MODEL PROFILES: KARMEN PEDARU

Born May 10th 1990, Karmen Pedaru’s career is testament to how paying your dues can really pay off.

Discovered in 2005 at a drama theatre in Tallinn, the Estonian-born model signed with NEXT Models the following year. Appearing for Teen Vogue in June 2006, Karmen debuted at Fashion Week that September, walking for Christopher Kane, Marni and Emporio Armani.

Skipping the February 2007 season, Pedaru returned to the runway in September 2007 opening the shows for Louise Gray and Biba. Also walking for Collette Dinnigan, Louis Vuitton and Stella McCartney, Karmen’s stock was on the rise.

In February 2008, Karmen’s growing confidence on the runway was rewarded with a stellar season, appearing for Donna Karan and Marc Jacobs in New York, in addition to being picked to open shows for Dries van Noten and YSL in Paris.

Her breakout season was noted by the fashion press, with both www.models.com and www.style.com dubbing Karmen a top newcomer. Karmen’s success on the runway translated into credible editorial work, with a spread in Numero photographed by Greg Kadel, and a layout for V, shot by Mario Testino.

In July, Karmen made her debut on the couture catwalks, walking for Chanel, Givenchy, Valentino and Dior. Getting to model couture is an integral part of building that envy-inducing CV. The requirements for haute couture are very specific, but once you’re in, you’re in. The ‘look’ of a couture label tends to be more fixed than its ready-to-wear counterpart. Couture forms the ‘essence’ of the brand, so some elements stay in place for nearly every collection, such as white for Chanel, and red for Valentino. Therefore the faces that wear these looks don’t have to be hired and dropped in such quick rotation. Couture doesn’t just build relationships with its clients; it builds lasting links with its models too. American model Karlie Kloss has been the face of Dior for the past two years because she is one of Galliano’s couture favourites. This has led to Karlie becoming one of the most in-demand models working today. Couture is very much a niche market: corner it, and the search for work becomes that little bit easier.

Karmen experienced this domino effect for herself in September 2008 when she was photographed for Numero magazine by Karl Lagerfeld, just a few months after her debut on the catwalk for Chanel Couture.

The couture connection continued with a shoot for Italian Vogue. Karmen, photographed by Miles Aldridge, appeared in Valentino Couture. A deceptively simple shoot, the heavily-worked couture demanded a focussed performance. It would be a tough ask for a more established model, but Karmen’s quietly assured performance showed the industry she was ready to take on more.

Her ready-to-wear season in September was another triumph, with opening show honours from DKNY, Jonathan Saunders and Rue du Mail. Closing the show for Nicole Farhi and Temperley in London, Pedaru also walked for Alberta Ferretti, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Isabel Marant, Proenza Schouler and Roberto Cavalli – a truly eclectic mix of blue-chip and cutting-edge labels that have come to form the basis of Pedaru’s career.

In early 2009 she was announced as the face of Missoni’s diffusion label and was photographed for the D&G spring campaign by Mario Testino. Following another couture season in January, it was announced that Karmen would become the first model to represent the Derek Lam label in a campaign, to be shot by Solve Sundsbo.

Pedaru walked again in the Autumn / Winter couture season in July, adding Armani Prive to her list of credits. Ending the year with a blockbuster RTW season, and the Autumn / Winter cover of French Revue de Modes, 2010 would manage to eclipse the extraordinary run of success Karmen found in 2009.

In February’s A/W 2010 season, Pedaru signed up for an incredible 55 shows. She opened shows for Tommy Hilfiger, Alberta Ferretti, Dries van Noten and Burberry. Karmen’s placing as the opener (and closer) of the Burberry show would prove to be a pivotal moment in her career. Christopher Bailey’s take on aviator chic proved to be the defining image of the season. Karmen’s photo cropped up time and again in the press, and as the season gathered accolades as one of the best for a decade, Pedaru’s photo became one of the important fashion images of the year.

Karmen’s profile unsurprisingly went through the roof, with editorials for French and Italian Vogue in April; the cover of Japanese Numero in June and the announcement in late summer that Pedaru would become the face of Emporio Armani and Salvatore Ferragamo.

