Oliver Proudlock | Extraordinary Life Stories

0:11Hello, my name is John Reynolds and welcome to Extraordinary Life Stories. On this episode, I'm talking with Oliver Proudlop. Ollie is a renowned entrepreneur, fashion designer and television personality who rose to fame on the hit reality show Made in Chelsea. As the founder of the menswear brand Serge Deneemes, Ollie has established himself as a key figure in British fashion, blending contemporary designs with timeless influences. Beyond business, he's a passionate advocate for wellness and mental health, often sharing insights into his personal journey to inspire others. I'm very much looking forward to talking to Rodney, so let's get into it.

0:50Oli, thank you for joining me. John, thank you for having me. Apologies, it's taken so long. You've been super good. I know, but I know I've changed a few of the times, but I'm very glad to be here now. We're here now. My throat to all the listeners, apologies if it sort of goes up and down. A little bit of a chesty situation, but hopefully it'll be fine. You look good. You sound good. You look good. You sound perfect. And we're good to go. Despite Vegas. Tell me, who is Oli Proudlock? Who is Oli Proudlock? Wow, that's a big question to start with. I think first and foremost, the most important thing is I'm a dad.

1:27That's what I see right now in my life as the number one. And then outside of that, I'm a creative. I think for me that's the most important thing. I juggle and do various different things but they're always pretty creative and I think the number one thing for me is always leading from passion and something that I really love because then that leads leads to authenticity which you exude by the way I appreciate that man it's a big thing for me it's a lot that means a lot the creative side of things intrigues me because the education curriculum doesn't really stimulate that no it's all a bit of a kind of you tunnel to getting exams, passing them to get a job, whereas you seem to have defied that.

2:12How did that come to be? It's funny because I remember when I was growing up, I was an all-rounder, kind of. I was good at sport. I was okay at education, but I was never top of the class. I was kind of cruising. And from an early age, I became really interested in drawing, probably from the age of five, I think it was. and I remember my mum always got really excited by it because she was an interior designer she was always really creative so she could see some of her in me my dad on the other hand at that stage you know my dad he was very entrepreneurial he was very clever he was actually running restaurants at the time um and I think you know he went to Eton when he was a kid his dad went to Eton his dad's dad, so on and so forth.

2:59So there was real pressure for me from a young age to get certain marks and get certain grades so that I could go to Eton. And I remember, so I was told this story, I definitely don't remember it because I was just born. But when I was born and because they did a surprise and they found out that I was a boy, the first thing my dad did was went to the phone to call Eton to put my name down. Legacy? Because back then, yeah, back then this is, you know, the place and so on and so forth. And so I remember when it came to the exams, it was common entrance, a long time ago now, and I felt so much pressure to get those grades to get in because there wasn't really a backup.

3:41You know, it was like, basically, I have to go to this school. Like, there was no sort of alternative. And thank God I passed and I got in there. And I think with Eton, you know, the education and sports as well was always at the forefront but it was funny there was such an incredible art school there and there was an amazing teacher a guy called Ian Burke and I just remember spending so much time in that art schools and that is where I really found my love for it and I had a great house master who let me kind of really follow that because I remember when it came to the end of Eton everyone's talking about the next step very few people were saying I want to be an artist but you know at that point My mum was obviously really supportive.

4:27My dad was a little bit wary, but he'd seen from the age of 15, 16, I was doing art exhibitions and I was actually selling my paintings. So he was like, okay, maybe there's something here. And he's an entrepreneur himself, right? He could see how passionate I was. And I think the two of them have always been very supportive of whatever it is that I want to do, as long as going back to what I said earlier, that I was super passionate about it. So then when I left, I went to St. Martin's. to do a foundation. Didn't complete it, sadly. And I think in the back of my mind, I really wanted to have a break from education and go traveling.

