PORTIA PRINCE

Portia Prince on music, movement, and motherhood.

You may recognise Portia Prince her from her giant campaigns with Clarks and M&S, but this London-based model is also a proud, groundbreaking voice of the body positivity movement. She balances travelling the globe for work with being a mum to her daughter, Ngaire Ngawaiata Marama Prince-Hartnett - sharing the challenges and joys of it all with her 10k Instagram followers. 

Music and dancing have been the pillars of their lockdown days - as you can see from their joyful, sunlit COLAH photos. We asked Portia all about isolation at home, from the importance of side projects to the magic of movement.

How has music and movement affected your experience of lockdown? 

Music has been the foundation of our lockdown experience. We have a daughter of 16 months and she’s just finding her dancing feet.

What five songs have you had on repeat to keep spirits high? 

Melba Moore-Love’s Comin’ At Ya;

John Sable’s Dolphin Hotel;

Odyssey’s Going Back To My Roots;

John Cameron’s Half Forgotten Daydreams;

Zhane’s Groove Thang (this whole album actually!).

Your family name is Prince - do you think your moves and love of music might be a little bit inspired by this? (Prince by name. Prince by nature!!)

I’m a huge fan of Prince, maybe it comes with the territory of such a name! We listen to him a lot in this house. Such a wise and creative genius.

Who is the better dancer? 

I would say we dance really well together when we’re out (remember going out?) but I want to say me (Portia).

It seems that fashion is a real means of expression for you both. What shapes your sense of style?

I would say it’s 90s fashion for me, it’s always resonated with me so much. Perhaps because I grew up in that era. 

After months in such close confines as a family, what have you learnt about each other? And about yourselves?
We have learnt it’s borderline impossible to keep a house clean with everyone in it 24/7 but we have connected so much as a family and I know I’ll miss all this time spent together.

We have all benefited from it. Lessons - you don’t have to face the washing pile everyday! 

And how do you allow each other space to breathe and be alone?

We both run, so we have been alternating days where we go and that person can also grab a coffee and have a walk for the rest of the morning or afternoon to step away from the routine. It really works!

Being so intertwined as a couple and as parents to Ngaire, how do you maintain a sense of individuality? 

This can be hard and any parent will tell you the same. I think the key for us has been to run our own side projects. Things that we can show each other when completed. For example, Honè likes photography and I love fashion so we work separately with this but we can also collaborate.

What will you miss most when life returns to normality? 

Definitely the time spent together, we found some incredible forests and parks near our house. I wish I could say lie-ins but we haven’t managed one of those since Ngaire arrived…!