to me that Diesel had been in touch asking if I wanted to be in their worldwide campaign. I went, ‘Oh, shut up! As if Diesel would want me, I’m too short for a start.’ I’m only five-foot-five or six, no more than that. But he wasn’t joking, obviously!

And what was your experience like on set? 

Katie Price: It was so different to anything I’ve done before, I was quite out of my comfort zone you know! I’m used to doing lad’s mags and things like that and this was like being on a set you watch on telly, like proper fashion. A huge room, racks and racks of clothes, all the people behind the scenes.

Bikini shoots are usually tiny productions, and this was massive, there were loads of make-up stations and different sets and so many models from all over the world speaking all different languages. They were gorgeous, and so tall, I was like, ‘How’s little Pricey gonna fit in?’ In the end they also asked if JJ [Slater, Katie’s boyfriend] was there to model and he said, ‘No no, I’m just here to support Kate,’ but they said he had a good look for it. He was going on about how he couldn’t do it so I just told him to shut up and put the clothes on and he loved it [laughs].

“I love high fashion, but I’ve never done a high fashion shoot before. It’s only taken me 30 years! They were long days, but I never moaned about anything even once, I was just like ‘Tell me what you want me to do’” – Katie Price

Did you get into character on set? Was it a bit like returning to Jordan, or are you more happy playing yourself now?

Katie Price: No no, not at all, I’ve got enough experience now to just be myself. I know how to move, I know how to follow the camera, they just give me the bag or whatever and I just naturally move. I felt very comfortable in my own skin, despite it being my first proper, proper fashion shoot. And actually I’d definitely say it was one of the highlights of my career. I love high fashion, but I’ve never done a high-fashion shoot before. It’s only taken me 30 years! They were long days, but I never moaned about anything even once, I was just like ‘Tell me what you want me to do.’

As Kate Moss once said, ‘Never complain, never explain.’

Katie Price: Exactly! And I was just happy to be there, watching everything going on.

And what about Diesel itself? Have you always been a fan? 

Katie Price: Oh yeah, I love their clothes. I remember in the early 2000s I’d always wear Diesel and Miss Sixty’s super low-rise jeans. And now they’re doing all that stuff again, I fucking love it! I’d love to work with them more, and do more fashion shoots as a whole really, they’re so out of my comfort zone but so amazing. Mind you, I did have a bikini on in this one though and that’s not exactly a new thing for me [laughs].

OK so you’ve got Diesel under your belt. Who else would you want to star in a fashion campaign for? 

Katie Price: I used to love the Guess campaigns. Remember when they were all in black and white, and they had Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith in them dressed up 50s style? I loved those. Other than that… I don’t know, really. I don’t like to say names because they’ll probably stick their noses up at me, do you know what I mean? But I’d love to do more. I’m so used to knowing how to sell myself, but when it comes to fashion shoots you’re selling the clothes, so it’s interesting. I remember when I did a shoot for Vogue with David Bailey it was all about learning new poses and working out how to move with the product.

Fashion is definitely still snotty about who it lets in, but there’s more space for people with different bodies and heights now.

Katie Price: Definitely, you can be my height and walk the runway now. I was worried about being bigger than the other models as well but actually they were just like me, just stretched out longer [laughs].

“What other high fashion brands would I like to work with? I don’t know, really. I don’t like to say names because they’ll probably stick their noses up at me, do you know what I mean?” – Katie Price

Have you always been into fashion? Would you ever think about starting your own line? 

Katie Price:  Yeah, forever. I’m into comfort but I like things to be different. I’m very creative and used to make loads of my own clothes. There was a bead shop in London and they used to have loads of Swarovski crystals, and I’d go buy packets and packets of them and customise my clothes with them. I like colourful stuff. But bikinis, I feel like a range is well overdue. I did a line with Asda a long time ago and they sold so well, but I ended up not being with the manager in the end and Pete [Andre, Katie’s ex-husband] kept the contract. But that was then and this is now. 

What about a Diesel collab?

Katie Price: I’d love that, and I always said being in a high fashion campaign would never happen, and then it did, so who knows? I love their bags, their shoes, there was nothing I didn’t like on the shoot. And the sunglasses! God, I loved it all.

How would you describe your style?

Katie Price: I never really follow fashion. Weirdly enough, the only time I do follow fashion is in the equestrian world, because I’m big into horses, so I’ve always got the proper stuff there. But unless you’re part of that world you wouldn’t really get it. I’ve always had the expensive handmade boots, the jodhpurs, the shirts and jackets. If I’m in a show I have them all made for me.

So as you probably know, Glenn Martens is going to Maison Margiela, which is a massive deal for fashion. Are you familiar with the Margiela Tabis and would you ever wear them?

Katie Price: Oh yeah, I’d definitely wear them! I love anything different. I actually just got some new trainers from Marni and they’re so cool, they look like space boots. My whole family’s like ‘What the hell are they?’ and I was like ‘They’re my trainers, obviously.’ [Laughs]. So yeah, anything a bit different that makes me stand out I like. I was the same all the way from school. 

Who would be your dream dinner party guests? 

Katie Price: God I’ve already done a really mad one. It was with Evgeny Lebedev who owns the Evening Standard, and about 12 others for the whole weekend in Italy. There was me, Liz Hurley, Boris Johnson and his wife, the Royal photographer, Pixie Lott and her other half, Joan Collins and her husband, and some other actress I can’t remember, plus little old me. Evgeny said he’s always liked me and loved how down to earth I was and how I could just chat to anyone. 

“I love anything different. I actually just got some new trainers from Marni and they’re so cool, they look like space boots. My whole family’s like ‘What the hell are they?’ and I’m like ‘They’re my trainers, obviously’ ” – Katie Price

That is a wild mix! And what did you talk about? What did you get up to?

Katie Price: That would be telling! [Laughs.] I’m not one to brag or anything, but I’ve done a lot in my life. Mixed with people you’d never expect me to mix with, and I’ll never tell, because I’m not one to talk about other people like that.

OK last question. If you could walk the runway for anyone, who would it be, and what would you walk to?

Katie Price: Oh, what about Hermès? I love horses and I love riding, and their stuff is beautiful and equestrian. That would be a good one for me. I’m putting it out into the universe because I want a posh Hermès saddle. And I’d walk to ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ by Cindy Lauper. 

Click through the campaign above.