The British are coming, the British are coming! And we ain’t mad. It’s 2007 and I refuse to get a fake i.d to enter MisShapes, the hottest club in New York City. I hate scenes. That doesn’t stop my friends from going. Everyone is running up to Jackson Pollis in the hallways of ELRO (for me math class), asking if he’s deadass the boyfriend of supermodel Agyness Deyn. A gentleman he replies “only friends,” until profuse photo evidence made their dating status an indubitable fact. Oh, to be a teen in the late aughts, attending a specialized high school on the Upper East Side.
Agyness Deyn literally ruled the world, she was the IT girl; an androgynous, punk chic Edie Sedgwick, her style and music taste were deemed just as cool. Born in Manchester, she was a waitress until she got scouted by designer Henry Holland, signing with Select Model Management. This platinum blonde babe was a force in both commercial and high fashion (editorials, runway). Walking for YSL, Chanel, Stella McCartney, Dior, Versace, Karl Lagerfeld (to name a few), plastered on campaigns for Burberry, Doc Martens, Armani, Anna Sui, Vivienne Westwood…and covered Time, Vogue, I-D, Elle, everything, she was everywhere. A nightclub fixture, a tastemaker, the embodiment of a rock n’ roll, carefree, party scene that defined an amazing era. One where we stuck out our orange pigmented tongues from drinking the now obsolete Sparks, embracing debauchery in the pursuit of fun. I can hear The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, just looking at her.
After dominating the industry Deyn quit modeling in 2009, not before dating Albert Hammond Jr. and Alex Greenwald. Dipping her feet into acting she landed a big role in Clash Of The Titans as Aprohodite, married actor Giovanni Ribisi and has since found joy with Joel McAndrew, with whom she has two kids. A stellar career for such a short time. Is Agyness Deyn the most rock n’ roll model ever? Photographers: Alasdair McLellan, Terry Richardson, Steven Meisel, Jan Welters, Getty Images Versace Show, Steven Meisel, Katie Jane Hillier & Vogue Italia
