It occurred to Ava Kalitowski early on that her body could be a site of experimentation. No canvas? No clay? No paints? No problem. She has all the materials she needs. It’s this resourcefulness that underpins so much of the creative mind and It-girl’s approach today. To half a million followers, the 21-year-old Londoner cuts through with her unpolished tutorials and thrifted style. Leggy and feline with cool green eyes, Kalitowski has a talent for pattern clashing, off-the-cuff posting, and is single-handedly responsible for the Cath Kidston revival.

Strangers stop her in the street to compliment her outfits, while online her style is bookmarked on Pinterest and Instagram. They still do, but now people are recognising her for Art Club too, a project she co-founded with her childhood friend Ellie Hill that showcases and mentors emerging artists for free as an alternative to London’s oftentimes stiff, blue-chip gallery route. As a model, Kalitowski has worked with a roster of luxury names – think: Celine, Miu Miu, Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander McQueen – so while it’s hard to picture her with a full beat, she assures me, it has happened. As a 14-year-old, she would wake up at 5am to contour, bake her foundation, and pencil on her eyebrows. It’s a far cry from the 20-something who applies blue eyeshadow with her fingers.

Kalitowski abandoned the routine when she bagged her first boyfriend. (She didn’t want to worry about her makeup transferring onto him.) Even now, she won’t wear red lipstick when she’s hanging out with her partner. “Though I mentioned it to him the other day and he was like ‘make me red, I don’t care.’”

When I arrive on the set of her RUSSH Beauty Annual cover at a townhouse in Mile End, Kalitowski is perched, knees to chest on a chair, giggling with hairstylist Stephen Beaver in the kitchen. Self-possessed, she’s comfortable offering solutions when a pose or sequence isn’t working.

In between looks, she pads around barefoot, her toenails apple red and chipped. When the stylist hands her a Gucci Horsebit earring to wear, Kalitowski entertains the crew with the story of why she finally pierced her ears. Last year, a guy she liked told her he thought it would look pretty. Later, she reflects on how unusual it was to hold out for so long, considering she spent her first years in Portugal, where baby girls are studded with gold sleepers before they can crawl. Up until she was five years old, strangers would mistake her for a boy. It didn’t help that she was dressed in her brother’s clothes.

Growing up, Kalitowski can’t remember her Mum ever getting a pedicure. She herself has only had her nails done once (recently, for a shoot) and afterwards she ripped them off. I glimpse her fingers: raw and unvarnished. Raised between Portugal, where her Mother is from, and south London, where her parents live and work as set designers, in her household, creativity was encouraged. There was no pressure to shave, and she was free to do whatever she liked with her hair. Her approach to beauty as an adult is unfussy, loose, and intuitive. She lists the features she finds beautiful in others. Big noses. Green eyes. Moles. Baby hairs and monobrows. “I love when girls have really long hair and braid it loosely.”

“I don’t want to go to space, I want to take a submarine and go as far down as possible.”

After feeling increasingly time-poor this year, Kalitowski called on cult hair stylist Jake Unger to discipline her thick bob into a pixie cut. While many of us – myself included – would end up with results like Claire in Fleabag, in Kalitowski’s case, the look felt like a natural evolution. Only a few months ago she thought to bleach it for the first time with the help of “Queen of Blonde” colourist Harriet Muldoon, after courting the idea of getting frosted tips. I ask if she has an involved blonde hair routine. She laughs. “Does hardly washing it count? My hair looks better if it’s a bit rank.”

Throughout her adolescence, Kalitowski toyed with masculinity and femininity. As a child, after being bullied by the girls in her class, she cropped her hair unfashionably short, stole her brother’s clothes once more, and switched to hanging out with the boys. Then, as womanhood began to set in, a time when everyone was watching Victoria’s Secret shows, she grew self-conscious. “Suddenly, all the girls in my class became very competitive and I felt like I needed to be part of that competition. I became more feminine in a negative way.”

Now, she feels comfortable expressing her femininity through clothes. “Last week a friend came over and played dress up in my huge wardrobe. She commented that all my clothes are ‘feel-good clothes’.” When people ask Kalitowski what her aesthetic is, she never knows how to answer. But feel-good clothes? That feels like a wholesome summary. “I feel fun frolicking in skirts and dresses and powerful in suits and clothes that really fit my body.”

“As women we go through the month having so many different hormonal changes, which can affect your mood. It’s beautiful to see how your style can also develop with these and your emotions, and dressing the way that you feel is so important or to shift how you feel is important.”

I wonder if modelling and influencing have altered her relationship to her own image. There was a point a few years ago where she was being photographed so often and in an objective manner, that insecurity crept in. “My boyfriend now doesn’t call me beautiful that much because I don’t like to hear it.” Both her exes are photographers, and she became a muse to them. “I found they were with me so they could use my image and be with my image, rather than be with me.” She tells me she doesn’t really like being described as a model, despite it being one way she makes a living. It’s why she’s put so much energy these last two years into building Art Club and nourishing her creative side. “I have all of these big ideas and instead of needing to spend tons of money on a photographer, studio, hair and makeup artist, I can just do it on myself.” Ultimately, it’s a pragmatic choice now. “If I just use myself, it cuts down on all the faffing around.”

When asked what products she uses, Kalitowski replies, “it depends what’s on offer”. Unlike her style, skincare is kept very simple. Cleanser, moisturiser, and brushing her teeth with Euthymol – preferably using a green brush to compliment the pink paste. A tube of Elizabeth Arden’s 8 Hour Cream stays in her bag and when she ventures abroad, she’ll treat herself to Caudalie face wash.

