From walking dogs to Versace catwalk, Sydney uni student makes the big time in just three weeks

How an ‘x-factor’ saw a uni student go from walking dogs to walking international catwalks in just three weeks.

Just three weeks ago, Newcastle uni student Tilly Main was walking dogs for $20 an hour. Now, she’s walking the catwalk with some of the biggest names in the fashion world.

“A dream feels almost too real,” Main told The Daily Telegraph from London. “It feels like I am in an alternate universe, honestly.”

Main, 20, who grew up in Denman in the Hunter Valley, was first scouted by reps from top Sydney agency Priscillas Model Management five years ago but did not push ahead with modelling in favour of finishing school.

Aussie model Tilly Main.

Over the Christmas break before going into her third year of archaeology at Macquarie University, she got back in touch with the agency and less than a month ago scored her first modelling job ever by way of a shoot for boho fashion and lifestyle brand Tree of Life.

Priscillas called her into the Sydney office for a meeting the following day and within 24 hours she was on a flight to Europe to walk in Versace’s star studded Fall/Winter ’22 collection show.

“Very rarely does something like this happen, it is like winning the lottery,” Priscillas general manager Doll Wright said. “When Tilly came into the office, I sent a video from my iPhone of her walking across the street to one of the top casting directors for all of the big shows. I just knew immediately when I saw her. She has the x factor, which is very rare and hard to put into words. The timing was also right – she’d waited patiently those five years and everything just came together beautifully at the right time.”

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. In Main’s case it isn’t as she is not just signed to Priscillas here but also now with Models 1 in London and Elite New York.

Since that meeting in Sydney, it has been a whirlwind of shoots, runways and long haul flights. First stop was Milan Fashion Week and a private audience with Donatella Versace before she was cast alongside supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid in the Versace show.

Then she walked for Chloe and Givenchy at Paris Fashion Week and she is now setting up a life in London.

Tilly Main walks in the Chloe show in Paris.

Australian model Tilly Main walking for Givenchy.

“I had never even been near a runway before,” she said. “I am really hopeful and excited for everything that is to come. I don’t even have a book (portfolio) yet so I am working on getting photos to show people of myself and all of that kind of thing but I am really looking forward to giving it my all and having fun with it as well.”

Completing university is also on Main’s mind.

“I am going to finish my degree at my own pace, it is something I have even interested in since I was really little,” she said. “I have always loved dinosaurs and the idea of studying archaeology and history and I have been doing really well in the degree and I love it. It is a hobby I will never stop so I will finish this degree as and when I can.”

Originally published as From walking dogs to Versace catwalk, Sydney uni student makes the big time in just three weeks