Topping the year off with another 55 show season in September, Karmen got a chance to show what she’d learned in the past 12 months with an editorial for French Vogue called ‘Bal Masque’.
Featuring alongside Anja Rubik and Dree Hemingway, the themes were sensuality, opulence and Parisian glamour. Each concept is tricky enough in itself, but a sultry shoot is a notoriously difficult balance to strike. There’s an absolute (but subtle) line between making a statement and edging over into lads’ mag territory. The almost-mathematical precision in getting it right without sacrificing the mood of the editorial requires a level of skill you can only acquire through experience. The shoot worked perfectly in keeping the pages of French Vogue strictly high-fashion.

Karmen’s career zig-zagged again with another campaign signing, but this time she was asked to appear for the autumn / winter collection for Gap. The quintessentially American label chose to focus on one of its best selling points: denim.

Gap’s series of adverts marketed different cuts of jeans (eg: straight, modern flare, skinny) and used a clutch of top models to sell the goods. The campaign’s emphasis on easy fashion, added a stroke of genius when Gap put names to the model faces which included Alana Zimmer, Anja Rubik, Catherine McNeill and Lily Donaldson. Putting their names to each campaign image made the models immediately more appealing, taking it beyond the usual pairing of model with product, creating a campaign that was a slam-dunk for the iconic brand.

Gap’s light bulb moment worked because there is a certain satisfaction in being able to put a name to a face. The Cindys, Naomis and Christys – the models of the Eighties who were more celebrity than mannequin – are a thing of the past. It’s still possible for models acquire a certain level of fame (Lara Stone for example), but for most models, the trade-off is being known on sight, but not by name. In an age where we know everything about celebrities from their shoe size to their favourite snack, it’s a curious state of affairs.

But this is set to change as our interest in fashion continues to grow. Ten years ago, finding a member of the public who could name the editor of French Vogue would have been a tall order. Ten years on, Carine Roitfeld’s dramatic departure from the magazine in 2010 made headlines across the world.

The models emerging today are working in an industry where the rules are now a work in progress. A large part of that change has been thanks to the internet. Access to fashion – the very latest news, editorials and shows – is now just a click away. This proximity has created a generation who are as familiar with Gareth Pugh and Christopher Kane as they are with Topshop and Primark. It’s a generation who feel comfortable enough with the world of high-fashion to dissect the latest ideas, both with each other and the world at large. This willingness to engage in all things sartorial has turned the industry into something to be actively enjoyed, rather than regarded at a distance.

There are of course misgivings; when every opinion gets equal billing, figuring out what’s really worth your time can be difficult. But ultimately having too much information forces you to be selective. Being able to access everything gives you an immediate idea of what you like, what you don’t, and more importantly, why.

Making fashion a friendlier place to be has proved to be a touch of brilliance, because fashion is all about forming relationships. At the heart of this is the link between us, the consumer, and the model. If we don’t identify with the model, that dress, or that bag, won’t sell. The job of the model is to embody a designer’s ‘big idea’, whether that’s old-school sophistication or avant-garde sleekness, but in getting fashion’s finances back on track, the secret is to be relatable. The day of the uber-groomed supers has gone for a reason; we all want to indulge in that element of fantasy, but the post-recession fantasy is about the business of joy, not exclusion. Fashion’s getting back to the basics of why we buy what we buy: not just to feel part of a ‘club’, but to enjoy the act of choosing and wearing great clothes.

In light of this, the obvious choice would be to hire the money-maker faces. But the faces that are rising to the top aren’t just those starry one-in-a-million faces, but models that have got there through sheer hard work.

Karmen’s rise from ingénue to campaign girl is textbook when it comes to making the move from model to super; some are faces ‘of the moment’, slotting into a mood or look that gets everyone talking. Others make it by stealth, working for years and then suddenly making it big – Iselin Steiro is a perfect example of this. But Karmen falls into the third group: a solid but steady start, which blossoms into regular work on the world’s runway and editorial circuits.

Karmen’s transition from runway regular to the Spring 2011 face of Michael Kors and Gucci has been a process several years in the making, but Pedaru’s star power has lost none of its potency for it. There are some models that just have ‘it’ – that elusive modelling gene – but there’s something to be said for the grafters of the industry.