Foundation makes her feel claustrophobic, so she rarely wears it. While her makeup collection is abundant, Kalitowski will often focus on a single feature, say eyes or lips. She favours red and pink lipstick shades and went through an orange phase. If all else fails, Clinique’s Black Honey is a reliable companion. On Instagram Reels, she daubs it across her lids and cheeks like a heroine in French cinema. “People have told me I use my fingers a lot. I thought every girl used their lipstick as blush. It just makes sense.”

CK One is her go-to scent. “Really fresh, unisex, clean.” She’s besotted with the aroma of fresh flowers but can’t stand floral fragrances. “I love the smell of freshly cut grass or a pond. I’m completely obsessed with the natural world.” As a child, her career choices were zoologist or marine biologist. She doesn’t watch TV but if she did, it would be for Planet Earth or River Monsters. And fishing has been a lifelong fixation: she would help her Dad and Grandad tie flies for fly-fishing and she would hit the deep sea in Portugal. “I don’t want to go to space, I want to take a submarine and go as far down as possible.”

As for exercise, she used to climb and do a lot of yoga. Now, you’ll find Kalitowski in the gym, rowing, or training in calisthenics. It’s also important that she cycles everyday too. “It’s the period when I can’t look at my phone.” In these moments, she’s just a girl observing her city and saving inspiration.

Admittedly, she doesn’t sleep well. Kalitowski rises at 6am, regardless of what time she crawled into bed. Rain sounds help, a discovery she made while researching blue mind theory for an artwork, and she drifts off to the gentle pitter-patter every night. But getting out of bed? That’s never been a problem. “I don’t know what it is, I think I have an unusual amount of energy and productivity,” she supposes. When I first met Kalitowski back in February at Scooter Caffe, it’s the impression I was left with. She explains it’s a trait she inherited from her Dad. “We have so much time in a day”, he’s always reminding her. Though, not long ago, Kalitowski asked him why he fell in love with her Mum. He said she was just so different from everyone else. An international student, she was excited by life, made her own clothes and practically walked down the street twirling, dancing and singing. Like Mother, like Daughter.

“Last week a friend came over and played dress up in my huge wardrobe. She commented that all my clothes are ‘feel-good clothes’.”

Do it yourself? For Kalitowski, it’s a modus operandi that yields results. “I’m very independent,” Kalitowski observes. “I did skip my teenage years.” She landed her first job in fashion at 16, which kicked off her career as a freelancer. Shortly after, she moved out of home with her ex-boyfriend after only two months of dating. “I threw myself into the deep end and maybe that’s why anything seems possible. I’ve had to learn to live and take care of myself.” She recalls her Mum helping her move out into a tiny attic room. “We had to lift this massive cabinet up five flights of stairs,” she says. “I was like, Mum, we can’t do this, we need to call the boys.” She looked her dead in the eye and was like, “Ava, be serious. Anything’s possible”.

Aside from an art foundation course at Central Saint Martins, Kalitowski skipped university, partly due to her dyslexia. But her education hasn’t stopped. “I learn via conversations and going out in the world, rather than opening a book. Especially with Art Club’s socials or my editing and shooting style, I do it all myself. It looks high production and high value, but it’s just me.”

Art Club celebrated its first birthday this summer. In the project’s short but illustrious life, Kalitowski and Hill have hosted artist residencies, numerous exhibitions, life drawing events, and parties – including one on a barge in Hackney Wick – cultivating an art scene without the unnecessary pomp. The pair plan to use the momentum to establish an artist agency where they can nurture and represent so-called emerging artists. In October, they’ll host a Frieze afterparty and they’re in talks with Netflix about a potential docuseries.

“I’m very lucky, I’ve never been depressed. I’ve experienced a lot of other mental health illnesses, but I’ve never been truly sad because being able to get up every day and do all the things I want to do excites me so much. Having a career doing what I love, it makes a difference.”
That said, “I’m very bad at balance. It’s not my strong point,” she admits. “But I think it’s about surrounding yourself with people that love you and make you laugh and bring you peace.” After years of bouncing around between flatshares, Kalitowski is trying to build a place that feels like home. “Somewhere you can be loved and safe and let loose and be yourself entirely. I imagine with that you could allow yourself to rest and relax a bit more.”

“I’m so excited to age, I’m not afraid of it in any sense. I’m not afraid of death either... Which is maybe why I allow myself to not be so safe in the way I live. I’m excited to get wrinkly and have grey hair and put on weight. I drink, I smoke and I go out, and that’s what life is about, and ageing is a beautiful part of that.”

When I bring up the subject of ageing, she squeals and tells me she can’t wait to be 36. “I’m so excited to age, I’m not afraid of it in any sense,” Kalitowski says, emphatically. She admires the way Portuguese society values ageing. “Women are respected as Mothers, as feeders, they’re allowed to be strong. I’m not afraid of death either,” she continues. “Which is maybe why I allow myself to not be so safe in the way I live. I’m excited to get wrinkly and have grey hair and put on weight. I drink, I smoke and I go out, and that’s what life is about, and ageing is a beautiful part of that.” It’s a constant topic with her friends. How will they age and who will they become? “I’ve got two friends in London, two real friends, and we constantly talk about how, if this is how crazy we are now, how crazy we’ll be after menopause.”

PHOTOGRAPHY Jesse Laitinen
EXECUTIVE FASHION DIRECTOR Hannah Cooper
FASHION Beanie Stolper
TALENT Ava Kalitowski
HAIR Stephen Beaver @ A MGMT
MAKEUP Jenny Coombs
STYLIST'S ASSISTANTS Koby Dulac-Daley and Victoria Lenczyk-Headley
LOCATION LC Locations

Feature image (left): VIKTOR GICHEV dress; MEJURI earring.  Feature image (right): FENDI top; stylist’s own hair accessories.