Supermodels: Discovered

The question that every supermodel gets asked repeatedly is ’how were you discovered?’ Fans love to hear how, where and why their icons were plucked from reality and thrown into the hyper-glamorous world of high fashion. Many of the most famous women in the industry have fairytale-like origin stories. Several faced challenging upbringings, coming from obscurity or poverty before being scouted by chance in a supermarket or airport. Some became celebrities overnight, others fought their way up from a very young age.

Hundreds of good models are discovered annually but very few manage to capture public attention and keep it. Many of the supermodels who will feature in this book upturned industry norms and beauty ideals, and faced tremendous rejection before finding success.

Caroline Leaper is senior fashion editor at The Telegraph and a regular at all the major fashion week shows in Paris, London, Milan and New York. During her career, she has also written for Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, Glamour and Stylist and interviewed numerous fashion stars, including Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Ashley Graham and Halima Aden.