5:02So I did go traveling, which I'm super happy I did. Which stimulates creativity as well. Yeah. And I think so much of my creativity and my energy comes from different cultures, from traveling, from meeting new people. And again, that was such an incredible part of my life and I learned so much and I think I became very independent and understood how to engage with different people from different cultures which I really you know at that time was which you don't learn at school as well right so this is the whole you know molding yourself into being more of a creator a hundred percent and then that's when I came back and I was unsure of what I wanted to do and then last minute I was like you know what I'm going to give it a go and I ended up going to Newcastle and I did four years of fine art which was 70 % was practical and the other 30 % was fine history of art and I loved it and I you know I learned a lot and I developed my skills there but my thing with art was always I love the process and I think anything that you do in life as long as you enjoy the process the outcome will come and then when I went to Newcastle because all my art was very emotional and I was engaging with different materials and I was bouncing off certain things that I was doing it was very free and when I went there it became very conceptual so they're like why did you do that and they were like okay well why did you do that and then I started overthinking everything and then I stopped enjoying the process so although it was great I had amazing time there I realized that being an artist and sort of being stuck in my mind in a studio by myself was probably not going to be the space for me.

6:45And that's what then led for me setting up my brand. Yeah, there's an element of being a creative and needing social contact, right? Knowing you fast forward to Made in Chelsea to your social following, which is a really interactive, engaging people that really want to hear from you and you give back. You can't be creative if you're just on your own and not getting anything back. So how did you embrace that and almost grow that, if you like? I mean, yeah, it was a funny time when I went on to Made in Chelsea because it was very unknown. I'd just set up my brand, Serge Deneem. It was June 2011, and I went on to the show in September of that year.

7:28And I remember thinking this potentially could be a really good opportunity. it could be you know a bit of a platform for me to help me talk about my brand and so on and so forth could also be a risk right it was a big risk as well and I was so uncertain whether to do the show or not at the time and I remember um I didn't actually show up for the first day of filming panicked that morning so I remember I was staying at my dad's place because it was very near where they were filming in the morning and I just panicked I was I just don't know if I can do this I just don't know if it feels right did you know the other people involved yeah I did so you had that element of trust but it was how it could be positioned and the media side of things.

8:03I had trust within that and and I think that's why the beginning of Made in Chelsea was so great not that I don't watch it now but all the relationships that were happening you know we'd all known each other for such a long period of time so there was that connection already so you know authenticity again it was already there but I was just so unsure of how they were going to edit me and you know you've seen all the stuff that's happened in the past with reality shows but in the end I thought to myself you know what's the worst that could happen and I think I've said this quite a few times to different people but I think in life you regret the things you don't do more than the things you do do I don't want to go through life being like oh my god what if what have I what if I'd done that totally way better to do something if it doesn't work out at least you can say I've done it I tried it I gave it my best it didn't work out now I move on You go in for the right reasons and, you know, stepping out of your comfort zone is also a good place to be, right?

8:57So, you know, I totally get that there would have been things that you would have been worried about that other people could, not maliciously, but just make it look different to how it is and so on. But actually, you're there as your authentic self, which you always are. Yeah. Then it's going to happen around you, right? And as it was, it flew, right? What was that like? Because suddenly everyone knows who Olly Proudlock is. Yeah, it was. Especially in your actual local environment, going in to get your bread in the morning, people are going to stop you. It was funny because, I mean, look, we were all so young back then.

9:26You know, it was probably 12 years ago that I was on it. And going back to your question previously about suddenly having this community of people following you, you know, back then it wasn't Instagram, it was just Twitter. So, you know, we were just, I mean, I don't even know what we were talking about. But it was crazy. I remember the first episode that went live. And, you know, you're unsure of what's going to happen. And, you know, you've got your Twitter account and you could just, you would refresh it. you would just see thousands and thousands of people coming on. And, you know, the beginning, because they didn't really know who you were.

