Former beauty queen reveals her extraordinary life
For 27 years former model Val Edwards has been teaching deportment and etiquette. Now, more than ever, she believes good manners are vital for success.
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When Val Edwards enters a room, heads instantly turn. It’s more than entering a room, it’s more like an ethereal floating – the personification of poise and grace as she effortlessly crosses the floor in sky-high stilettos, perfectly draped in the latest creation by Sandro – one of her cherished designers.
To say this stunning woman, once one of Australia’s most sought-after models, is elegant, is like saying Mount Everest is high.
For the past 27 years, as owner of the acclaimed Sydney Model and Etiquette College in North Sydney, she has been turning hapless Eliza Doolittles into swans and rough-round-the-edges’ blokes into gentlemen.
Among the approximate 500 students a year this mother of three and grandmother of seven, teaches manners and modelling to have been some famous names. Actor Phoebe Tonkin “Tomorrow When The War Began,” model April Rose Pengelley (daughter of INXS’s Kirk) and Damon Herriman, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, are just some of the glitterati who have received the Valerie Edwards treatment.
“They’re all very lovely people,” she says discreetly. “Lara Bingle, has the most stunning eyes and is a genuinely lovely person. She asked me to her father’s funeral. The press hounded her, she was pulled from pillar to post. I am very fond of her.”
She laughs good naturedly when asked in this “modern age” where selfies are regarded with the same esteem as a professional portrait and correspondence is a slovenly abbreviated text message, whether there is room for etiquette and manners.
“I think they’re more important than ever,” she says with a back so straight physiotherapists and chiropractors would marvel. “Look at the number of young people trying to get a job at the moment. First impressions are lasting impressions.
“I think our courses offer them that edge. If they know how to introduce themselves properly, look people in the eye, shake hands, remember the person’s name and when they’re told to take a seat not just flop down with their legs out – well it makes a huge difference.”
By way of demonstration, an ageless Val (she’s) in her mid 70s, neatly tucks her white skirt beneath her, gently sits down and edges back into her seat, her stunning shapely legs folded effortlessly beneath her.
“See, it’s really quite simple and it’s elegant,” she says. “It’s sad that manners have somewhat died, they should come naturally.”
She admits, with a laugh and the rolling of her eyes that her male clients often need a little extra work.
“Often a man doesn’t know what to do when he meets a woman,” she says. “And it’s so important for a man to introduce himself correctly. I call it the older way – June Dally Watkins’ way. The man should wait for the woman to put her hand out before he puts his hand out. Most of the time you see them confused and fumbling with their hands not knowing what to do.”
She agrees the MeToo Movement has left a lot of men somewhat flummoxed as to what is appropriate behaviour.
“I don’t think kissing someone you haven’t met before is appropriate. It’s best to say, “Lovely to meet you, I have heard so much about you.’ But it’s certainly not appropriate to go for a kiss with a perfect stranger and certainly not in business.”
Val believes a generation of frustrated parents are the ones sending their children to her etiquette classes.
“It is mainly the parents,” she says. “They’re seeing their children slumping at the table, they’re not sitting up straight. They have no idea how to eat correctly. They’ll be waving their knife and fork around in the air while they’re talking. They don’t know when to place the cutlery back on the plate.
“I was lucky. I was an only child and my mother was always very strict on etiquette. The please and thankyou’s were drummed into me, so too the importance of looking people in the eye and to always have a smile on your face.
“I remember my mother Els, she was a wonderful character saying to me, ‘Make sure you always have clean underwear on because you never know when you may be hit by a bus.”
Val, who grew up in Wollongong, credits her electrical engineer turned bookie father Alex Sheppeard, and her elegant mother, Els, with instilling in her, her love of fashion and etiquette from the tender age of six.
“Mum was always very interested in fashion, and she made all my dresses,” Val recalls with a smile. “She was one of those ladies who’d lunch and she’d take me with her. She’d also take me to fashion parades.
“And of course with Dad being a bookmaker we were always getting dressed up to go to the races or just to town. We wore hats and gloves. It was a dressy elegant time.
“We’d go to Randwick which was very glamorous, and then we’d go to restaurants like Romanos or Valentines for dinner. That’s how I learned my manners I think.
“I can remember ordering Lobster Mornay when I was six. My parents were really quite sophisticated and being an only child they shared all these experiences with me.
“They’re the ones who equipped me with this amazing etiquette and manners. Dad even taught me how to do his books and he’d give me a pound a week to keep them. Most my friends only got 20 shillings for pocket money. I’d save my money and buy nice clothes from Mark Foys.”
Val held dreams of becoming an Air Hostess. She yearned to travel, but her parents were far from happy with the idea.
“Dad said, ‘You’ll be nothing but a glorified waitress,’ so that was the end of that,” she laughs. “At 17 a shopkeeper from David Jones encouraged me to enter the Miss Australia Quest. I raised the most money in my region for the Spastic Centre, and my prize was a beautiful print and a Berlei Bra. I still have the print, I don’t know what happened to the bra and I still have a deep love for charity fundraising.”
She may not have become Miss Australia, but glamorous Val was turning heads at the races. She was soon a regular face, a photographic model for publications like the Australian Women’s Weekly.
Still very much the glamour and with boundless energy, (she swims at her beloved Palm Beach every day plays golf and attends a gym to stay in shape) Val leads a fun and frantic life. She guest starred in Neighbours, hangs out with her best friend, singer Little Patty, is very hands on with her seven grandchildren, loves travelling with her husband of 50 plus years, George, an International Consultant in the Mining Industry, and works tirelessly raising money for charities such as the Sydney Breast Cancer Association. She was an Attache at the Sydney Olympics She also rubs shoulders with royalty, counting Prince Albert as a friend.
“Let’s just say Prince Frederik wasn’t the only royal at the Slip Inn that night,” she says with a mischievous laugh.
So what can potential students expect when enrolling in the Sydney Model and Etiquette College?
“Anything from how to peel a prawn properly to confidence, respect and a healthy belief in yourself,” she says. “I believe when a person walks in you can tell how confident they are if they have a spring in their step. If they’re walking with their head down they can leave themselves open to horrible things like bullying. I tell people they need to walk as if they are being pulled up by the invisible strings of a puppeteer. We cover Social Media – what not to do, walking, sitting standing correctly, grooming and presentation, media training. The importance of good parenting and communication between parents and their children All the things needed to be a kind and decent human being. And we have fun doing it.”
Val spots a photo of herself taken in the 60s, her favourite era. She doesn’t look that different from the groovy girl with the teased bouffant hairdo and way out slack suit.
“I’ve had a blessed life,” she smiles. “That’s the wonderful thing, trends may come and go but grace, integrity and good manners never go out of fashion.”