Musician and model Lucia Fairfull stalks the Catwalk for the V&A Dundee’s new blockbuster show

Lucia Fairfull straddles the worlds of fashion and music as both a model and frontwoman of indie band Lucia and the Best Boys, drawing inspiration from both as she helps promote the new blockbuster show Catwalk: The Art of The Fashion Show and heads out on the road with her band.

“I’m such a hard frolicker,” says musician and model Lucia Fairfull, frontwoman of Lucia and the Best Boys, reminiscing about catwalking for Dior in a delicate lace dress and heels at their acclaimed 2024 Drummond Castle show in Scotland and the possibility of wearing them on stage in one of the band’s energetic live shows.

“I would probably get entangled. My dress was fantastic, very intricate and detailed. Even the necklace had beautiful sea horses on it and I had to avoid getting it caught in the dress. It was fantastic, so intricate - but there are certain things you couldn’t wear on stage. ”

A more swashbuckling Vivienne Westwood outfit she wears in the publicity for Catwalk: The Art of The Fashion Show, a new exhibition opening this week at the V&A Dundee would be better suited, as were the Alexander McQueen styles she and her band wore on stage at the Barrowland in Glasgow in footage used in campaign for one of its iconic bags.

Lucia Fairfull in Vivienne Westwood for Catwalk: The Art of The Fashion Show at V&A Dundee. Credits: Lucia Fairfull at Model Team; Creative: Too Gallus; Photography: Barrington Reeves; Director of Photography: Jacob Gandy; Styling: Gareth Valentino; Hair: Reece Phimster, Ponyboy; Makeup: Laura Long; Location: Nightsky Studios | Barrington Reeves

Celebrating more than 125 years of the catwalk, the exhibition traces its history from small salons attended by the elite in Paris in the 19th century to live international streamed events. With a selection of film, photography, original garments, and archival materials, it showcases iconic designs from Chanel, Dior, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Maison Margiela, Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Charles Jeffrey, among others, while highlighting the work of an army of creatives - artisans, models, make up artists, set designers and video makers - who make it happen.

Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show, V&A Dundee. | Grant Anderson

Fairfull, who has walked the catwalk for the likes of Dior, Westwood and McQueen is an ambassador for the exhibition along with Scottish designer Charles Jeffrey, revelled in dressing up in series of fashion looks inspired by designers featured in the exhibition, including Balenciaga, Dior, Westwood and McQueen.

“I was playing so many different characters. One minute I was in the 1980s and Vivienne Westwood, the next I was in McQueen. I looked different every half hour because they were doing my makeup the way they were done at the shows.

Lucia Fairfull of Lucia and the Best Boys is an ambassador for Catwalk: the Art of the Fashion Show at V&A Dundee. With thanks to the Kelvingrove Cafe, Glasgow. Credits: Lucia Fairfull at Model Team; Creative: Too Gallus; Photography: Barrington Reeves; Director of Photography: Jacob Gandy; Styling: Gareth Valentino; Hair: Reece Phimster, Ponyboy; Makeup: Laura Long; Location: Nightsky Studios | John Devlin/The Scotsman

“They were all pretty amazing looks but the Vivienne Westwood is probably my favourite. Which is unexpected because I don't wear a lot of color, but Westwood has always been such a figurehead for me. Somebody that, like Charles Jeffrey, was very inspired by music, like me. Vivienne Westwood always did it her way and represents uniqueness and fearlessness. When you look at her clothes it's a constant reminder that she was such a storyteller through fashion.

Lucia and the Best Boys perform at TRNSMT Festival 2025 in Glasgow. | Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns

“There was something very empowering about it.
The younger me would have felt so excited that I got to wear that 1980s archival look because I remember going into Westwood shops and being amazed at how somebody could create such a specific world. Looking up to her for such a long time instilled in me to always do what you want to do and ignore the noise around you. It’s really important as a creative to follow your gut and your heart and Vivienne Westwood never stopped doing that. So there was something about getting to wear that which felt momentous and full circle for me. And it was also a really fun look, kind of pirate-y,” she smiles.

