Australian models are in higher demand than ever before
Spring/summer ’25 saw an unprecedented number of Australian models walking the biggest shows and fronting top-tier campaigns. So, what’s up Down Under?
It’s September 2024, and inside the cavernous Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Alaïa is hosting its show on the first day of spring/summer ’25 fashion month. Look 23 – one of the collection’s most ravishing, a cerulean skirt and cape with the label’s signature hood – was modelled by 20-year-old Stella Hanan. Born in Sydney, this was her first appearance on an international runway, but unless you’re versed in the mercurial world of modelling, Hanan’s newness on the scene was hard to pick. Not least, given that walk.
Saint Laurent, Versace, Isabel Marant, Sacai, Gucci and Prada were among the slew of shows she booked during her debut season, placing her among Australia’s expanding cohort of internationally regarded – and booked-up – models. There’s Angelina Kendall, the seismically successful honey-haired beauty who was scouted on Instagram and debuted at New York fashion week in 2023. She’s now considered a new-gen supermodel and has been on the cover of Australian, Italian, British and American Vogue.
There’s Achok Akoi, the Kenya-born South Sudanese runway star, who, a long way from her job as a dental assistant, debuted on Gucci’s spring/summer ’25 runway. Venus He, Mahalia Henderson, Ella McCutcheon, Niamh Battersby and Anna Robinson are all homegrown models who’ve emerged as forces on the spring/summer ’25 runways. They follow the established greats, including Akon Changkou, Adut Akech Bior, Julia Nobis and Emma Balfour, whose careers show little sign of waning.
Australians are competitive on the world stage – we came fourth in the global gold-medal tally at the 2024 Olympics, despite our comparatively small population – and equally it’s our temperaments, especially the relaxed ease with which we’re so synonymous that works in our favour in fashion. “We come from a place where it is safe, we’re protected, we’re not faced with some of the other atrocities other countries in the world are currently facing,” says Doll Wright, model manager at Sydney agency Priscillas Model Management and the force behind Hanan, Nobis and many other respected models. “There’s a lightness to Australians, in a sense.” It’s that ease of attitude that gives our models an edge.
“When I look at the girls who are doing well, it’s those who have the personality to match their beauty. Angelina is just a delight to be around, and Stella is so up for it and enthusiastic,” says Vogue’s editor-in-chief Christine Centenera of a distinctly Australian approachability.
Ashley Brokaw, the casting director who oversees runway constituencies at Louis Vuitton, Prada, Loewe, Miu Miu, Chloé and Alaïa, tends to agree. “When you’re going to see an Australian girl, she’s going to be chatty,” Brokaw says over the phone. “I find them very unintimidated.” Considered the top casting director in the world, she’s seen 300 models on the day she calls. “They don’t necessarily come with a heaviness,” she continues. “Sometimes, girls from other countries can if modelling is really a means to an end. I feel like the girls from Australia are very open and look at it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And that’s a great way, I think, to approach this, because it can be a really brutal business.”
Brokaw founded her agency 20 years ago and, in that time, has seen the role of a runway model shift from celebrity figure to predominantly industry-known commodity. “We don’t have [models] on the covers of magazines [as much] anymore,” she says. “Their role in fashion has been somewhat limited or eclipsed by celebrity.” She’s also conscious of the industry’s appetite for youth – most models are still between 18 and 20 when they start (“a young person whose frontal lobe isn’t developed yet”, as she succinctly puts it). But when Brokaw meets a new model with confidence and gusto, she knows they’ll be well placed to handle the work. It’s little wonder Australians, with their known assurance, often pass the litmus test. Add to that the fact they are far from home, which takes resilience and a certain level of ambition, and you’ve got a winning combination. “Personality is what’s going to take you far,” Brokaw continues. “And that’s what’s going to keep you in the business, because people have to want to book you again and again and again.”
But, with all things considered, why is such an unprecedented uptick in the popularity of our models happening now? One factor is the casting process, which Wright says moves in “flurries”. One successful model, like Angelina Kendall, can pique interest in where they came from. She adds that Australians have an advantage – our own developed fashion scene gives newcomers an opportunity to build skills before debuting overseas.
“I think we are actually the luckiest market in the world, because Sydney is a sophisticated market,” says Wright, adding that models here are “used to going to work. They’re shooting with decent photographers, working with good stylists. They [have] that allure of being new, but they don’t have that naivety of being a complete deer in the headlights.”
Of all the assets shared by Australian models, one sets them apart: Australia’s multiculturalism, which means there’s no one ‘look’ and makes these shores an endless pool for scouting.
“A long time ago there was definitely more of a look,” says Wright. “You think of Elle Macpherson, that kind of Aussie beach babe. But we’ve evolved, thank goodness.”
In 2023, Priscillas model Tarlisa Gaykamangu memorably travelled to Milan to walk for Bottega Veneta, a milestone moment for First Nations models globally. “[We are] a nation full of diversity,” continues Wright, “and I think, on the world stage now, the top models out there representing Australia really do show how diverse this nation truly is.”
The Australian model may look different than before, but some still need to leave home to be recognised. Owing to her height, South Sudanese Australian Akon Changkou was unable to find an agency in Melbourne where she lived. She’s 175cm tall or 5’7 in the old scale. (The industry standard for models is about six feet.) She booked her own ticket overseas, where Brokaw signed her for Louis Vuitton in 2019. A Chanel campaign and French and British Vogue covers followed. “[Australians] are very easygoing and that’s essential for my job as I’m constantly meeting and working with new people,” Changkou says of keeping cool on some of the biggest sets in the world.
The agent is a role that can take many forms when supporting a model. Julia Nobis has been a constant presence on runways for more than a decade (“Nobis is a unicorn,” Brokaw muses), but managed to squeeze in studying a Bachelor of Medical Science at Melbourne’s RMIT while working. So Nobis could complete her exams between shows, Wright became a certified exam invigilator. “We’d book a hotel room, I’d have the exam papers, I’d have the stopwatch – ‘time starts now’, ‘pens down’,” Wright recalls.
Those adages about Australians – of being adaptable and open – still ring true, especially when it comes to supporting one another. It makes sense that Stella Hanan has found community, with successful Australian models helping her navigate the unique journey of distance and discipline. “I was fortunate enough to meet and work with some incredible Australian models like Julia Nobis, Angelina Kendall and Ella McCutcheon,” she says of her debut season. “Being with them was like having a slice of home in a very big new world, and they gave me incredible advice and tips on how to navigate the industry.”
When it comes to competing for top jobs and walking for the biggest fashion houses in the world that can make an enormous difference. A model who exudes confidence – say, an Australian ease – is an attractive proposition to designers, as well as the customers who buy their clothes. “There’s a lot at stake when you’re wearing one of those looks, and out you storm onto the runway with every major editor and buyer in the world looking,” Wright explains. “You are selling those clothes, and it’s critical that those clothes do sell. The models play a big role in that.” And increasingly, they’re coming from our own backyard.
This story is from the March issue of Vogue Australia, on sale now.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout