MODEL PROFILES: MADISON HEADRICK

Born in South Carolina in 1994, Madison Headrick was scouted by Vision agency at the age of 16. Squeezing assignments in and around school commitments, as Madison neared graduation she had a choice to make. 

Asked by her dad if she wanted to take modelling more seriously (but only after graduating from school), Madison was given the option of graduating a semester early, finishing high school in January 2012. Travelling to New York to sign up with modelling agency Marilyn, the plan was for Madison to ground herself in the basics such as casting, runway, and familiarising herself with the fashion landscape including photographers, editors and important designers.

However, modelling boot camp was put on hold. Interest in Madison was immediate, and she was asked to attend a casting session for the Prada runway show. Meeting Ashley Brokaw in Milan – a casting director who also works for Balenciaga, Miu Miu and Proenza Schouler – the South Carolina girl flat-out impressed. She was not only booked for the show, but booked as an exclusive. Headrick’s booking made headlines in the fashion industry. With her all-American looks, and Prada usually going for European, directional faces, Madison was a left-field choice for the label. 

Prada’s long-held reputation for spotting new talent remains unchallenged in the industry: previous models that have started their careers as Prada exclusives include Lara Mullen, Patricia van der Vliet, Nimue Smit and Iselin Steiro. Left-field or not, this phenomenal start put Madison on the editorial fast-track, with bookings from Interview, Dazed & Confused, Numero and British Vogue. Working with Caroline Brasch Nielsen in Numero, ‘The Trainer’ was a daring S&M-themed shoot with both Caroline and Madison working tailored glamour. Given the edgy Numero treatment, this type of editorial can push established models: but here Madison is sleek, darkly glamorous and in control.

In August, she appeared in British Vogue’s editorial ‘Best in Show’. Playing on the British love of animals, this shoot featured models posing with a pedigree pooch. With the editorial tone firmly tongue-in-cheek, Madison gets it absolutely spot on, exuding charm and refusing to be upstaged by her co-star. Mastering these types of editorial is essential: despite rumours to the contrary, fashion definitely has a sense of humour. Character editorials, like ‘Best in Show’ are particularly popular with high-fashion magazines as they give the creative team (including the model) room to explore and develop ideas within an existing framework of reference. We all get the reference of a dog show; British Vogue just took it to its high-fashion conclusion to create a fun and memorable editorial. 

Madison then channelled the Eighties in an August shoot for Oyster magazine. ‘Working Girl’ (taking its name from the famous 1988 film) saw Madison transform into a high-fashion interpretation of leading lady Melanie Griffith: coiffed, preened and styled to Eighties perfection. Book-ending the summer with appearances in resort look-books for Donna Karan and Altuzarra, Madison returned to the runway in the autumn, walking for Jill Stuart, Rag & Bone and Edun. 

In September, Madison made her debut for V magazine. ‘The New Girls’, photographed by Terry Tsiolis, was a clutch of simple black and white portraits. Modelling with Julia Frauche, Lena Hardt, Moa Aberg and Susannah Liguori, it is a beautiful editorial, with every model earning her place at the ‘new girl’ table. But in looking at Headrick’s photos, what becomes apparent is her gift for translating glamour into something fresh and modern. 

But Madison’s star-making moment came when it was announced that she would appear in the new Prada Autumn / Winter campaign. Photographed by Steven Meisel, Madison joined a raft of established talent including Iselin Steiro and Magdalena Frackowiak, plus Vanessa Axente and Versace campaign favourite, Elza Luijendijk. With their 1950’s inspired campaign in Spring being a huge hit on YouTube with nearly 500,000 hits, Prada had a lot to live up to. The collection itself was not only hugely popular but it made a star of out of models like Katryn Kruger. With Miuccia Prada putting black back at the core of the colour palette, the campaign focused on the retro mosaic print trouser-suits, studded with jewel accents. Worn cropped at the ankle with Mary-Jane shoes, this collection was quintessential Prada, transforming what we normally think of as ‘awkward’ and ‘ugly’ into a thing of beauty. 

The campaign deliberately avoided the heady qualities of the Spring campaign, opting for a quieter feel. Subtly choreographed, the campaign gives us the opportunity to look at the clothes in detail – it’s clear that for this season, the clothes (quite literally) take centre stage.

Appearing in a Prada campaign always performs its magic on a model’s career, and Madison, post-Prada, has been no exception. Following the campaign’s release, she was booked for Italian Vogue’s September issue, appearing with Constance Jablonski and Nicola Wincenc.