Although Fairfull has had a front row seat at the behind the scenes preparation for the exhibition, which is a collaboration between V&A Dundee and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany where it ran last year, when we meet in a cafe in Glasgow she is excited to see the end result in Dundee.

Lucia Fairfull of Lucia and the Best Boys is an ambassador for Catwalk: the Art of the Fashion Show at V&A Dundee. Credits: Lucia Fairfull at Model Team; Creative: Too Gallus; Photography: Barrington Reeves; Director of Photography: Jacob Gandy; Styling: Gareth Valentino; Hair: Reece Phimster, Ponyboy; Makeup: Laura Long; Location: Nightsky Studios | John Devlin/The Scotsman

“There's a lot of history to the catwalk which will be in the show, and you don't necessarily know just because you're in the business.”

“It's about every single element of the catwalk, and I think the exhibition itself will be an immersive experience. There are so many different elements - the lighting, photographers, makeup artists, prop designers, and it’s showcasing every aspect.”

It’s a busy time for Fairfull. Along with the launch of the V&A Dundee exhibition Lucia and The Best Boys also have an upcoming tour with a homecoming headline gig at Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland venue and dates in Manchester and London.

Lucia Fairfull in Dior John Galliano for Catwalk: The Art of The Fashion Show at V&A Dundee. Credits: Lucia Fairfull at Model Team; Creative: Too Gallus; Photography: Barrington Reeves; Director of Photography: Jacob Gandy; Styling: Gareth Valentino; Hair: Reece Phimster, Ponyboy; Makeup: Laura Long; Location: Nightsky Studios | Barrington Reeves

Formed in Glasgow in 2017 with Alasdair Scott, Christopher Ballantyne and Adam Campbell, the indie-rock band has built a following with EPs such as Best Boy, Cheap Talk, The State of Things and Eternity, debut album Burning Castles and energetic live gigs, including as support for Wolf Alice and Garbage.

Now 29, Fairfull grew up in Drymen and Killearn in Stirlingshire before moving to Glasgow at 17 and from there divides her time between music and fashion, recording and performing gigs with the Best Boys and appearing in runway shows and campaigns for international designers. She’s been a muse for Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen and walked at the Dior 2025 Cruise collection.

For Fairfull, the V&A exhibition is a chance to champion her twin passions of fashion and music, which have always gone hand in hand.

“Fashion has always been such an important part of who I am from when I started performing music as a young teenager. It was another form of expression and storytelling. I love clothes and it’s another way to express my songs and my music.

“The first time fashion and music really collided for me was when we got asked to perform on a catwalk at London Fashion Week in 2019 at the ON/OFF Presents fashion show. There was such a buzz in the atmosphere and it was so inspiring I knew I wanted to find ways to make them merge more often,” says Fairfull who signed with model agency Model Team in 2020.

Balenciaga dolls from 1945 are prepared for display in the Catwalk exhibition. | Grant Anderson

“It was beyond my wildest dreams that I ended up working with Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen and with Valentino, and it unlocked this whole new space of inspiration.

“It was the buzz around being part of these experiences and watching collections being made, watching the show unfold and seeing how many different creative bodies it would bring together, and celebrate.

“I feel it again around this V&A exhibition, to see how many different creative people in Scotland are working to make it happen.

“Also I've always been really inspired by what's going on culturally in Scotland and it's really cool to see something of such a high standard come together here and bring that community together and celebrate it.”

Lucia Fairfull of Lucia and the Best Boys performs during Edinburgh's Hogmanay Concert in the Garden, 2025 in Edinburgh. | Martin Grimes/Getty Images

Scottish talent is something international brands appreciate, with the 2024 Dior show featuring partnerships with Scottish artisans like Harris Tweed, Johnstons of Elgin and kilts with pockets developed with Samantha McCoach of Le Kilt.