Karmen’s career will continue to flourish because her years of hard work have given her the skills of a supermodel, with the insight and intelligence needed to interpret fashion for a whole new generation.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: SIGRID AGREN

Born in Martinique on April 24th 1991, Sigrid Agren is the model who became the Chanel girl for a whole new generation.

Agren started her career in 2004 when she won the local Elite Model Look contest. Winning the semi-finals in 2005, she subsequently signed with the Elite agency. An early-starter even by modelling standards, Sigrid took the decision to put her career on the back-burner in 2007 to concentrate on school, and returned to modelling in 2008, signing with New York Model Management.

In June 2008, she appeared in her first major editorial, for Teen Vogue. Just days later, http://www.models.com/ named Agren a future industry star. In September, she made her debut at Fashion Week. Despite having only a clutch of editorials behind her, Agren’s runway booking sheet was filled with the best of international design talent. Walking for Calvin Klein, Rodarte, Donna Karan and Ralph Lauren, she also opened shows for Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld, Sonia Rykiel and YSL. Closing shows for Prada and Louis Vuitton, Sigrid’s look had struck a chord with the industry. With such an incredible start to her international career, it was no surprise when http://www.style.com/ named Agren one of their Top 10 Newcomers.

Her career as one of fashion’s favourite runway girls gave way to editorial and campaign work. In early 2009 she became one of the faces of Prada, appearing alongside Anna Jagodzinska and Katrin Thormann.

January saw Sigrid walk her first couture runway season, appearing for Chanel, Dior and Givenchy and opening the show for Valentino. Sigrid continued to rack up opening and closing spots as Fashion Week arrived a month later. She opened shows in New York, Paris and Milan, walking for designers such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Alberta Ferretti, Valentino and Chloe. In addition to also closing the Chloe show, she also scooped closing honours for Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Nina Ricci and Roland Mouret.

After appearing on the Autumn / Winter couture runways, Agren’s delicate looks made her a select choice for campaign work. She signed a contract with YSL Cosmetics, replaced Kate Moss as the face of Stella McCartney and became the face for powerhouse-brands Calvin Klein and Chloe. Sigrid’s easy-to-market look made her a fail-safe when it came to securing campaign work, but her next editorial booking made sure that the fashion world knew she wasn’t a one-note wonder.

Shooting for Italian Vogue, Agren appeared in a couture layout with models Heidi Mount, Rose Cordero, Toni Garrn, Imogen Morris-Clarke, Jourdan Dunn and Constance Jablonski. Named ‘A Dream of a Dress’ and photographed by Paolo Roversi, the high-fashion shoot was dark, atmospheric and dripping with glamour. It was absolute proof that Sigrid could master fashion’s dark arts, not just the campaigns and covers.

In October, she undertook editorials for Numero and Russian Vogue, choosing to sit out the S/S 2010 runway season. It did her career no harm whatsoever, as she renewed her contract with YSL Cosmetics in early 2010, returning to the runway in January for the Prada Menswear show.
Sigrid also appeared in Italian Vogue again, this time photographed by the legendary Steven Meisel. Named ‘Runway’, the shoot was a massive project that included the best of new and established catwalk talent. Sigrid was joined by Lara Stone, Frida Gustavsson, Natasha Poly, Kendra Spears, Kasia Struss, Mirte Maas and Iselin Steiro to name just a few. The documentary-style, behind-the-scenes shoot was a huge success and real-life imitated art when Sigrid found herself undertaking the biggest runway season of her career.

Walking in 71 shows, Agren appeared for Jaegar, Matthew Williamson, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Prada, Lanvin and Gareth Pugh. Closing shows for Thakoon, Derek Lam and Calvin Klein, Agren’s fashion moment had finally arrived. Appearing in some of the biggest shows of the season, her profile soared.

In March, she undertook an editorial for W; April saw her being cited as a top model by Teen Vogue and May and June saw back-to-back fashion spreads for Numero and Japanese Vogue.

But her biggest moment was still yet to come. Already a fixture on beauty billboards for YSL, Sigrid landed the booking of a lifetime when she was chosen to represent Chanel’s new fragrance Chance. Launched back in 2002, Sigrid was to be the face of the fragrance’s latest incarnation, Eau Tendre. A soft, summery companion to the main perfume, it was a huge coup for Agren.

