East End Boys

Charlotte Garbutt
Feb 17
6 min read

Updated: Feb 19

An Interview with Ollie Smith for LGBT+ History Month 2026

Hello, Ollie! Welcome to the interview. Please tell us a little about yourself.

Cool. My name’s Ollie, and I happen to be Charlotte’s future son-in-law, being engaged to her oldest son, Josh. We are due to marry in July 2027. I live in London with Josh; we’ve been here for coming up to five years. I’ve

previously worked in the trans healthcare space and a little bit in HR. Right now, I’m in a customer service role while I figure out what I want to do with my life.

We have a beautiful cat called Oreo, who’s our pride and joy. I’d say I’m quite an active person. I love climbing, and I can very often be found falling off walls and trying not to injure myself… although that doesn't always succeed. I’m also learning British Sign Language at Level 1, having passed a couple of exams and hoping not to fail the others. I like reading and writing. I’m on social media a little too much, but aren’t we all?

That’s a great introduction. How would you describe your style and can you reflect a little on how it’s changed over time?

I guess my current style is heavily influenced by East London as an area. Historically, East London has been quite a poor place, quite underdeveloped, and over recent years it’s undergone a lot of gentrification, particularly Hackney, where we’re based. A lot of men’s fashion around here is quite arty — baggy jeans, baggy tops, workwear jeans. I take that as inspiration but I change it up, make it more me. I’m tiny. I’m 5’5”, so every single pair of trousers that I own has to be turned up. I like the baggy style, matched with some kind of graphic print top or a little vest, like the one I’m wearing right now. So I'm influenced by that kind of almost arty East London style but with my own little nuance like pops of colour. If I wear a pattern, I want it to be the statement while everything else stays plain. This vest has an Argyle pattern so I’d wear it just with a plain t-shirt and plain blue jeans.

I’m also heavily influenced by vintage and second-hand shopping as well. Obviously, it’s much more sustainable for the environment and the way that I justify it is that it's more sustainable for my bank account because it's mostly cheaper. And a lot of the things tend to be almost arty, a creative kind of casual but that still look like you could be in a corporate, creative job. The other day, I met a friend for lunch and she said I look like I work in a creative role in Shoreditch. I take that as a compliment, as she said it was a nice outfit, but that's pretty accurate to describe my personal style.

So do you feel that your style has developed since you've been in London?

100%. When I first came out as trans, I tried to wear what I thought would look masculine and I definitely copied the men around me - men who were in the small town of Kettering in Northamptonshire, where the majority were straight. All of the men that I would see were wearing tracksuits and sporty clothing - no shade to anyone if this is your personal style! And I wore that a lot just to blend in and not stick out too much. I didn't really want to wear anything that could be considered ‘out there’ because my main priority was passing as a man. And now, especially having been on testosterone for eight years and obviously having more masculine features like facial hair, I’ll wear a more ‘out there’ kind of clothes piece. There’s no misgendering issue now so it definitely changed when I moved to London and also as my body started changing, wearing things that fit and complement the shape of my body better. So my style has definitely got much bolder - but not hugely bolder. I see some people that walk down the streets that look absolutely incredible and are really bold with their fashion choices and I'm still not quite that bold but I'm definitely more bold than I was in terms of fashion. Even if I was to wear what I'm wearing now in Kettering, I'd probably get some looks.

The area that you live in does influence your style, and this is true of anyone, not just queer people. In Hackney, there are a lot of charity shops; it's quite fashionable to wear vintage or second-hand things - 90s baggy sportswear jumpers are in right now. I really like them, so you have that kind of easier access to those pieces. And a lot of vintage things, things are one of a kind because they're so many years old that statistically it's not likely people are going to have those things. So you can have really unique pieces that feel freeing. You can use so many different things to create an individual style.

Everyone's style is fluid. My style is very fluid. It's whatever kind of takes my fancy in the moment.

With our LGBT+ History Month in mind, how have you seen fashion within the queer community evolve over time?

I do think that queer fashion tends to be a lot more loud than straight fashion, more bright colours, more out there. Not everyone dresses like this, but there's a lot more individuality within fashion within the queer community. At the risk of sounding judgmental, if I was to look at a group of straight men and a group of gay men, it's more likely that the gay men are going to have that kind of individuality. That’s because we have had to come to terms with ourselves and come to terms with our individuality and once you're in a place where you can accept that and you have accepted that, you're much more likely to be more free with your style. I don't think queer fashion is as strict when it comes to items that would typically be masculine or feminine. It's much more fluid. I do think we are seeing a shift to that in straight fashion, but we don't see that shift in everyday life. We see it in stage performers - artists and music artists - but overall queer fashion is probably a lot more fluid and it's a lot more individual. It’s out there to the point of ‘This is me, I don't care and whatever I'm gonna wear I'm gonna wear’, so it's a lot more individual.

If you could send a message to the fashion industry, what would it be?

I still think the fashion industry needs a lot more diversity. Progress has been made in terms of diverse models, but there's still a way to go. Clothing brands need to really change their sizing a lot. Every single body in the whole world is diverse. And I don't think there are

enough fashion brands that reflect that with their sizes. Clothes should be made to fit you, not you made to fit clothes. That’s something that really needs to change within the fashion industry. There's not that kind of diversity when it comes to modelling and there's not a diversity often when it comes to sizing. In the 2000s, there was a lot of pressure on being thin and equating that to desirable within the modelling world, and that's just not the reality for everyone. We've seen a lot of diversity recently, but we need to go further. We're halfway there. We just need to get further.

Is there anything you’d say to others in the queer community about fashion or style?

I'm not necessarily a fashion guru, but wear what makes you feel comfortable and what makes you look hot. If you put it on and look in the mirror and think ‘I look hot’, then you should wear it.

More general advice is to surround yourself with people like you. There’s such an importance of community, particularly with the queer community. It’s really important to build that community around yourself so that you have a support network in place because if you're coming out, that's never going to be easy. Even if you have a supportive network, it's still hard to come out. But surround yourself with people that are like you and you're going to feel a hell of a lot better about yourself and you're going to come into your own so much more.

Thank you so much, Ollie. Is there anything else you’d like to add for my readers?

If anyone wants to follow me on Instagram, you can find me at @_smith_oliver_.

View clips from the interview below or scroll down for a video of the full interview: