Five-Five in Socks: Zoe Cross

Words by Derek Rielly
Photography by Richard Freeman
Hair and makeup by Nicholas X Morley
Styling and Production by Miriam Adler
Assistant: Louis Saggus
Digital operator: Niki Gudex

Zoe Cross, while not officially the main image on the cover, is the attraction that will lasso your attention in the style part of Stab issue 73. And I write that with great deference to the wetsuit feature that forms the other half of the section but also, as a man of some worldliness, I realise the extent to which hormones and conditioning drive the modern man.

During the shoot I have to admit I was unprepared for Zoe’s goofy style, a kind of clowning, a little tomboyish. And so conventional! Harry Potter novels. British comedies on TV (Little Britain, The InBetweeners). Listening to The Smiths in her room. Even her dream house has notes of convention, of a disarming simplicity.

“I want to live somewhere near the beach and a little bit far away from a town but somehow still involved in that town,” she says. “A south coast, north coast vibe. And I want a house with character, not some homogenous modern thing. I like houses with faults. It tells a story. When you wear down a house and live in it, it’s your story and it’s your house.”

Zoe is of indeterminate age but is definitely less than 20 years and therefore is in that great first flush of her beauty. Like a high-intensity light bulb! Even Zoe sees it! “I have boobs and a bum compered to everyone else in the industry and I’ve got big lips. I like being called Pillow Lips. “

I doubt you’ll regret any investment, time-wise, in this spread…