“There’s nothing I wear more than Crocs, so this is so exciting for me,” Millie Bobby Brown exclaims. The actress, producer and entrepreneur has teamed up with the shoe giant as the face of its new Cozy campaign. “I'm a customer,” she says of the partnership. “So when this came across my desk, I was like ‘Oh my god’! Because I’m always in them — I go to work in them, I’m out on the farm in them, and then I run errands in them.”
The aforementioned farm is in Georgia, Atlanta, where Brown lives with her husband Jake Bongiovi. However, the English-born star returned to her homeland for Crocs, with the campaign being set against the backdrop of the Loseley Park House & Gardens in the Surrey Hills. Brown says she “loves” being back in the UK as it means she can spend time with her family, particularly her young nephew.
Photographed by Lillie Eiger, the shoot focuses on “self expression, creativity and who I am” with Brown’s dog Winnie even starring alongside her. The cute poodle is earning somewhat of a name for herself, travelling with Brown wherever she goes and even making a cameo alongside her on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon earlier this year. I wonder, how is she adjusting to the limelight? “Just fine,” says Brown, dryly. “She’s always been a diva, but now more than ever, she really feels the effects of what fame can do — she's always trying to lead me to places where she knows there are going to be paparazzi!” She then jokes she’ll be taking 10% of all upcoming brand deals that Winnie manages to secure, of which I’m sure there'll be many (the dog already has an Instagram fan account dedicated to her).
But back to the shoes — the collection boasts two faux-fur Classic Clogs, one in mushroom grey and the other in rose quartz pink. The fluffy shoes feature a backstrap with Jibbitz holes for customisation, of which Brown is a “lifelong” fan of. Feminine beads, flowers and pearls adorn her pairs, with her favourite style unsurprisingly being the pink. Given her and her husband’s coordinating fashion history, she’s confident that he’ll be donning them alongside her. “Duh! Honestly, real men wear pink in his eyes,” she laughs down the phone.
“He’s the same as me,” she says of their mutual love of Crocs. “Ease and comfortability is key.” This feels like an apt statement given the Cozy title of the campaign — but how does someone as famous as Brown manage to unwind? “I just like to spend time with my animals and my husband. We like to grab dinner and take long walks and [are] very romantic.” With the help of Bongiovi, Brown says she finds it “very easy” to disconnect, and believes “it’s important to switch off” from the demands of her career.
Speaking of which, Brown made headlines earlier this year when she posted a video to her Instagram account calling out journalists for criticising her appearance as she has grown up in the spotlight (she started acting when she was just 10 years old). In the powerful speech, she branded her treatment by the media as “bullying”, before saying: “the fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices, it’s disturbing”.
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It was a brave move that inspired thousands of her young fans across the world. Reflecting upon the video's impact, she says:“I hate to be so cliche and generic, but just know that being yourself is enough. Conforming to whatever environment is around you — like society, school, work, social media or whatever is provoking you — please don't change yourself."
Brown’s words sound like they come from experience. She says: “If you tend to do what other people are doing, you get bored of it — jumping on the bandwagon gets so boring and ultimately, that [one particular thing] expires and then you have to go and jump onto the next thing, and it’s just so exhausting.” Her advice is that “it’s truly never worth it” and she firmly believes that “being yourself and marching to the beat of your own drum is so much more fun and liberating”. Now there’s a sentiment we can get behind.
With the final series of Stranger Things dropping on Netflix at the end of November, Brown will be saying goodbye to the role of Eleven, the character that catapulted her into global fame. She’s also reported to be working on a film adaptation of her own novel, Nineteen Steps, which she’ll both produce and star in. Alongside founding her own clothing, beauty and coffee lines, it’s difficult to believe she’s just 21 years old. “Staying true to who I am” is clearly the key to her success — and with that mindset, she’s got the world at her (pink, fluffy, Crocs-clad) feet.
Crocs’ Cozy collection is out now.
Rebecca Jane Hill is the Senior Fashion Editor at Cosmopolitan UK. She has previously contributed to publications including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Refinery29, The Face, Glamour and Stylist. She started her own magazine, Sister, in 2012 whilst at university. Focused around feminism, fashion and culture, it went on to produce 12 globally stocked print issues, as well as countless events and partnerships. She closed the magazine in 2023.
Rebecca has been an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion since 2018, where she teaches on the Fashion Journalism course. She is a passionate second-hand shopper and is constantly on the lookout for new design talent.
