Rising Star: Agyness Deyn

June 12, 2008

Tags:Rising Star, Backstage Access, Style

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Agyness Deyn rocks out in black at Italian Fashion Week, 2008
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Pretty in pink! Agyness Deyn picks up an Elle style award in London, February 2008
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Agyness Deyn struts on the catwalk at Italian Fashion Week, February 2008

AP
Agyness Deyn rocks out in black at Italian Fashion Week, 2008
AP
Pretty in pink! Agyness Deyn picks up an Elle style award in London, February 2008
AP
Agyness Deyn struts on the catwalk at Italian Fashion Week, February 2008

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE: June 12, 2008 14:38 PM

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Cindy Crawford’s masculine facial bone structure made her the supermodel of the late ‘80s. In the ‘90s, there was no one bigger than waif-thin Kate Moss, whose tiny frame and sunken eyes prompted writers to coin the phrase “heroin chic” just to describe her. In recent months though, a new model has claimed “face of the decade” – Access Hollywood Rising Star, Agyness Deyn.

It’s hard not to notice the 25-year-old lass from Greater Manchester, England. Her trademark, in addition to her all-the-rage statuesque slim-line frame, is her peroxide blonde, boyish pixie crop. And there’s another reason it’s hard not to notice Agyness — her face is everywhere.

There are the former Burberry ads and current ads from Giorgio Armani and Mulberry in every fashion magazine. And then there are the magazine covers themselves.

This month, she was featured on the cover of British Vogue, but it wasn’t her first time. She’s previously appeared on the covers of British Vogue, Italian Vogue, (U.S.) Vogue (along with several other models as new faces to watch) and a French Vogue beauty supplement, as well as in the pages of U.K. mag I-D and Time magazine’s Style & Design issue.

Not bad for a girl who used to work in a fish and chip shop.

Agyness was born Laura Hollins, in a town in Greater Manchester. Her first foray into modeling came, when as a teenager, she won Face of Rossendale, a competition her grandmother suggested she try out for.

After winning, she picked up a modeling agency, which suggested the lanky blonde change her name.

She chose Agnes, in homage to her grandmother, and Dean came from an old family last name.

Then Laura’s mother, Lorraine, stepped in, using numerology to form “Agyness Deyn,” a moniker she believed would give her daughter the most success.

As for her style — sometimes full of neons and baggy sweaters, other times nautical and in primary colors — that is all Agyness.

“The way Agy looks is an extension of her personality,” Lorraine, told the Daily Mail in late 2007. “There are no pretensions. What you see is what you get. She has an inner beauty, more of a sensuality than sexuality, and has never done anything unnatural to herself for the sake of her appearance. She is the epitome of clean-living.”

And Agyness is made of other strong stuff too. Her mother told the Mail that when her daughter went to Milan for fashion show casting early in her career, she was told to lose weight, something the model had no intention of attempting.

“I said, ‘If they’re not happy with you the way you are, just come home.’ And she did,” Lorraine recounted. “A year later, she was in big demand. Agy won’t cave in to opinion. She’s true to herself and she’ll only do things that are right for her… She has never starved herself and doesn’t go on fad diets. She’s got wonderful curves and a bit of meat on her.”

And she has a set of pipes on her as well.

Recently, Agyness recorded a collaboration with U.K.-to-NYC transplant band Five O’Clock Heroes — a track entitled “Who.” She has her own band, Lucky Knitwear, too.

Since her move to NYC last year, Agyness career has only grown in success. She ruled NY Fashion Week walking for everyone from Oscar de la Renta and Narciso Rodriguez to Michael Kors and Anna Sui, the latter throwing her a lavish birthday party back in February.

So what’s next for this face of a generation? She’s going where a girl with a boy’s haircut fits in like a dream – modeling for Jean Paul Gautier.

Just last week, Agyness was announced as the face of the French designer’s new fragrance, Ma Dame.

Expect a lot more of this fresh rising star – her career is only just now beginning.