10:00And because my look wasn't necessarily the Chelsea look, you know, I had like a cross earring and my style was very different from everyone else's. And people were judging me on that originally. So I remember the first comments coming through were interesting. But I've always been pretty thick skinned. And going back to your point, I've always been very true to myself. It's something I'm quite proud of. So I said to myself, look, if I continue just to be me and don't get sidetracked by all the noise and try to make up storylines and so on and so forth, again, I can look back and be like, that was all me.

10:36So yeah, I'm touched with. I'm proud of that. Yeah, you should be. And I think the issue we said about being true to yourself and actually if you've got purpose and you've got self-belief, but without being arrogant, which is what you exude, you can confidently say, I'll make a decision to do something but it doesn't mean I think I'm better than anyone else and so on. There was a lot of camaraderie that still continues to this day with the friends that were part of that Made in Chelsea and of course they were friends before that. For sure. But talking about, I guess, mental health, suddenly there's stardom, there's expectations, there's how long do you stay in, what do you do next?

11:08How did you manage that? And I guess the question as well, you seem to manage it very well. Did you watch any of those guys that have been friends and sort of colleagues within the show change at all? and struggle with that. Yeah, definitely. I think certain characters had a harder time than others. I think the girls in particular had a hard time for sure. And I think looking back on it, because it was so new, maybe we didn't have the support around us to manage it. I think as time went on and certain things got revealed and certain things happened, then the support came. But I think for me personally, the most important thing was having people outside of the show, you know, like my family, my friends who I've known since I was, you know, a tiny kid, keeping me level and making sure that I didn't get too caught up in it and having that time to get away from it and be like, OK, look, things are getting a bit crazy.

12:07But let's just calm down. Like, you know, I'm not Brad Pitt. It's like, let's just calm down. Everything is like, you know, keep very grounded. that was like the most important thing um and yeah I guess some people maybe I think as well harder for people who are very much at the forefront of that show yes I was you know I was pretty calm I kept myself pretty pretty chill um but yeah some people I think you know had it really hard no I can see that about you I get it the support now is probably 10 people per person and checking in on them all the way through and giving them advice and I think that in general in life now like people obviously are speaking about the way they're feeling guys are sharing their emotions we're supporting one another it's not seen as a weakness it's a strength and I think these conversations if they were happening back then it would have been a lot easier but you know that was a long time ago and it was very different and a lot's changed since then so I think that's a positive change yeah in the build-up to talking today I listened to a podcast you did with Jamie Lang just two guys talking really openly and laughing you know wholeheartedly but about stuff that dare I say wouldn't have been talked about as two guys 15 years ago the pub chat would have been you're right yeah I'm all right I know it's just like it's really refreshing it's the way that it needs to go Jay and I do have that I think we've had that relationship for a long time and you know we live together during the show and it's always nice you know we're at different stages of our lives now but we we've been through it together so we can look back on it and laugh about it and um you know we speak probably like four or five i speak to him a lot so you know he'll just call me randomly in the morning and just tell me something so random but it's just like it's the checking in and just like having those conversations yeah he's got he's got someone to call that he trusts exactly you're not going to judge him you're going to exactly tell him he's been a moron if it's something in a in a jester way but also it's advice right you know being able to check in you said that no no I think so and I think we all need that um and you know going back to what I said before it's so important to have good people around you and I think that's important in every aspect of life you know that's also across your work life as well um especially as someone who you know I've always wanted to do my own thing and set up my own businesses and you can't do these things by yourself.

14:29You've got to build an amazing team who lift you up and who come in with the same passion and want to drive and push it as much as you do. So yeah, people is the most important thing. That's interesting because you are ultimately a serial entrepreneur. If you look at the fashion, the brand, the personal brand of Oli as well. And so I'm interested in that because that brings in a really big social following that you interact with and have a platform to put out new fashion brands and anything you're doing. But to bring anyone in to support you in that represents you. How do you choose those people?

