Lady Helen Taylor was a paid ambassador and muse to Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani for almost two decades. Now, her younger son has been hired to help transform the image of a very different clothing label.
I can disclose that Cassius Taylor has been recruited by Stone Island, the brand beloved of football hooligans.
‘I’ve been working with Stone Island on a rebrand for the label,’ he tells me at a party in Mayfair.
It’s a fascinating collaboration. Founded in Ravarino in 1982, Stone Island developed a cult-like following among British football supporters who spotted its clothes on rival fans when their teams were playing against Italian teams.
Its associations with hooliganism were cemented on the big screen when its outfits were worn by characters in violent films such as Green Street and The Football Factory. More recently, it’s become fashionable among American rappers including Jay-Z and Drake.
Cassius Taylor has been recruited by Stone Island, the brand beloved of football hooligans. Pictured: Wearing the fashionable brand’s clothes
Cassius, 27, who was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, and Goldsmiths, University of London, is a son of Lady Helen and her husband, the art dealer Timothy Taylor. Pictured: Cassius and his mother at Wimbledon in 2021
Cassius, 27, who was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, and Goldsmiths, University of London, is a son of Lady Helen and her husband, the art dealer Timothy Taylor. His grandfather is the Duke of Kent, a first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth, and his great-great grandfather was George V.
Cassius got to know Stone Island through his work as a DJ. He tells me: ‘I have given their team input on the UK music scene.’
In the past, he has said: ‘I always knew I’d end up in the creative industries in some capacity, due to my upbringing, similar to everyone in my family,’
Cassius’s mother admitted that she grew tired of wearing only Armani’s muted designs to public engagements. ‘There’s a limit to how many navy jackets and white shirts you can wear in a year,’ she once remarked.
Perhaps could give his grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, some Stone Island gear? The 91-year-old music teacher once revealed that she was fond of rap music, in particular U.S. star Eminem.
Queen of Mean is cheesed off!
The Weakest Link’s former Queen of Mean, Anne Robinson, has turned her sights on visitors to the Cotswolds, where she lives.
‘I’ve yet to witness a tourist doing anything but browse — they never purchase,’ fumes Robinson, 79, who says her way was blocked by ‘three very large Germans’ at her local deli in Burford, Oxfordshire. ‘I got past one daughter and the mother, while the other daughter was leaning over the cheese display, taking photos.
‘Wouldn’t it be better if you bought some cheese instead of just photographing it,’ I demanded. ‘I already buyed it,’ she said. ‘Bought, bought,’ I retorted.’ That job in tourism PR can wait, Anne…
The Weakest Link’s former Queen of Mean, Anne Robinson, (pictured) has turned her sights on visitors to the Cotswolds, where she lives
Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone was criticised for allowing her 11-year-old daughter, Lavinia, to compete in the Ideal Miss California & West Coast beauty pageant.
Her husband, Sam Palmer, an estate agent, insists the contest was a sophisticated affair.
‘I was expecting a load of airheads who couldn’t really talk, and it was completely the opposite,’ he says. ‘One of them, who was 17, told me how she loved debating in school. It was lovely to hold a conversation.’
Mother’s pride for Freya and orphan cub
Model Freya Aspinall refers to herself as a ‘Lion mama’ and clearly she isn’t scared to give her cubs motherly affection.
Freya, 20, shared a video of herself cuddling Zemo, a lion cub at her father Damian’s wildlife park in Kent.
‘Zemo’s mother died at our sanctuary when he was just three days old, therefore we have to hand raise him and his sister Zala,’ she says.
‘I’ve been able to develop a beautiful completely natural bond with him.’
Meanwhile, Freya’s mother, the actress Donna Air, doesn’t worry about her close bond with wild animals. ‘They’re more afraid of her,’ she tells me.
Freya, 20, shared a video of herself cuddling Zemo (pictured), a lion cub at her father Damian’s wildlife park in Kent
Freya’s mother, the actress Donna Air (pictured together), doesn’t worry about her close bond with wild animals. ‘They’re more afraid of her,’ she tells me
Disco star Sophie’s £1.2m killing
Life, so the old saying goes, begins at 40. And then it goes into joyously crazy overdrive at 44 — if, that is, you’re Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who gave a show-stopping performance at the Baftas this week.
And why shouldn’t she? The singer reprised Murder On The Dancefloor, her 2001 hit now enrapturing a new generation of fans, thanks to its use in the climactic scenes of Saltburn, the second film directed by Oscar-winner Emerald Fennell.
Sophie can afford to keep the party going: newly published figures reveal that her live music company DV Touring pulled in £1.2million last year and delivered a £342,000 profit — a figure likely to be dwarfed in 2024.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor gave a show-stopping performance at the Baftas in the Royal Festival Hall this week (pictured)
Sophie can afford to keep the party going: newly published figures reveal that her live music company DV Touring pulled in £1.2million last year
He gets by on £144,649 a year as leader of the Opposition, but Sir Keir Starmer didn’t have to part with a single penny when he scored a couple of tickets to watch his beloved Arsenal play away at West Ham a couple of weeks ago.
Not only did the tickets come free — courtesy of West Ham, whose major shareholders include publisher David Sullivan and Vanessa Gold, head of the Ann Summers sex-shop chain — but so did ‘pre-match hospitality’ in the Chairman’s Lounge.
Starmer reckons, in the Members’ Register of Financial Interests, that the jolly would have cost him £2,000 if he’d had to cough up. A win by any estimation.
The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, which currently carries the statue of an African revolutionary who urged his followers to murder whites, should instead be used to honour late actor Lord Olivier, says Hollywood baddie Steven Berkoff.
‘I envisage a statue of Laurence Oliver bestriding his rearing horse as he did in his brilliant film of Henry V,’ Berkoff says. ‘Olivier was not only acclaimed for his acting but educated many generations of young people on the meaning and value of Shakespeare’s language. Moreover, his energy and bravura finally persuaded a reticent government to build a national theatre.’
