On her first day of school, a young Lola Bute informed her headmaster that he should not, under any circumstances, refer to her as Lola. She preferred to be addressed as Cinderella. “I always wanted to be in character,” Bute says now, “because I think I wasn’t quite sure who I was, honestly, until recently.”
Today, Bute remains a big fan of dressing up and getting into character. “I love an occasion,” she admits. Her 25th birthday party last year, held on her family’s Scottish isle of Bute, drew guests like Sienna Miller and Princess Olympia of Greece. The event turned into a phenomenon along the lines of the Black and White Ball or Kate Moss’s 30th birthday bash. (When you type Bute’s name into Google, “party” is one of the first suggested terms.)
“I’ve literally been planning this party since I was five,” Bute says. “My mom would dread getting stuck on a ski lift with me because it’s all I talk about. Most girls are thinking about their wedding. I was like, ‘I don’t want to share the attention with anyone.’” Still, she insists she was not expecting the attention the bacchanal brought. Wearing a simple off-the-shoulder black top and a cross necklace, she brushes her buttery blonde hair aside as she remembers the media frenzy that followed. “My mom was like, ‘I think we should say, ‘No Instagram or social media over the weekend.’ I was like, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. No one cares.’ I don’t know what happened, but I went to sleep on Sunday night and woke up on Monday, and it was everywhere.”
The theme was “How Lola Can You Go?” and guests arrived in risqué ensembles that skirted dangerously close to nudity. “I don’t know whether to be really upset or flattered, but everyone put in such an effort!” she says now. She would, however, like to correct the record on one front. Even though the party was likened to the one in Saltburn, she says, “I think it was more fun than the party looked in the film.”
Bute’s lifelong plus-one is her half sister Jazzy de Lisser. The two fought over clothes, as sisters tend to do. “I’d steal her clothes. I’d take them back to boarding school. Then they’d get stolen.” One unlucky dress went unaccounted for until about 10 years ago, when “I finally admitted to her that I’d taken it back to school, and it got stolen.” But the hatchet has long since been buried. She and de Lisser started their own fashion line, Debute, a portmanteau of their last names. The evening-ready looks are inspired by their love of dressing up. “Our favorite part of the party is getting ready,” Bute says, and it’s usually a group affair, with their friends and mother joining and everyone borrowing each other’s clothes—whether they’re pieces her mom Serena designed for her own fashion line, or vintage treasures they collected growing up near Portobello Market. De Lisser “brings me back down to earth,” Bute says. “I want everything to be super-short and see-through, and she’s like, ‘No, not everyone wants to dress like that.’”
Bute has incorporated her family tartan, from her Scottish father’s side, into the line. And she and de Lisser design and make all the pieces in the UK, collaborating with local brands like Stripe & Stare. “We’re creating things so sisters can both have and share,” Bute says. “It’s been amazing for our relationship, because we’ve been through a lot as a family. It feels like a real fresh start, and like the next chapter of our lives has begun.”
Bute is alluding to a number of recent tragedies her family has weathered. In 2019, Bute’s boyfriend died by suicide. At the time, “I was 19, and I was completely broken. I just remember thinking to myself, ‘I can either better myself and my life and other people’s lives by going on this journey as a healing process, or I can completely let it ruin my life and destroy me, which I know he wouldn’t have wanted.’” For her, the healing process included starting her charity, Eternity Movement, to address the stigma around suicide, mental health issues, and addiction.
In 2021, Bute’s father, John Crichton-Stuart, passed away, and she pushed down her grief. “I didn’t want to be the grieving person again. So I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.’ And I was so not fine, but I didn’t want to be pitied and be that person,” she says. “It took me a long time to not have that insecurity of, ‘I’m constantly grieving or going through something hard. I don’t want people to feel like they have to feel sorry for me or look after me.’”
Her epic party was held on what would have been her dad’s 65th birthday. And amid the many highs of the weekend, there was one literal bright spot. “It had been raining for two weeks in Scotland, and it was so sunny. I got sunburned at the picnic on Saturday! So it really felt like he was there,” she says. “I don’t know how he would’ve felt about all of the articles afterward.”
Bute is still figuring out her next move. She loves acting, has flirted with the idea of becoming a pop star, and recently discovered boxing, which doubles as a form of therapy. (She has an idea for a glamorous-sounding celebrity boxing match, with contestants reapplying lipstick between rounds—and the proceeds going to charity, of course.) “I’d really like to write a book one day,” she adds, “but I wouldn’t hold your breath, because it’s probably not going to happen for about 30 years.”
While she once wanted to be Cinderella, she’s now proud to be Lola. “I’ve been through so many different styles and phases,” she says. “I feel like all of that has landed me where I am now, and I really know myself.”
Hair by Naoki Komiya and makeup by Claire Urquhart, both at Julian Watson Agency; manicure by Hayley Evans-Smith at Saint Luke Artists; produced by Thea Charlesworth at The Arcade Production.
This story appears in the May 2025 issue of ELLE.