Shot by Jean Paul Goude, the campaign featured Sigrid sat clutching a huge bottle of the perfume and accessorised only with a garland of pink flowers. Pitched as sweetly romantic, the advert is deceptively simple in concept, but ultra-sophisticated in its execution. Aimed at younger consumers, Agren (still in her teens herself) was the perfect choice as the Chanel girl for a generation who have grown-up worshipping the brand.

After her seal of approval from Chanel, Agren became the go-to girl for this coming season’s campaigns. She will appear in the Prada Menswear ad with Angela Lindvall and the campaign for Celine with model Emma Balfour. Sigrid can also be seen in the new campaign for Italian designer Alberta Ferretti, appearing alongside top-model Jac. Shot in sepia tones, the campaign is a yin & yang concept with Jac dressed in black and Sigrid in white. Dreamy and sensuous, the calling-card of all Ferretti campaigns, Sigrid’s career has come full circle.

Agren is making a name for herself as a model that doesn’t have to choose between campaign and editorial work: she is someone who is equally at home on a beauty shoot as she is working on an editorial for Italian Vogue. For a model who doesn’t even reach her 20th birthday until 2011, Sigrid’s body of work already outranks the majority of her contemporaries.

Sigrid’s success is owed much to her ability to be adaptable, a quality that in today’s industry is as in-demand as being photogenic. Much has already been written about the impact of the economic recession on the modelling industry. For blonde models, however, it has been nothing but good news.

In times of crisis, clients tend to go with the familiar, and modern beauty (especially when its best face forward for covers and campaigns), is often equated with blonde models. Seen as approachable and sunny, blonde models like Agren have seen their workload increase significantly over the past year, because of their wide-ranging appeal.

Sigrid’s high-profile campaigns with YSL and Chanel have both utilised her ability to take a great beauty shot. She may be a natural at scooping cosmetic and fragrance campaigns, but Sigrid has smartly balanced this with high-fashion editorial and runway work. Appearing for designers such as Gareth Pugh, Thakoon and Lanvin has lifted Agren’s stock from safe-as-houses blonde to a model whose career is well-rounded and without a doubt, on the rise.

Even the briefest glance through this month’s fashion magazines will tell you that the tide is beginning to change. Gone are the disco shoes, the extravagance and glamour for glamour’s sake. Here to stay is a new mood: pared-back but not dumbed-down. With even Marc Jacobs revisiting and remodelling the camel coat, fashion’s new direction is about shape, texture and finish.

The good news for blue-chip models like Agren is that this is fashion with substance, and her appearance this February in some of the most talked-about show of the season (Burberry and Prada), is raising her value on the modelling market to make her one of the most coveted girls working today.

First hired as the winsome, delicate blonde, Sigrid is rapidly winning herself a reputation as a model of endurance. Far from being fashion’s soft option, girls like Agren are the true backbone of this industry. With a 71-show season under her belt already this year, only three more words are needed: watch and learn.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: LILY DONALDSON

Born January 27th 1988, Lily Donaldson is a very British success on the international modelling circuit. Initially tipped as the epitome of doll-like beauty on her discovery in 2003, seven years later Lily’s success is proving to be made of stronger stuff.

Aged 15, Donaldson was scouted by Select whilst shopping in Camden Town. Just one year later, she became the face of Miss Sixty and scored big with a campaign for Burberry alongside Stella Tennant and Karen Elson. Working with Elson and Tennant on one of Britain’s best-known brands was enough to crown Lily as fashion's newest modelling star.

In February 2004, Lily debuted at Fashion Week, walking for Jil Sander and Rochas, plus names like Chanel, Blumarine, Marni, Stella McCartney and YSL. In April, she landed her first cover of British Vogue, but it wasn’t until September that she officially became fashion’s newest IT girl. Signing up for 68 shows in total, Lily was picked up by major brands like Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein, plus a raft of British talent including Alexander McQueen, Emma Cook, Luella Bartley, Paul Smith and Stella McCartney.

The blockbuster season worked to Lily’s advantage, scoring her contracts with Jil Sander and Lanvin. 2005 was the year Lily became enough of a name to front magazines: in February, it was Japanese Vogue; March was Italian Vogue, June, the cover of Numero, a second Italian Vogue cover in September and another cover of Numero in December.