15:06Yeah, it's hard. I think for me, that's one of the hardest things. And I think, you know, my mum was a little bit like this as well. She let so many people in, you know, because she's very trusting. And I remember some people would take advantage of that. And often with that, it's, you know, you do it and you hope that you learn from it. And you can, you know, the older you get, the kind of wiser you get in those sort of scenarios. And you can start seeing little things earlier. But yeah, I do. It is hard. But when you do find the good ones, you just got to hold so tight. And, you know, you've got to see them as family.

15:44And it's funny, you know, even jobs that I do with brands outside of my own, working as Oliver Proudlock, I way prefer these long-term partnerships and some of the brands that I work with I've worked with for years and I see them as family you know I think again it all comes back to authenticity and rather than these sort of one-off jobs I think it's like yeah I think it's the best thing yeah yeah I can tell I bet they feel like family that's the way you make them feel and in terms of looking after your own physical and mental health fitness if you like I know that's really important to you. What works for you?

16:22Yeah, for me, I'm a creature of habit. I like routine. Do you have a morning routine? Yeah, yeah. So my morning is, for me, is so important because it sets me up for the day. So, you know, first thing in the morning, I have very precious time with my daughter and my wife. And, you know, we all get ready and get dressed and we feed Bon and stuff like that. And I love that. You know, it's just like the best, most wholesome part of the day that and the end of the day when we will come back together and then from there I I'll go and do whether it's a run or some strength training and that little pocket there is my moment by myself um and I'll listen to a podcast or music so you're stimulating your brain yeah and I'm just having time to myself to think about right what it is what is my day going to look like what do I want to achieve from this day what have I learned from yesterday all these different things do you have your phone with you during that time so it depends so if I'm training occasionally I train with someone else and if I'm training with someone else I won't have it but then if I'm by myself occasionally I do and sometimes I have it but I need it I should you know what I should do is go back to an iPod just to play the podcast about the distraction do you know what I mean that's why I asked you because the intention is there for me I listen to podcasts and then I'll hear a ping or I know I think of something and I go to make a note and then I see Ollie's message I know and then I'm off I get my thing as well as it I kind of sometimes feel I should have just in case something has happened or something you know just as you know I've got it there just in case I need to get back someone super fast but no that that hour then is is super important for me get the endorphins going and then I you know continue with my day but yeah you're right I parallel that the morning routine and how strict are you on that so my point being that we have days like dare I say today where you knew you were filming me to this moment in the day but in the build-up to it you can fit the routine in and then there's the days that for whatever reason yeah do you try and compensate you so if you're staying in a hotel do you still try and use the gym there are you pretty strict with it i'm not as strict as i used to be before i had my daughter i was pretty strict with it and now i'm i don't i would always i would almost punish myself if i didn't that's what about overcompensating yeah yeah i you know because it became so regimental whereas now i give myself look if i can't do it today because of work or it's all good you know we'll do one tomorrow it's not the end of the world uh if that happens four days in a row then maybe i'll get a little bit angsty but um no i think it's important to not get too stuck on things and i do think in in today's world it's harder to do that especially with things like social media and constantly seeing things it's the judgment yeah i was going to ask you this actually because you have made a success of social media you've made it part of uh your business your platform so that people can know about you and feel like they know you.

19:12Now you're a dad. Where will you go with that as a journey? Because I'm the same way. So I've got two daughters and they are consuming TikTok and Instagram and watching things on YouTube, as do I when I get the time. But the point is that there's a good use of social media and there's a bad use. There's the doom scrolling. There's the judgment. There's the doom scrolling that can take you into a very negative smile. Now you could argue that you would be able to very much educate your your kid in context of using it to force for good but it's controlling it yeah with that i mean i'm hoping by the time bonnie is old enough whatever age we decide to give her a phone i'm hoping that there's going to be laws in place or maybe it's not even going to be here i don't know i i don't even want to think about it for now because it's one of those ones that if you're so strict with it it's just going to i mean It creates a problem down the line.