Rounding out the rest of this season with appearances for Vision China and Bon, Headrick is rapidly becoming an editorial force to be reckoned with. The shoot for Bon sees Madison wearing many of the clothes from the Prada collection, making it clear the bond between model and label. What started out as a chance trip to Milan has become a lasting and meaningful association.

Looking at these latest photos of Madison, it becomes clear what Prada saw in her last year: her talent for making glamour feel fresh and youthful is no simple task. Of all fashion’s greatest ideas, glamour is the one most heavily laden with ghosts of faces and images from the past. We all have an idea of what constitutes glamour and it takes someone unique to make room in that crowded concept for something new. 

Prada, as always, may have been ahead of the pack in hiring Headrick. After years of us getting comfortable with detail being the story, glamour is finally making a comeback: big, bold and out there. This autumn, the wealth of brocade and velvet alone tells us that this season is playing a very different game. The subtle sparkle; embedded on a cardigan sleeve or on a heel of a boot, has made way for a much more obvious look. Glamour isn’t hiding anymore, but on display for all to see. What’s new about this re-interpretation of glamour is that the glitz element is restrained: the excess is not in sequins, but in the textures being used: this is glamour you can feel.

This is why Prada’s selection of Madison was an act of genius: still at the beginning of her career in real terms, she has an opportunity to become the face of this glamour movement just as it’s taking off. This modern take on glamour needs a new face to represent it: an entirely fresh approach is required if glamour is to convince us to ditch our love of casual, and get dressed up again. We’ve had hits of glamour in recent years, but the crucial difference here is that this season isn’t locked into a previous era or decade. You can’t boil it down to a Great Gatsby influence or the Mad Men power-chic. This is glamour not leaning on its laurels, but attempting to persuade us of its own value, for its own sake. Embracing the personal and the individual, glamour is set to make a whole new impression. For a concept so heavily weighed down with other people’s ideas, this is a chance to refresh our notions of what glamour can mean; to make it relevant, make it new.

Now about to celebrate her first year in the modelling industry, Headrick is not just the latest American face to dazzle the fashion world. She has a chance to become that rarity: a fashion icon. Prada very rarely gets it wrong, and to place such a model in their show is a statement not only of what’s to come for that season, but a prediction that aims much further ahead. The face of fashion’s future, Madison is glamour made modern.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: TONI GARRN

Born July 7th 1992, Toni Garrn was discovered aged 14 at a street festival in 2006. Initially signing with Modelwerk, Toni modelled locally in Germany before signing with Women Management in 2007. In April that year, she landed her first international editorials with U.S and Italian Elle.

Toni’s career accelerated further in May when she was booked for a French Vogue editorial. Spearheaded by Editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, French Vogue, along with its British, American and Italian counterparts, can count itself as one of the taste-makers of the industry, especially when it comes to launching new faces. Garrn’s appearance was enough to secure her an unforgettable runway debut. In September she walked in New York Fashion Week, exclusively opening and closing the show for Calvin Klein.

The all-American label took to Toni so much that just a few months later; news broke of her replacing Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova as the face of the brand. Garrn’s Teutonic charm formed the perfect aesthetic for the design-house that made its name on clean lines and uncluttered silhouettes. Garrn’s coup in getting the Calvin Klein contract lined her up for a year of impressive editorial bookings. From February to September 2008, Toni did print work for Italian Vogue, German Vogue and Numero, finishing the summer with a cover for her native German Vogue.

The high visibility approach worked. Garrn experienced a breakout runway season in the autumn, opening and closing shows for Carolina Herrera, Herve Leger, Fendi, Just Cavalli and YSL. She also made appearances for Alberta Ferretti, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Gucci, Michael Kors, Prada, Stella McCartney, Valentino and Versace. It was a textbook season, with Toni representing every facet of the industry.

November proved to be a particularly well-starred month for Garrn, with an editorial in Chinese Vogue, shot by the late Corrine Day, and her first cover of Italian Vogue, sharing the honours with model Katrin Thormann.

Capping the year off with an editorial collaboration with Italian Vogue and Steven Meisel, Toni’s New Year began with a bang: a cover for Russian Vogue, and a signing to represent Prada, working alongside Anna Jagodzsinka and Giedre Dukauskaite.

As incredible a highlight as this was, the signings kept coming. Toni replaced Catherine McNeil as the face of Hugo Boss, and Raquel Zimmermann as the face of Italian luxe label, Fendi. Toni also got substantial roles in campaigns for Chloe, Etro, Emporio Armani and Shiseido cosmetic line, Cle de Peau. Toni’s journey from newcomer to established face was now complete.