Lily also landed a profitable campaign with Roberto Cavalli, appearing alongside fellow rising stars Hye Park and Natasha Poly. Donaldson’s campaign count soared in early 2006 when it was announced she would appear in campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana and Mulberry, both photographed by Steven Meisel.

In February, Lily opened and closed the A/W Lanvin show, plus doing runway for 55 other designers including Balenciaga, Chanel, Chloe, Dior, Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta, Proenza Schouler, Ralph Lauren, Valentino and Zac Posen. Lily’s bookings represented a cross-section of the best of European and American design talent. But if 2006 sounded good, 2007 would prove to be the year that Donaldson’s achievements would be well and truly put on the map.

Becoming the face of Dior in early 2007, in May she landed a spot on the famous Meisel / US Vogue cover, called ‘The World’s Next Top Models’. Featured absolute centre, Lily shared cover space with models like Chanel Iman, Hilary Rhoda, Jessica Stam and Sasha Pivovarova. Some were fashion superstars-in-waiting; others had careers that were merely a promise fulfilled. Lily was definitely in the latter category.

Lily’s newly-magnified profile upped her game, with contracts from MaxMara (replacing Raquel Zimmermann) and Burberry (replacing Kate Moss). In September, she opened S/S shows for Gianfranco Ferre and Nicole Miller, and closed shows for Temperley and La Perla. With covers and editorials rounding out the year, Lily’s career took a surprising turn in 2008 when it was announced that she would be taking part in the Pirelli calendar, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier. Taking part in the revitalisation of the Pirelli brand, Lily turned to more traditional fashion fare when she renewed her contract with Italian label MaxMara, and undertook a new contract with Dolce & Gabbana, appearing in a campaign with Jessica Stam and fellow Brit, Gemma Ward.

Lily joined Gemma again for the cover of i-D in February, and enjoyed a bustling show season with opening duty for Preen, Temperley, Dolce & Gabbana and Missoni, and closed shows for Derek Lam, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Bottega Veneta and Gucci. It is worth noting that even though Lily was by this stage a familiar name, she was still wanted by up-and-coming designers like Preen and Derek Lam, plus high-status brands like Gucci and Michael Kors.
In autumn, news came that Lily had replaced Natasha Poly as the face of Gucci. Traditionally a brand known for its high-octane sex appeal, it was an unusual casting choice but one that was pivotal to Lily’s career.

During show season, her bookings revealed a definite shift in focus. The bookings for classic American labels and European names were there, but in among them were appearances for Gareth Pugh, Lanvin, Alexander Wang, and of course Gucci. The uber-feminine look that was ‘of the moment’ in 2005-06 had proved sufficient to carry Donaldson through into fashion’s next phase.

The sharper lines and challenging ideas posed by designers like Gareth Pugh and Alexander Wang seem at odds with Lily’s English Rose beauty, but the calling card of a great model is the ability to move with the times. Not only could Lily carry off the new, tougher aesthetic – she was going toe-to-toe with the newer modelling talent and still winning those prestige campaigns and runway spots.

In October, Lily featured in a US Vogue editorial with Coco Rocha and Anna Jagodzinska, and in the same month, landed the cover of Japanese Vogue. As if to prove a point about Lily’s wide-ranging appeal, she landed an Italian Vogue editorial in November with photographer Corrine Day, and modelled for the Gap Xmas campaign, with her younger brother Jesse. You couldn’t find two assignments more different, but Lily handled both with aplomb.

In January 2009, Donaldson opened the S/S couture shows for Armani Prive and Elie Saab, and renewed her contracts with Burberry and Gucci. Lily’s show season in February featured appearances for designers like Alberta Ferretti, Versace, Isabel Marant, Nina Ricci, Valentino and Dior. With the year ending in a flurry of work, including editorials for French, British and American Vogue, and a cover for Chinese Vogue, the next decade looks set to continue in the same vein as Lily has just completed a couture editorial for May’s issue of French Vogue, paying tribute to Alexander McQueen.