20:05How do you do it with your daughters? Yeah, so they're 13 and 15 now. We got them a phone just before lockdown. Because I think that's the scariest age with social media, those teenage years when you're still trying to understand who you are and feel confident in your own skin. And if suddenly you've got this other beast here and you're seeing all this other stuff, what everyone else is doing, how everyone else looks, how does that make you feel when you're still unsure of who you are? I've been on a, it continues, it's a journey like this. So got them a phone just before lockdown, which of course no one knew lockdown was coming we felt that we lucked out because what that did is connected them to friends that they couldn't see yeah it also allowed my youngest in particular who is an art scholar creative to be able to watch what other people were doing and then replicate remember the tick tock dances yeah both of them were doing that yeah and they were copying so that was actually fitness it was stimulation they learned how to edit videos on cap cut it's a skill we can all agree, you know, we've only done editing software.

21:03What I've watched happen though was the creative side of both of them then waned to just consuming. So now I'm coming in as the parent going, hey, come on, don't just sit there. And they'd almost go like that. I mean, you've been on that too long. It's frying your brain. How do they react to you saying that? Not great. Not great. And they defend themselves. I'm not. I wasn't. I just, you know, so that's the challenge. So then it's like, do you take the phones away? Do you now manage it on, you have an hour? Because if you give them an hour, it's the same with kids playing computer games, they'll pile in intensely.

21:34I don't want that. You want them to manage it. And I wouldn't say we've at any time got this right. And I'm totally with you. I think there's laws coming in that could hopefully help us. That has to. But I think what I would say is kids do what we do, not what we say as parents. So I think as a role model with how you use social media is brilliant. So I think they're in a good place from your point of view, but it's managing it. It's a mind-blowing. I was just wondering what you'd say because some people would say, I will not let my kids have a phone and I'm not having social media. And it's like, well, there's a massive hypocritical element of that where you could argue you've built a huge platform.

22:15I know. It's so tough. And thankfully my daughter's not three yet, so I feel I've still got time. You've got time. But what I have thought about, and my wife and I both think about this, is how we are in the house and how much we use our phones and making sure that we have a bit of distance. And I do think now, since having our daughter Bonnie, at the end of the day, when we're back home, we use our phone much less. And although we continue to, you know, share our lives, whether it's through business or personal, I feel like there's, we don't give everything. We still hold back and have a lot of personal moments to ourselves.

22:51And I think that's really important because I think you can overshare a little. And if you are sharing everything, that means you are on your phone all the time. So I do think there's so many pros and cons. And I think there are great ways of using it. But I also think there are great ways of not using it. And I think that's the most important thing. No, you've articulated it really well. It's just balancing. Constant juggling to try and balance. It's constant, yeah. And I'm just grateful that I'm a bit older. And I've kind of been through it since the beginning. But I can only imagine some of these younger kids trying to understand, engage it.

23:32And they're trying to grow their accounts and getting addicted to the likes and the views. It's like a drug. Yeah, actually we're filming in the Jack studio, JAAQ, just to ask you a question. One of the things I like about Jack is there is no comments, no likes, no judgments. Information giving without this, because that's social media, it's an addictive craving, isn't it? And of course that's where mental health problems are massively being stimulated because someone puts a post out, doesn't get any likes and feels a failure. I know, this is crazy. Be authentic, put out what you want, don't expect anything back.

24:08it's very scary. But going back to what you said earlier, things are going to have to change over the next few years because mental health is crazy at the moment. And I think especially these younger generations have got to be really looked after. So yeah, I don't know what those will be, but they'll definitely be coming, I'm sure. Hopefully there's plenty of far smarter people than us that have access to an algorithm of huge information. I'm just hoping by the time Bonnie's the same age as your daughter's, I hope maybe everyone's going to just go underground and it's way cooler not to share anything.

