To me, you are Beloved – K Soul

Roundtable collaborates with GUCCI and agency A Vibe Called Tech on a photo and essay series capturing the essence of Black British identity and family history – in celebration of GUCCI’s Beloved line of handbags. For To me, you are Beloved K Soul – daughter of UK Black Pride founder Lady Phyll – shares how her mother’s dedication to living life on her own terms has led her to do the same.

K Soul for Roundtable Journal x GUCCI by Delali Ayivi

For this series four sets of creatives and entrepreneurs were invited to recreate a moment in time, using old family photographs as creative inspiration, whilst incorporating pieces from GUCCI’s ‘Beloved’ line. At once meaningful and playful, these portraits by Delali Ayivi have been styled and shot to allude to fond memories captured in family archives. Led by a team of women of colour, To me, you are Beloved is a love letter to Black British identity and family history.

K Soul, 25, is the daughter of Lady Phyll – the founder of UK Black Pride. When you see K Soul, you instantly see her mother. They look incredibly alike: glowing, dark skin with red undertones, deep-set dimples and large, endearing eyes. Yet what’s most striking about K Soul is her presence. She’s warm and soft-spoken, and carries herself with the calm confidence of a woman truly comfortable with who she is. It’s a testament to having grown up with a mother who, against all odds, was determined to be herself. “As I grew up and began to understand that my mother is a gay, proud Black woman, I had to learn quite quickly what that meant,” K Soul recalls. “She encouraged me to be strong and driven, and to never give up on anything because she never gave up on who she was and who she wanted to be. She stayed true to herself and I shall do that too.”

K Soul for Roundtable Journal x GUCCI.jpg

Lady Phyll founded UK Black Pride in 2005, and it has since grown to become Europe’s largest celebration of LGBTQ+ people of colour, attended by over 8,000 people each year. For K Soul, UK Black Pride is about family, support and liberation, but it’s also about leaving behind a global legacy for the community to express themselves, celebrate the nuance of their experiences and push for radical change. As a singer-songwriter and performer, seeing her mother create a space that brings thousands of people together, and hearing them chanting her mother’s name – Lady Phyll – is a feeling that’s moved her to tears. She smiles, “It just made me realise that you can achieve anything as long as you work towards it. I’m very proud of her.”

For this series in collaboration with GUCCI, K Soul chose to recreate a photograph of her mother taken in 2008. In the photo, a young Lady Phyll is dolled up: hair curled, short dress, gold sandals and purse to match. Her arm rests on the window sill as she delivers a shy smile. She was on her way to Candy Bar, a lesbian club in Soho, London that has since closed.

The photograph captures a significant moment in both their lives. At the time, Lady Phyll had founded UK Black Pride and her career as an activist had begun to soar. For K Soul, the photograph captures a time when she began to truly understand her mother’s sexuality. “I dealt with it well because she sat me down and we had quite an adult-like conversation. She told me that it's okay to love people no matter their sexuality, that you can love people for who they are. So I thought, ‘that's fine, go ahead Mama, love who you want to love.’”

Being Black and queer in the UK isn’t easy. At almost every turn there are significant challenges: societal and personal, small and large. But there is also celebration. Celebration in being who you are despite the difficulties, in finding your people, and creating safe spaces for them to thrive. Lady Phyll has done this for queer Black people in the UK. And K Soul has done this for her mother.