The Work That Made Me: Margot Bowman

Born and raised in London, Margot Bowman uses the medium of film in all its forms, as a creative vehicle for telling powerful human stories, centred on emotional truths.

Margot’s visually striking work is textured with thoughtful animation, CGI or archive that’s woven amongst her poetic live-action. This medium-agnostic approach to storytelling creates a rich visual language that reframes the familiar so that audiences connect with the story at hand in new and original ways. Formerly the Creative Director of Boiler Room, she has since directed commercials for major clients including Nike, Dr Martens, Carhartt, Space NK and Byredo, with narrative and documentary commissions from the likes of Channel 4, The Tate, Dazed and NOWNESS.

Most recently, she co-directed Amazon Prime’s highly anticipated documentary feature THE TOUR, a 90-minute film about the relaunch of Victoria Secret’s iconic fashion show, reimagined through the lens of 20 diverse women artists from around the world.

The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

No Doubt - DON’T SPEAK

Gwen Stefani’s whole early No Doubt era was mind-blowingly cool, she looked like the older girls I saw and aspired to be like in Camden Market but she also had the power of leading a group of men on stage. Surreal and real at the same time their poetic-pop universe kind of blew my mind.

The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…

Levi’s - Buy Better, Wear Longer

I love the way this stylish, effortless Megaforce spot roots a message of sustainability in cultural storytelling. There’s no guilting tripping or dogma, just a simple elevation of an authentic brand truth about how and why we all wear Levi’s. I go back to cinematography and edit a lot when I’m thinking about how to bring the audience into an experience or process.

The creative project that changed my career…

Seeing Red - Hey Girls

Seeing Red was an opportunity to use creativity in a way that could shift the status quo. We had an amazing team of collaborators at Adam & Eve who wanted to open up a conversation around period poverty and push the boundaries of each medium in the sport to the edge. From cinematography to sound and VFX, all of the HoDs on this are crafted above and beyond the norms of their discipline. Having the room and the purpose for us to really innovate paid off and the spot was recognised across the industry (CICLOPE, EMMY’s, BRITISH ARROWS, CANNES LIONS).

The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

I recently co-directed THE TOUR, a 90-minute film about the relaunch of Victoria's Secret’s iconic fashion show, reimagined through the lens of 20 diverse women artists from around the world. It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime and as my first documentary feature, I’ve really felt myself growing both in my film craft and on a personal level. The film is kind of the opposite of what people might be expecting (in a great way) and holds space for so many powerful conversations on gender, beauty, power and creativity.