Yolngu model Tarlisa Gaykamangu takes the Milan catwalk and now the cover of Vogue

The 22-year-old from East Arnhem Land is a monumental beauty and so too, her high fashion breakout, which has the potential to be world-shifting and future-defining.

Tarlisa Gaykamangu in Vogue’s September issue. Picture: Robbie Fimmano for Vogue Australia.​

Phone reception isn’t the best in Yurruwi. Text messages need to beam in from across vast swathes of the salt-kissed huddle of the Crocodile Islands, almost 500km east of Darwin in East Arnhem Land. Nevertheless, when 22-year-old Yolngu model Tarlisa Gaykamangu received one asking if she would like to be on the cover of Vogue Australia’s September issue – only her second shoot, and her first ever cover – the reply that came back was a clear “Yes”.

“I was really excited,” she says, deep brown eyes flashing.

Vogue's September issue featuring Yolngu model Tarlisa Gaykamangu who was plucked from East Arnhem Land to walk at Milan fashion week for luxury brand Bottega Veneta. Photography: Robbie Fimmano for Vogue Australia.

Tarlisa is in Sydney, flown in from Milingimbi Island, as Yurruwi is also known, and is wearing some of the few winter clothes she owns; bathed in tropical heat and skirted by the aquamarine waters of the Arafura Sea, average temperatures in Mili. She bought these not for a relatively mild Sydney winter, but for freezing Milan where another life-changing call took her earlier this year.

“My Aunty Liandra called me and asked if I would be interested in walking in a runway show in Milan,” she remembers. “It all happened very quickly.”

Tarlisa Gaykamangu pictured with her sister, Paula, in Milingimbi, East Arnhem Land.

Gaykamangu pictured with her two of her uncles, in Milingimbi, East Arnhem Land.

A collected exterior is already something of a trademark for Tarlisa. Her sense of humour, though, constantly threatens to break through the surface, her aunty frequently making her laugh.

Which brings them to another milestone: walking the Bottega Veneta runway, on an exclusive.

“We were backstage at Bottega. I was trying to keep it together and I remember asking you if you were nervous and you said yes, but I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure ­because you were so calm,” says Liandra.

Remarkably, one of the busiest people in fashion, creative director Matthieu Blazy, took time to understand her culture, watching a video about Milingimbi traditions and customs.

Tarlisa Gaykamangu in Vogue’s September issue. Photography: Robbie Fimmano for Vogue Australia.

Tarlisa is moving between this world of fashion and her roots, connected to the land. “For me, growing up was hunting, fishing,” she says. A lot of time was family time, spent together with lots of cousins. They would hunt mud crab and shellfish, and still do, visit nearby Elcho Island by boat and go swimming together.

As they describe it, Milingimbi is a community where everyone knows each other, family is central, and for this reason it’s safe. “Everybody’s connected,” says Tarlisa. Family is important to all of them. They all crowded around the live stream at 4am in the NT to watch Tarlisa walk the runway.

“They were proud; my grandmother and my aunty and my ­father – he is my number one fan,” she says.

Tarlisa Gaykamangu pictured with relatives belonging to the Gupupuymgu Clan, in Milingimbi, East Arnhem Land.

The September issue of Vogue will be on sale on Monday