After taking an unofficial hiatus in 2012 to focus on acting and start a family with her husband (she’s now a mother of three), Agyness feels blessed when she looks back on her career in fashion now, from being scouted in London at 18 to walking the runway for practically every major brand. Reflecting on her modeling journey, she shares: “I have such a deep love for it all – the adrenaline of racing between shows on bikes, and experiences like having honey applied to my hair after having it stripped of something else from another show. It was so exhilarating – worlds apart from my upbringing in the north. Living that extraordinary life felt like a dream, and I had to constantly pinch myself to believe it was real.”
Agyness also fondly recalls the close friendships she formed with fellow models during that time, including Behati Prinsloo, Coco Rocha, Lily Donaldson and Jessica Stam. The young women were a crucial support network for one another in the whirlwind of the fashion industry. “We were a tight-knit group, like a family, so I always had a good time and felt a sense of security,” she says now. “We would drink espressos and go out to parties, then get woken up in the middle of the night to go to a fitting in our pajamas… Oh, and [we were] smoking cigarettes constantly, but I don’t do that anymore.”As for the resurgence of indie sleaze, a trend the model had a hand in shaping the first time around, Agyness confesses that she only learned of the catch-all phrase to describe band tees, spray-on denim and skinny scarves very recently. “We didn’t really think about it at the time – it was a lot of industries colliding, ranging from fashion personalities to artists and bands,” she recollects. “As for the look, it’s that feeling of grabbing the first thing you see in the morning to wear – a sort of balls-to-the-wall kind of vibe.” Will today’s interpretation of the trend endure? “It’ll probably be a bit more buttoned-up now,” Deyn says. “I don’t think you can ever fully replicate something as it was, though.”
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