Her success on the runway continued too, with Garrn managing to equal her own record from the previous season, signing up to appear in an incredible 49 shows. With many designers hastily re-booking Garrn, Toni scooped further opening and closing spots from Donna Karan, Bottega Veneta and Preen.

September saw Toni take part in a mammoth couture layout for Italian Vogue. The title of the piece was ‘Dream of a Dress’, and Garrn appeared with models Heidi Mount, Sigrid Agren, Rose Cordero and Constance Jablonski.

Like the seminal U.S Vogue May 2007 cover that launched names like Coco Rocha and Agyness Deyn, this grouping of new models was intended as a launch-pad. Dark and supremely gothic in tone, it was a couture shoot designed to challenge the most confident model, and their collective success heralded the arrival of a new generation of modelling talent.

Toni’s stock rose further after the Italian Vogue shoot, and her rise from editorial star to international cover girl continued, with Garrn performing cover duty for German and Japanese Vogue, including a cover shoot with Karl Lagerfeld in February 2010. An incredible tribute to a model that had not yet turned 18; it was a bona fide career high.

In March,Garrn landed another editorial that got the entire fashion industry talking. The Italian Vogue couture shoot, ‘High Glam’, saw Toni paying homage to haute couture’s last – and most loyal – customer base. Staying in character for a multi-page layout, Toni played the role of a bored, but fabulously dressed, socialite. A good editorial is always about more than just the clothes, and Toni pushed through the pricey garb to create a series of shots that portrayed genuine modern glamour. With haute couture, the secret to making it look contemporary is all in the attitude.

Following on from a very successful runway season for Spring / Summer 2011, in print, Toni’s final appearances of the year have included a double-editorial booking for Spanish Vogue, plus the cover shared with Caroline Trentini, Kasia Struss and Iselin Steiro. Snapped by Victor Demarchelier (son of legend Patrick Demarchelier), the cover represents a gear-change for fashion, and a significant one at that.

The secret to Toni Garrn’s success is very simple. She is fashion’s latest representative on the glamour front-line. Following on from the likes of Cindy Crawford and Jerry Hall, and more recently, Catherine McNeil and Raquel Zimmermann, Garrn is the face of fashion’s latest shift in aesthetic. If you want to know what fashion’s take on glamour looks like right now, Toni is as close a match as it’s possible to get.

At 18, Toni is already a veteran of couture editorials. She wears thousands of dollars worth of couture as if they were her favourite pair of jeans. Google her ‘High Glam’ layout for Italian Vogue and it’s patently obvious that Garrn refuses to be intimidated by the world of haute couture. You look at and admire the dresses as the first port of call, but Toni’s blend of wit and pathos is what makes the shoot visually compelling. To elevate a fashion shoot to couture standard takes a sophistication that’s hard to find, so when a model arrives on the scene that is as comfortable in couture as Garrn, they tend to be in high demand.

High fashion asks more of its models because enticing the most hardened couture devotee takes more than pointing out the hours of craftsmanship. Making desire part of that equation is what has kept this most rarefied layer of the fashion industry afloat at a time when it should, by all logic, have sunk without a trace. Glamour may seem like little more than smoke and mirrors, but its enduring image and what it represents has proved to be the bedrock of the industry.

The restrained and muted tones of A/W 2010 are set to be replaced with bursts of tropical
colour and Seventies poolside glamour as 2011sees postmodern glamour fully evolve. The hair is a little less than perfect, the eyeliner smudged around the edges, but it’s battle-worn chic at its best. The industry has come through a storm of economic gloom not seen since the 1930’s, and the tone for next year is a glamour that’s both beautiful and worldly-wise.

Fashion’s angle on glamour has learnt lessons from the tough, early seasons of the recession. If it’s to grab attention, glamour must be desirable but attainable. The blockbuster success of A/W 2010 has showed that there is still an appetite for high fashion, but the finishes; sheepskin, shearling and leather, are all primed to be of practical benefit as the weather turns colder. Even party-wear has seen the light with velvet maxi-skirts and slouchy jumpers replacing mini-dresses and bare legs. The desire for fashion – and its unique ability to transport us – never went away; it just got a reality check.

Models like Toni will continue to thrive, as creativity is what’s needed to progress fashion in a direction that’s both vibrant and engaging. That last part is crucial, as the industry cannot afford to lose sight of what it learned during the lean times.

With fresh talent setting the pace, both in front and behind the camera, fashion’s way forward is centred on just one bold and beguiling idea: possibility.

HELEN TOPE