Article and images excerpted from Modelsblog.info
Model Jourdan Dunn has scored her biggest advertising campaign to date – for Topshop.
The 19-year-old Londoner, who was talent-spotted in the Hammersmith branch of Primark (”I wasn’t shopping – I was with my friend,” she later clarified) has rocketed to fame since being signed to agency Storm in 2006.
She has appeared in 75 catwalk shows as well as on the covers of American and Italian Vogue, widely regarded as the most prestigious fashion magazines in the industry.
These exclusive images are taken from Topshop’s new autumn/winter advertising campaign. It features, alongside Dunn, three more bright new modelling names: Karlie Kloss, from the US, and Canadians Kori Richardson and Amanda Laine.
The campaign was shot on buses and Tube trains across London to convey the theme “Topshop on the move” – which, quite literally, it is, since owner Sir Philip Green will be opening the brand’s first stand-alone store in New York this October. The four-floor Broadway outlet will stock womenswear and menswear, including capsule collections from London designers such as Preen and Emma Cook.
Ronnie Cooke-Newhouse, Topshop’s creative director, said: “We wanted the campaign to have a very London vibe, sticking to Topshop’s roots. And Topshop girls are movers and shakers – super-stylish, cool girls.”
Topshop has a reputation for casting girls who go on to be some of the modelling world’s biggest names: Londoners Lily Donaldson and Lily Cole starred in 2004’s spring/summer campaign, as did Brazilian supermodel Caroline Trentini. “We work very hard on the casting,” said Ms. Cooke-Newhouse. “We like girls that have style and personality, which is really mandatory to becoming a big model.
“Also, since both myself and Emma Summerton, the photographer, are women, we know which models are the girls that other girls want to be like.”
Certainly, there will be gaggles of girls wanting to look like Dunn. The fashion industry is not renowned for an excess of black models, which makes her rapid ascent to stardom all the more welcome. “Jourdan is so lovely. An angel,” Ms. Cooke-Newhouse added. “She is very focused and professional – she’s really got it.”
