Fashion watershed
You don't have to be a fashion world insider to know the big names of Australian modelling - Elle Macpherson, Jess Gomes, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Miranda Kerr, to name just a few.
Soon you might want to add 20-year-old Gold Coast beauty Samantha Harris to that list. And she's not your typical blonde, blue-eyed Aussie stereotype either.
The Aboriginal stunner is Australian fashion's next bona-fide modelling star. She's just been announced as David Jones' Ambassador for Young Women's Fashion, has featured on the cover of Australian Vogue, appeared in some of this country's most commercially lucrative campaigns (including Seafolly and David Jones) and is being groomed for the international runways.
With Harris featuring on the cover of the December issue of Girlfriend, and Aboriginal pop star Jessica Mauboy appearing on the January cover of Dolly - the two best-selling Australian magazines aimed at a teenage readership - fashion industry insiders are beginning to talk about a potential watershed moment in fashion.
"Not long ago the trend was to book models that looked identical, youthful and unknown, but now we're seeing a move towards really different looking models," said Jacqui Brown, who runs the successful online venture Fashion WA. "It's good to have girls with a variety of looks, which means models of different ethnic backgrounds are getting booked."
Harris' Australian Vogue cover late last year marked only the second time an Aboriginal model had graced the cover of the high-end fashion magazine. The first, Elaine George, appeared in 1993.
"It's a huge deal for me," Harris said after the Vogue cover announcement. "It just shows (Aboriginal girls) you can do what you want in your life if you put your mind to it."