Six years on from her discovery at Camden Town, Lily is still proving to be a must-hire draw for top designers and editors. Sourcing new talent is something the British modelling industry seems to be particularly good at: aside from the obvious examples of Kate Moss and Twiggy, the UK has produced glamazons capable of transforming the industry (Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn) and edgier talent that has driven fashion forward, especially in the 1990’s when fashion needed to distance itself from the excess of the Eighties. The aesthetic of new models like Stella Tennant and Karen Elson was pitch-perfect: absolutely no frills and quintessentially modern.

This decade, Britain lead the way again. Referencing Victorian art, we produced models that represented a fashion take on virginal modesty (Lily Donaldson and Gemma Ward), and a blend of Pre-Raphaelite innocence and sensuality (Lily Cole). It was borrowed straight from art history, but the world’s designers couldn’t get enough of Lily Donaldson’s look that was neither glamazon nor aesthete. Britain’s manufacturing industry may have seen better days, but when it comes to design and style – we’re world leaders.

What is intriguing about Donaldson is her longevity over a particularly volatile stretch of fashion history. From 2005 to now, the fashion landscape is barely recognisable. Five years ago, the IT bag reigned supreme, fashion was very much in touch with its feminine side, and no-one had even heard of the term ‘credit crunch’.

As a rule, ‘IT’ models tend to have a fairly short shelf-life: a model who defines an entire movement tends to get lost in that association when fashion gets bored and moves on. But Lily is unique in that her look has been able to move into the harder side of fashion which has come to the fore during recent years. The urban warrior look (stud detailing, exposed zips and acres of black) wasn’t just a trend; it was a reading of how we were all feeling. Tough times require tough fashion, and we all dressed accordingly.

Lily’s genius was to recognise this sea-change and market herself not only as someone who could take the more directional looks, but someone who could embrace them. Modelling, at the very highest level, requires more than knowledge about angles and lighting.

Selling a brand isn’t just about product placement (how a dress looks); it’s about selling an entire ethos (how that dress makes you feel). Fashion’s often accused of being skin-deep, but the truth of the matter is if the model’s not feeling it neither are we.

Modelling and acting are not so very far apart, and if you can’t connect the feeling of dress-induced euphoria to something real, it’s hopeless. That’s why the top models like Lily endure: it’s about more than genetic good fortune; it’s about what you bring to the table. Experiences and memories can help an actor be a better artist, and knowing how to harness yours can make you a better model.

Lily’s ability to adapt is why she has endured as long as she has. Luck plays its part: Lily’s look definitely slotted her into the fashion industry at the right time, but staying at the top requires skill, fortitude and determination – and plenty of it.

It is why Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer continue to find work, and it’s why Lily’s career has the potential to extend indefinitely. If there was ever a safe bet on who will still be making waves in 20 years’ time, it’s Lily Donaldson.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: AGYNESS DEYN

Some careers are born by design, others by good fortune. Agyness Deyn was not born Agyness Deyn, but through a series of events the girl from Littleborough, who once worked in a chippy, became an internationally acclaimed model.

The girl who professes herself to be ‘happier mixing with [her] small circle of friends’ than attending fashion parties, is now at the epicentre of contemporary fashion. Agyness is part of a group of friends – designers, models, collaborators – who have grabbed the reins of modern fashion. When you can count designers like Henry Holland and Gareth Pugh as personal friends, the term ‘outsider’ no longer applies.

Everything about Agyness is the result of reflection and change. Deyn was born Laura Hollins in Littleborough, 1983, and only thought of changing her name when deciding to pursue a modelling career. Consulting her mother’s friend, who specialised in numerology, she was advised to change Laura to Agnes. Laura took the advice and further altered Agnes to the more unusual (and memorable) Agyness. The strategy, while unorthodox, paid off.

Agyness’ second piece of good fortune came when she was working in a fish and chip shop in 1998. The up-and-coming designer Henry Holland was a regular, met Agyness and the two immediately bonded over their love of fashion. Agyness was even scouted by a modelling agency rep whilst out shopping with Henry in Kentish Town. She signed with Select and began runway work in September 2006, modelling for Marc Jacobs’ diffusion line, plus cutting edge designers Proenza Schouler and Zac Posen.

Her runway debut, which already had her marked as someone outside the norm (even in fashion terms) was confirmed when, in November 2006, Deyn appeared on the cover of Italian Vogue sporting a bleached, cropped pixie-cut. Making that bold decision to change her image so drastically put Agyness on the map. But as with Twiggy forty years before, a hair cut is never just a hair cut.

