Jamaica's rising supermodel
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Observer Reporter
Thursday, November 13, 2003
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| Robinson with top British designer Julien McDonald |
Naomi Campbell has declared Nakeisha Robinson her successor. But there's more, lots more are at stake for this 19 year old Saint International model seen here with top British designer Julien McDonald.
WHAT makes a model super? Extraordinary good looks, a certain style, confidence, luck or being God-graced with the tall, lean body of the runway diva? Some claim it's about having a cosmetics contract and a runway career combined with being the muse to world famous designers. Yes, at times the beauty of the model, the clothes, and the photographer's skill can combine to transcend fashion and create remarkable images of graphic perfection. And, at other rarer times, a model may just simply glow under any conditions.
Nakeisha Robinson was glowing cold when she arrived for our shoot at the Hilton, Park Lane, on a breezy spring morning. Just 2-weeks in England and still wearing clothes fit for the Caribbean heat, "It's cold," she murmured in a slight, sweet, Creole accent, "and I got lost on the Tube coming from my last job." And, yes, she was late, but it didn't take us long to see that we were working with a true professional. We shot her in jeans and a simple T-shirt without make-up, without a stylist, and without flattering lighting. We bathed in the reflection of a rising star, this 19 year-old gazelle-like Jamaican girl, who laughed a lot, and happily confessed to missing her family back home.
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| Nakeisha Robinson |
"I'm really lucky," she told us. "Apart from Naomi Campbell, I'm the only other black girl at Premier, and they really look after me." Born in Kingston to Jamaican working-class parents, Nakeisha took up modelling at 16. When her agency on the island sent her photographs to Premier Model Management in London's Convent Garden, the company liked what they saw so much that they invited Nakeisha to work in the UK. Sam Cookson of Premier said, "Nakeisha is one of the most exciting models we've seen in a long time. She has all the qualities. I think she'll take London Fashion Week by storm." The rest , we at Drum believe, will soon become the stuff of supermodel legend. You heard it here first.
Image Courtesy of Premier Model Management
Article re-printed from Drum magazine September 2003
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