24:43You know, like way cooler to be private. And I don't, you know, I'm going to stay in... Can you imagine, like remember back in the day when you were just doing your thing, you were in your lane, you had no idea what anyone else was doing. Isn't it crazy now to think... Can't imagine it now. Social media is almost like everyone who's got their social media page, their handle, it's like their own reality TV show. And everyone is watching. Everyone's watching all these shows. It's insane. I'll tell you what might actually stimulate changes is AI. Yeah. Because you are just so authentic. Anyone I want to talk to on this program has got authenticity because otherwise you're talking about the next book you're promoting.

25:22It's ulterior motives. With AI and from deep fake to just stupid videos that keep popping off on my feed And the fact that my daughters come in and say, Dad, did you know this? And you're like, why did you hear that? It's on TikTok. That's terrifying. Yeah, and it's things that they really, you know, stuff potentially they really should know. But you can't judge them because they're just seeing it and it's what they're being fed. I think the escalation of AI is going to force the issue. It's like, actually, we need to not shut this down. And people, I think, will crave authenticity and come off social media.

25:58I could be completely wrong. I hope but my thoughts are the same. Just pull back and go okay I've had enough of this. Do you know what I mean? I think it's just, it's funny as well I was thinking, you know obviously a lot of people talk about ADHD and I've never really thought that I had ADHD and then the other day I was doing a similar conversation like this and I afterwards he was like do you have ADHD and he was like in between things I was, and I actually thought about it afterwards and I was like that's so interesting I was just cutting off and talking about something completely random and suddenly I was thinking is this something maybe that I've developed over time because of let's say social media all the information that you're taking in at different moments and in turn how you're going to focus in and put on one thing because people's attention spans are so small we say no one will watch a video longer than like 10 seconds now before they're on to the next thing that's more information so I wonder if that's having an effect on people's I mean it must be surely content your attention and engaging with things.

26:57But yeah, let's hope. I don't know. But then also in the back of my mind, if that does happen, it's going to be pretty bad for business on my side. I'm more, I'm more, it's more important for, especially since becoming a dad. I just, yeah, I just want the younger generation and all the kids to come just to mentally be strong and not be worrying so much. No, I get it. They don't look or have a life or something else that someone else has, you know. No, I get it. I think one of the things I like is I can tell that you are enjoying the journey rather than having a destination. And you've had a lot of success in your life, both in business, the reality TV side of things.

27:33Sitting here now, how would you define success?

27:39For me, I think, you know, you touched on it there, the journey, the process. I think for me, success is just being satisfied and happy in what you're doing day to day. you know what I mean I don't care so much about how much money I'm making or what people think I really care about waking up every morning and be like oh my god I love this that is success for me because that's the most important thing life is short you never know what's going to happen tomorrow as long as I can look back and be like I freaking loved every day then that I don't see what's more successful than that I love that if you if you were giving advice to a younger Ollie, you're an aspiring entrepreneur.

28:20And there I said, looking at what you've done in fashion, in the style sort of things, and not imitating, but sort of aspiring to be in your position. What advice would you give? I think my advice would, and it's something I've always tried to live by, and I think it's something that my mum ingrained in me a lot, because my mum was, she was always pretty out there, especially when it came to her look and her style, and she never really blended in with everyone else. And when I was a kid, as with all kids, you want to blend in. And I remember I was embarrassed by it. And looking back on that now, I'm like, I get it.

28:53I know why she was doing that because she was just being true and authentic to herself. And I was like, that is so cool. And I was annoyed that I felt like that when I was a kid. But, you know, it's kind of how kids are sometimes. It comes with maturity and understanding what disruption it is. Yeah, and understanding, you know. And I think that's what I would say to my younger self. I would be like, whatever it is you're going to do in life, just stay true to yourself. there's so much influence and all these other things around us that can have an effect on the way that we look the way we interact with people but I would just say continue to be you don't don't be you know misguided stay stick and stay to what you believe in well I was really looking forward to this conversation and I have thoroughly enjoyed it I wish we had longer but we've run out of time but you are thank you for having me really authentic genuine lovely person thank you thank you so much for having me thank you cheers Cheers.