Usually we temper our jealousy of models by rationalizing that it’s their sole job to look good.
But Aussie model Jacqui Alexander isn’t just this year’s face of Melbourne fashion week. At 18, she’s also the youngest designer ever to be picked up by Harvey Nichols.
Yet, before we put her on our list of girls to envy, we have to wonder:
If a model works with the texture and fit of high fashion clothes all day, isn’t she inherently bred to be a good designer? Or is it foolish to assume that a model’s mere proximity to Zac, Marc, and Karl will give her talent by osmosis? And can anything replace years of design school and internships?
There’s another issue: A model’s job is to look good in her clothing. So can someone with a “perfect” body understand how clothes can fit “real” girls?
Jacqui’s clothes kind of look like regurgitated Alice + Olivia. But since Jacqui’s modeling them on the site, they look wonderful– and we kind of want them.
Other models-turned-designers have a similar appeal – Carmen and Milla for Jovovich-Hawk, Jayne Mayle, and Georgina Chapman of Marchesa all look like their own ad campaigns. But will you get the same effect in their clothes?
Perhaps Kate Moss’s “design” adventure was actually the best compromise: She recreated her own clothes for TopShop, in more sizes, vaguely affordable pricing, and a team of seasoned designers behind her.
Maybe Jacqui should meet up with H&M…
– NATALIE MATTHEWS
Tags: Jovovich-Hawk, Kate Moss, Marchesa
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How much of a “designer” are you if you can’t sketch, make a pattern, and then drape/sew the garment and make it fit? Going into a meeting where other people bring you sketches of their ideas or you yell out “blue shift dress with flowers!” and then someone else actually crafts the dress–that’s not design.
yay for milla! my favorite!
she must have been like 12 or 13 there……
i agree with you e these girls arent designing shit. however a smart model with a desire to learn would be in the perfect place to pick up some skills.
My irrational love for Mila knows no bounds (it goes back to Night Train to Kathmandu), so she will always be the exception to the rule in my book. Otherwise, I generally shrug at models as designers-I just assume it’s a gimic unless they also have proven design experience.
A lot of her stuff looks very “Project Runway” to me. As if it were thrown together in a day with the available materials for $20.
lol h, saw that movie too…..loved her since i was 12 and she was 12……she was an actress before she was a model…..did you see her on married with children? loved it…..
Ah, I didn’t think anyone else was named Jacqui. If she ever makes her own namesake line I will have to purchase some! Yeah, I also have an irrational love for Milla, so beautiful.
in melbourne, jacquis actually had quite a bit of publicity, and its never been mentioned before that shes a model! instead they go on and on about her parents in the fashion industry and how shes been doing this ‘since she could walk’. still maybe this fits with the osmosis theory anyway, seeing as shes not studying fashion design but advertising!
I’ve noticed that models know a lot about what they are doing, but not necessarily about the steps of the process that they don’t see, so depending on what they learn in other places and who’s helping them, their collections are very hit or miss. I personally love Jovovich-Hawk, but I think that they really put in the time and effort to turn out a good collection and it’s not like it arrived overnight either. To me, a lot of Jacqui’s collection, though pretty, looks suspiciously sack-like and like it would only look good on a model.