“Dior could have come and just done the show with their own team,” says Fairfull, “but they really wanted to celebrate Scottish creatives and lift up our community, so that was a favourite.”

Lucia Fairfull at the Catwalk exhibition in Dundee. | Julie Howden

In both music and fashion, Fairfull is always keen to work with Scottish artists, including fellow Catwalk ambassador Charles Jeffrey, who graduated from Central St Martins and set up his own LOVERBOY label, worn by Tilda Swinton, Harry Styles and K-pop star J-Hope of BTS.

“One of my first jobs was with Charles Jeffrey on a campaign filmed in Scotland. Charles has always been very much inspired by music so we worked really well together. I'm grateful to him because that was another first insight into a fashion-led world.”

Lucia Fairfull has worked with high fashion houses including Alexander McQueen, Dior, Vivienne Westwood and Valentino. With thanks to the Kelvingrove Cafe, Glasgow. | John Devlin/The Scotsman

It’s one thing striding around a stage in boots at one of her band’s lively gigs, but how did Fairfull master stalking the catwalk in high heels.

“I was scared at first. I never imagined myself as a runway model before because I associated it with having to wear really high heels and The McQueen ones were incredibly tall. I remember being a wee girl trying heels and it was very obvious I could not walk in them and I thought, that's me. So on stage I always wear boots. I'm such a big mover I can't wear heels. So overcoming being able to walk in heels on a runway gave me a big boost of confidence.

Lucia Fairfull in a Charles Jeffrey design for V&A Dundee. Credits: Lucia Fairfull at Model Team; Creative: Too Gallus; Photography: Barrington Reeves; Director of Photography: Jacob Gandy; Styling: Gareth Valentino; Hair: Reece Phimster, Ponyboy; Makeup: Laura Long; Location: Nightsky Studios | Barrington Reeves

“There is definitely technique and practise with it, but I think because I’m from this music background, I held myself like I would if I was on stage. I wasn't thinking too much about what everyone else around me was doing. If I've been asked to do this they want me for who I am and that gives you a bit of confidence. It's like, cool, be yourself.

“The exciting thing about catwalks is you're entering someone else's world and getting to be a different character every time almost, but because I was doing music, I think I got picked up from the character I'd already created. It gave me confidence and unlocked a fearlessness in me that I had through music, but on a more personal level. I gained that through doing fashion.

Lucia Fairfull of Lucia and the Best Boys is an ambassador for Catwalk: the Art of the Fashion Show at V&A Dundee. With thanks to the Kelvingrove Cafe, Glasgow. | John Devlin/The Scotsman

“I don't think there's a secret to doing catwalk. I think that you have to be thick-skinned, but I think they want you for who you are. It's about being unique and fashion celebrates that.”

Fairfull is all about having the confidence to stand out and be yourself.

“Fashion really showed me that not just through walking on a catwalk but also seeing photographers with very distinctive styles or designers that would create things from a personal, vulnerable space and be able to share.
I found confidence in doing that in my music through fashion and watching, for instance, Sarah Burton design a whole McQueen collection from inside her mind.

“Storytelling isn't that different with fashion and music. It starts as an idea then you might put it to paper, build on it, bring other people in and that's when it gets exciting. You create it visually in front of you as a tangible thing. I think that's important, now specifically when there's so much space for comparison and judgement. Fashion is a constant reminder to keep being myself and doing what I want to do.

“I don't just get inspiration from listening to music.
I get it from fashion shows and imagery of campaigns from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and shows through time that will be displayed in this exhibition.”

When she was a child Fairfull coveted her mother’s blue leather jacket and trouser suit, bought by her father on the Italian Riviera.

A photograph of the mirrored staircase at Chanel’s Paris atelier, around 1930, one of the artifacts on display. | Vitra Design Museum Archiv

“I would think how fab she looked in it and how powerful and cool it was and I begged her for a long time to let me borrow it but I was quite careless as a child so she was really reluctant. Then she realised she wasn't going to wear it anymore so she gave it to me. To this day it's one of my favorite things to wear on stage, and one of the things I get complimented on the most - and it’s my mum's! I've definitely stretched it and it's faded and f***ed, but I think my mum's happy about that because it's been used in a way she never thought it would. It would probably have sat folded in a cupboard.”

