How a UTS business degree led to modelling career for Ana Demin

Sydney girl Ana Demin was studying abroad when she was scouted by a modelling agency in Milan. Now her career has skyrocketed after landing a major fashion label gig.

A business degree at Sydney’s University of Technology is not traditionally seen as a gateway into the world of high fashion but for Sydneysider Ana Demin it proved an unlikely but serendipitous ticket.

Demin — who had not even yet considered a career on the catwalk — travelled to Milan, Italy as part of her international studies subject in 2019.

“I just thought I would like the lifestyle and would just take to Milan,” says Demin, now 25.

Milan, it seems, also took to Demin in the form of a well-known street model scout who spotted the leggy student while riding a tram, with a rapid-fire exchange in Italian ensuing.

“My Italian was not amazing I must say,” Demin laughs.

“I was just riding on a tram and I get off and this lady starts yelling at me like; ‘Hey, are you a model’ in Italian. And I’m like, ‘Oh, no, no, I’m not. I’m just a student’.

Sydneysider Ana Demin landed a modelling contract while studying in Milan, Italy. Picture: Tim Hunter

“And she says; ‘Do you want to work for me?’. At first, you know, there was a fair bit of hesitation because it kind of felt like a scam.

“But I thought, well this is Milan the world’s fashion capital. So I just said ‘Okay sure’.”

Within a few days Demin would book her first job and would go on to appear in major campaigns for Nike, Fila, and Moncler.

But it would be her most recent campaign – for Italian fashion powerhouse Dolce and Gabbana — which would send the Castle Hill local orbiting into the global stratosphere.

Demin would join just a handful of international models and celebrities over the years to land a coveted D&G fragrance campaign – a list that includes Scarlett Johansson, Colin Farrell, Emilia Clarke and supermodels Gisele Bündchen and Bianca Balti.

D&G fragrance campaign featuring Sydney model Ana Demin. Picture: Morelli Bros

“All of a sudden I’m in Capri shooting this amazing campaign. There’s models from all over the world,” she says.

“The guys who are shooting it (renowned Italian photographic duo Luca and Alessandro Morelli) are famous for shooting Kylie Jenner and I’m just there like; ‘Okay what is going on’.

“One of the photographers at one point said; ‘Where are you from?’ And I said ‘Australia’.

“They were like; “What? How did you get here?’.”

The campaign, pushed back several months due to Covid, was finally unveiled into its European and US markets last month with a possible Australia release to follow.

Its significance, according to Demin’s Sydney agent Kathy Ward at Chic Management, is not to be understated.

“It is very rare that a girl who hasn’t built up a (portfolio) then gets to shoot for the best photographers in the world and to appear in a campaign shot in Capri,” Ward says.

“Andfragrance campaigns are the ultimate. A boutique fragrance and a high-end kind of campaign for a top tier designer is the ultimate in terms of securing, you know, the most prestigious campaigns for a model.”