Interview with a Top Model!

Rising Star

A calendar recording the last month of Milly Simmonds life reads, ‘Trip to NYC; castings, United Bamboo show, Nicole Miller a/w 11 show, Threeasfour show, Thom Brown catwalk show. Then its back to London for LFW, start with Maria Grachvogel show, DAKS a/w 11, Sass and Bide, Mulberry show, Burberry Porsum a/w 11. Flying out to Paris next for the Lagerfeld for Hogan launch, then walking for the Celine show. Finally back to London for a measly three days break followed by a few castings, a shoot for Vogue then off travelling again for a shoot in Brazil.

Sound like a mouthful? Well young model Milly Simmonds is certainly living the life! Her career which has literally taken off in the past year is the envy of many aspiring models. She has been compared to London’s very own supermodel Lily Donaldson and lives a proper model life, residing in a scruffy flat in Shoreditch with her model boyfriend and surrounded by their equally ‘hip’ friends. I caught up with her in a stolen hour during her busy schedule.

How did you begin modelling?

I was scouted at the Clothes Show Live in Birmingham when I was 16. I signed to Select model management shortly after, but did not get much work so was in talks with Storm but they got angry when I dyed my hair without permission. Ooops! I’m now with Union Models and they are great.

How did your career take off so suddenly?

Well last year I was doing catwalk shows unpaid just to get myself recognised and begin to make a name for myself. Then in the past year I got booked to do a few shoots at Elle, a couple for Vogue and editorials for The Independent Magazine and Tatler and then this season I suddenly began getting bookings for lots of shows. It’s been great being able to travel to such exciting places and being paid for it!

What do your friends and family think of the industry your now part of?

They are really supportive, my mum came with me to New York, my sisters an artist and lives in New York so she has a similarly unpredictable career and my boyfriends also a model so we support each other a lot as well even though we’re apart a lot of the time. My friends are pretty excited about it, plus when I first moved to London I lived with a few other up and coming models who were also 17/18 at the time so we could help each other out.

Finally what has been your highlight this season?

It is between the Burberry Porsum show which was amazing, the hype backstage which was great and I love the clothes, or seeing Karl Lagerfeld at the Hogan Launch which was pretty surreal!