Just as Fairfull’s fashion sense has evolved, so has the band’s music, from guitar-heavy grunge influences to more melodic synth-pop in 2023 debut album Burning Castles, with a new EP, Lonely Girl featuring Lauren Mayberry, released in February.

“Burning Castles was very much a product of its time, a lot written in lockdown when we couldn’t play live much, but also I wanted to explore a more electronic synth pop world.

Lucia Fairfull is one of the ambassadors for the Catwalk exhibition. | Barrington Reeves. Credits: Lucia Fairfull at Model Team; Creative: Too Gallus; Photography: Barrington Reeves; Director of Photography: Jacob Gandy; Styling: Gareth Valentino; Hair: Reece Phimster, Ponyboy; Makeup: Laura Long; Location: Nightsky Studios

“When I write music, I take it to the band, we learn it and it evolves through playing live. When we first started it was raw and organic, working with what you have. When we didn't have live performance it felt more electronic which was reflected in the album. When people see us live, it’s more loud guitars, energy…”

A highlight of the upcoming tour for the band is their first Barrowland headline gig in October.

“It’s a very momentous, iconic moment because Barrowlands is a historic venue, and more so for us because it's our hometown. We’ve played there, but never our own show, so it's something that's top of your bucket list when you're a musician from Scotland.”

They may not have headlined Barrowland before, but she has shot a music video in The Barras, riding a horse through the famous market and for the Alexander McQueen campaign in 2023 for the brand’s jeweled satchel with signature McQueen knuckle hardware.

“Sophie Muller who directs a lot of music videos filmed us at the Barrowland over two days. It was very film noir and at night we were supporting Wolf Alice so Sophie dressed us all in McQueen, and filmed us performing. It was special because I'd been living these two worlds kind of separate with lockdown and the Wolf Alice tour was one of the first things we did so the band got to be in this moment too. I don't think every band can say they had an experience like that.

“McQueen is a classic iconic brand, inspired by his Scottish links with landscape and tartan, and Barrowland is an iconic Scottish venue so it very much made sense.”

Paul Poiret's mannequin parade in his garden in Paris, 1910. The photographs is one of the many artifacts on display at Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show, V&A Dundee. | Photo: Henri Manuel L'Illustration. Copyright Jean Sebastien Baschet L'Illustration

“I feel very lucky to have started my music career in Scotland and still be based here. There's always been such a strong arts scene in Glasgow, and in Scotland, and it’s very collaborative. Your pals were videographers and photographers, you’d borrow clothes and that's also what's happened with fashion. I'm very into working with independent Scottish-based designers like Le Kilt - I wore one of theirs for BBC Burns Night and Hogmanay - and Annabel Stewart. I have a collection of vintage kilts and wear a lot of Joey D too. I've always been very lucky to have such an amazing creative community around me.”

With live dates ahead after the V&A’s Catwalk launch Fairfull is ready to get the show on the road, whatever the future brings.

“When you are doing fashion and doing music, it can be challenging but also fun that you never know what's around the corner. It's very spontaneous. You might be in New York or playing a festival, then suddenly, you're back home. You're living a roller coaster and never know what's round the corner. But right now, we're focused on playing live again. And any opportunities that come within fashion are always gonna be a big part of my journey. So whatever comes, comes.”

Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show – a dazzling celebration of over 125 years of catwalk history will run at V&A Dundee from April 3, 2026 to January 17, 2027. Tickets £16 | Under-18’s and members go free. www.vam.ac.uk

Lucia and the Best Boys will perform on 23 October at Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom; 26 October at Manchester Band on the Wall; 28 October at London Islington Assembly Hall. For further events and tickets see www.luciaandthebestboys.co.uk

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