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Linda Byrne
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Linda was featured in an article in the Irish Independent in 1998:

 

Quote

Our supermodels!

Irish girls en vogue: Now our models are getting top billing around the world, gracing the covers of fashion bibles like Elle and Vanity Fair and very much in demand from international photographers. Siobhan Cronin spoke to four darlings of the catwalk

The world's love affair with all things Irish has finally spread to the catwalk. Not only are designers like Lainey Keogh, John Rocha and Paul Costello becoming the darlings of the fashion world, now our models are gaining top billing, too.

Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Helen Christensen are synonymous with the word `supermodel' but there are now several Irish girls joining them. Though lesser known at home, they are big league players in Paris, Milan and New York.

From modest beginnings in town hall fashion shows or working for small magazines, today they are regulars at such prestigious fashion houses as Versace, Christian D'ior, Galliano and Chanel. They have almost all appeared several times on the covers of fashion bibles like Italian and French Vogue and been courted by the top names in world fashion photography.

Most of them are barely known here because they have been spotted in their early teens by keen fashion scouts and whisked off to Europe and the US quicker than you can say pret a porter.

Phoebe O'Brien

Although New York is now home to 25-year-old model Phoebe O'Brien and her 14-month-old son Felix, almost all her spare time is spent in either Glengariff or Macroom in Cork. Phoebe was brought up in England, but her grandmother is from Cork, so she counts that her real home.

"I tend to go there more often than England, I love it so much,'' she says. She lived in an apartment in Christchurch in Dublin during her pregnancy and spent the time house hunting. "I chose Dublin because I wanted somewhere that was cosmopolitan but quiet in comparison to New York. I didn't get anything to buy in the end about four deals fell through!''

Her career started in Paris where she did some spectacular shots for French Vogue and later worked in Milan and Tokyo before moving to Australia and on to New York.

She has recently featured in the ad campaign for Clarins cosmetics. She has also modelled couture for John Galliano's Christian D'ior show in Paris and did several ready-to-wear shows there and in Milan, including work for the grand old lady of French fashion, Sonia Rykiel.

She is something of a novelty on the circuit at the moment, bringing young Felix to shows and shoots with her, much to the delight of the younger girls. "She looks even better now than she did before she became pregnant,'' boasts her agent Carlos.

"She came to New York in '94,'' recalls her former booking agent Betty Sze, who realised her potential as soon as she stepped off the plane from Australia. "At the time she was one of the new girls, but she very quickly got some nice editorial people could see how stunning she was, graceful like a swan. She is a real Irish rose fair skin and gorgeous eyes,'' she says. "Her personality is very reserved, but she can really turn it on for the camera.''

Betty put her in touch with one of the world's top modelling agencies, Company in Manhattan, and with a short new haircut, she was in big demand almost immediately, having since worked with Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and on the ramp for all the top New York shows. Betty counts renowned fashion photographer Satoshi Saikusa among her biggest fans. "She is seen as the epitome of the sophisticated beautiful European woman,'' she says.

Linda Byrne

Belfast-born Linda Byrne's rise to fame has been even more meteoric. She was spotted by Irish agent Rebecca Morgan in a D'side magazine spread on body stencilling. She also did some work for Irish Image magazine and in November she got a call from a Parisian talent scout and was immediately flown to Paris and signed with the Viva agency. By February, she was a French Vogue cover girl.

"That was very unusual,'' admits Rebecca. "Things were just right for her at the time.'' Since then, she has modelled for British wunderkind Alexander McQueen, the successful Ghost label, Nicole Fahri and Prada in Milan. She has also recently signed a contract to promote Oil of Ulay.

Magazine credits include Elle and Marie Claire. "She has a very special quality an honest, open personality which the designers love,'' says Morgan.

Erin O'Connor

Erin O'Connor is a 20-year-old supermodel whose father hails from Ballycastle in Mayo and whose Mum is from Donegal. Signed to the London agency Models One, she has just finished the latest advertising campaigns for both Versace and Dolce & Gabbana, and is working on the autumn/winter Chanel campaign.

Rumoured to be earning £30,000 a day, she was originally spotted at the Clothes Show in Birmingham when she was just 17 and was amazed at her own success she even had braces on her teeth at the time.

Her nickname as a child was "Kermit" because of her gangly limbs like the Muppet Show puppet, but now her 6' frame and 37'' legs have become her fortune. "I've been told my looks are very Irish,'' says the Galliano and Alexander McQueen regular, now based in New York. Her favourite designer is Karl Lagerfeld: "He is really inspirational,'' she says.

"She juggled modelling with school work until she became full time in 1996,'' says her publicity agent Val Miki. Her debut shows were for Jil Sander and with photographers Jeurgen Teller and Michael Wooley. "Since then, she has spent most of her time in New York, working for Italian and US Vogue with photographers Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh, Italian and German Marie Claire and W magazine,'' adds Miki.

She recently had tea with Nelson Mandela when she was part of a South African show organised by Naomi Campbell.

Her father, furnaceman Cathal sees her whenever she can make it home, usually four or five times a year. ``I wouldn't say she's a millionaire just yet, but she certainly earns good money,'' he says.

"I want to retire to Ireland,'' she told the Weekend. "It's my Dad's dream too.''

Jane Bradbury

Kildare's Jane Bradbury is probably the best known of all the Irish models. Featured in the 'Heroes' special current issue of Arena Homme Plus, the 24 year old has made her name on catwalks for Donna Karan, Gucci, Armani, Louis Vuitton and Raybans.

She never did a day's modelling before her sister entered her in the Ford Supermodel competition while she was studying Business and Marketing four years ago at Dundalk RTC. But after representing Ireland in Florida, she began working in Paris and has now moved to the US.

"People say I have my father's lips, my grandfather's height and my mother's face,'' she giggles in a strong Kildare drawl from a New York photo shoot. Success in modelling is all down to luck, she reckons. "I mean, last season redheads and the androgynous look were in the waif and drowsiness thing, with no form. But this season it's gone back to form, thankfully for me.''

She socialises with the other Irish girls whenever they work together. "Sometimes you work with the same people for six weeks, from 6am to 9pm, and then you mightn't see them for months again, until someone has a party.''

"Every year is a progress,'' she continues, "but there are still a lot of designers and photographers I'd like to work with.'' She's thinking about an acting career when the modelling work finally dries up. "You make a lot of contacts in this business film directors and producers.''

Rebecca Morgan maintains Ireland is now a major hunting ground for fashion scouts, partly due to the down to earth nature of Irish women. "It has definitely been busier in the last few years. There are a lot more coming to the Irish shows now on the look-out for talented girls.''

Irish Independent Wed 15 Jul 1998

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