Ghetto to glamour: Nadine Willis
Stabroek News
April 14, 2007
Jamaican model Nadine Willis, who is described as possessing fine, gazelle-like features, touted as the new Naomi Campbell and has been campaigning in Europe, was among the females invited to showcase some of the best designs on the South American continent at the Umana Yana two Saturdays ago.
The 24-year-old who hails from Jamaica's capital Kingston told The Scene she has been in the entertainment business since 2002. Originally a dancer, she was drafted by First Model Management in Jamaica before moving to London. She was rejected by 11 agencies as a wannabe before April 2005 when she was chosen by Mario Testino's Select Model Management in London.
Following this she managed to garner an exclusive contract with Gucci a few weeks after she began modeling internationally and shot for the style bibles French Vogue, i-D and 10 magazine featuring French designer Azzedine Alaia. "The Gucci campaign was the first and only time a black was given the opportunity to do Gucci," Nadine told The Scene. The supermodel also highlighted the fact she shot ten pages for French Vogue, which is considered no easy feat in a magazine of such stature.
Nadine brought herself up as her mother was absent and her father was not capable of looking after his family. She is now a living example that dreams can come through, She and her 22 siblings grew up in various boarding houses around downtown Kingston. She was a dancer, when at 19, she gave birth to her daughter Tatiana and was struggling to provide for their needs.
This is when she left for Europe and the rest is a ghetto to glamour story. Since then she has chalked up an extensive list of appearances. Nadine, recognized as one of fastest rising supermodels, has appeared in almost every important fashion magazine in the world, including six Vogue publications - British, French, Italian, Japanese, German and Spanish.
The model who is now appreciative of the fact she can care for her daughter and provide her with the education she never had has a client list par excellence. It includes The Face, Tank, Untold, V magazine, Touch magazine, American Glamour, Citizen K, French magazine, Trace magazine, Surface magazine, Oyster magazine, Kenneth Cole campaign with Mario Sorrenti, Neiman Marcus, Numero with Solve Sundesbo, Saks Fifth Ave, Macy's, London's Sunday Times magazine cover, M.A.C cosmetics campaign, Iman's Beauty Book, Macy's West, Rimmel campaign, Phat Farm, Marie Claire, Next campaign, Jean Lewis, John Rocchas, Catherinre Hammnett, Blaak, Jasper Conran, Asley Isham, Jay Maskrey, Jenny Packham, Sass & Bide, Miguel Androver, Jeremy Scott, Perry Ellis and Catherine Malandrino.