Deyn’s incredible new look made her unmissable: the peroxide crop was exciting and fresh, something that ran counter to the ultra-feminine, doll-like look that was in favour at the time. Harder and tougher, it was something that went perfectly with the neon bright, Eighties-influenced clothes being produced by designers such as Richard Nicoll. Deyn’s attempt to get herself noticed could not have been better timed.

Her haircut, combined with her love of British fashion, nurtured as a result of her friendship with Henry Holland, made Agyness a startling presence both on the runway and in real life. Teaming her cropped hair with boyish, urban separates and eclectic accessories made Agyness eminently watchable.

Her own personal style, something that grew organically from her radical change in image, became a regular feature in fashion magazines. Her trilby hats worn with Wayfarer sunglasses made a vital connection not just with the fashion press, but more crucially, with the British public.

Her look, merging the best of designer and high-street fashion, became an inspiration for teenagers across the country. Girls began to crop and bleach their hair to match Deyn’s. The cool yet casual look played perfectly to fashion-conscious students of both sexes who were looking for something with more personality than a hoodie and a pair of jeans. Deyn rapidly became a taste-maker: whatever she wore, however she wore it, it was profiled, studied and copied. Through her personal style, Agyness Deyn connected with an entire generation in a way that few other contemporary models have managed.

Born in the dying days of the New-Romantic movement, Deyn’s punk-inspired look owes a great debt to Vivienne Westwood’s work during the late Seventies and progression into the early Eighties. The wild excess, tempered with a very real awareness of design and fashion history, is a British tradition that has translated to street fashion across the globe.

The mix of rebellion and high fashion that is embedded in Deyn’s look has formed a whole new level of street style, quite separate from the label-led sportswear trend. Whereas many fashion watchers presumed that the age of influence ended with Kate Moss, Deyn’s unique homage to street fashion has secured a revival of interest in the industry.

Deyn forms part of a later generation than Moss who came to modelling already equipped with an awareness of how modern media works. Deyn entered the industry with an understanding of the link between the popular press (tabloids and broadsheets) and the more traditional fashion media. Once absolutely divisable, it is now commonplace to find a tabloid devoting at least a page to a fashion story on a daily basis.

Previously scorned for its ‘outlandish’ and ‘unwearable’ creations, fashion receives a kinder deal as newspapers, eager to boost their own sales, have sharpened their approach to fashion journalism. They report fashion events with the same attention once reserved for domestic politics.

Fashion now sells papers on its own intrinsic merits, rather than on a dated notion of ‘shock value’. It is taken much more seriously, because the public have made that personal connection with what they wear, and what it says about them, and that connection has been bridged by people like Deyn.

Agyness’ triumph can be summed up in terms of how she has made street icon and fashion icon one and the same. Working with the best of British avant-garde design talent such as Gareth Pugh and landing campaigns for established labels like Burberry and Hugo Boss, proves that Deyn is the ultimate chameleon.

Deyn has, within the space of three years, become an unrivalled influence in contemporary street fashion. She has successfully challenged our pre-conceptions about what constitutes everyday style. Her commitment to transforming herself into one of the fashion world’s top players shows how, even early on, Agyness was prepared to take personal responsibility for her own career. To become one of fashion’s most recognisable faces takes more than self-belief.
It took tremendous nerve, but by having the guts to change her look when it wasn’t delivering the results she wanted, Agyness became one of fashion’s elite by rebranding her own image into something more daring and fashion-forward.

While everything from her hair to her name may be manufactured, it is important to see Deyn’s progress as something that did not happen merely as the result of wishful thinking. She took charge of her own success by turning herself (physically and emotionally) into the model she wanted to become. Marketing is as much about perusading yourself that you belong as convincing others of the fact.

In the short term, Deyn’s immediate legacy will be her extraordinary influence on street fashion.

But what will endure is her willingness and determination to craft her own future, leading us away from the notion that people who have succeeded have done so because they let success happen to them. It may not be the name on her birth certificate, but Agyness has built a name for herself in the fashion world that is synonymous with style and influence, and not being afraid to take a risk right at the moment when it counts the most.

HELEN TOPE