COVERSTORY
M
odel Ella Rose Corby has packed her bags and said her goodbyes to the only home she’s ever known, ready to strut the catwalks of Australia’s fashion capital, Sydney. And like all young emerging talents waiting for their career break, the young Queenslander says she was filled with nervous excitement during the build-up to her big move. “It really hasn’t hit me yet, but I like adventure and I am so excited. I’m nervous too because it’s my first time away from home,” she says. The 18-year-old homegrown beauty made plans to relocate to Sydney after receiving word she’d been signed to esteemed modelling agency Bella Model Management late last year. “Once I get to Sydney, I’ll start going to castings. I’m excited to do both catwalk and photography work,” she says. “I love photography and being in front of the camera but the catwalk is very exciting and there is not a lot of opportunity to do that here.” Originally signed to local Coast model agency, Division Models, she’s already been snapped up to appear in countless magazine spreads. “Ella has always demonstrated an inner confidence,” says Division Models director Kirsten Mitchell. “She has strength beyond her years. The agency is very proud of her accomplishments over the past few years and I have no doubt, given her determination and confidence, that she will have a successful career for years to come.” Some years back, the size-10 model made headlines after winning a modelling competition and she posed nude for the cover of surf magazine Stab, when she was just 16. With only strategically placed limbs barely covering her modesty, Ella cut a striking – and controversial – figure that provoked almost as much media attention as Lady Gaga’s meat dress at the MTV Awards. Recently, Ella has been an advocate for plus-size models and has spoken out about how she starved herself because it’s what she thought she had to do to in order to conform to the industry standard. www.getitmagazine.com.au
“I see myself as a normal sized, healthy girl. I know I will never be a size 6-8 and don’t want to be. I know the pressure straight sized models have on them to stay skinny and I am not prepared to live that kind of life. I like food too much,” she giggles. “You can still succeed as a model without being stick thin. I am confident in my size-10 body and that seems to be getting me work.”
You can still succeed without being stick thin. I am confident in my size-10 body and that seems to be getting me work. The confidently assured, yet sensible beauty also appeared in the November issue of healthy image campaigners, Cosmopolitan – in a beautiful body segment where she was styled as a modern day Brigitte Bardot. As well as appearing in various other Cosmopolitan features and in Shop Til You Drop magazine last year. And now there’s nothing stopping this bright young thing who has her sights set firmly on conquering the international fashion world as her career progresses. “I intend to take this as far as I can,” she adds confidently. “I would like to eventually be in every major magazine and do the major shows in Sydney as well; that is my ambition for next year. And after that, who knows? Perhaps the catwalks of Europe. “I would then like for this to take me overseas to New York and London and even Europe. I love to travel and I’m hoping to do a lot of it. My mother is English and my dad is Canadian, so I can definitely feel the travel bug biting in. I’d love to do Australian work as well, like perhaps the Bonds campaign, but overseas I would love to work during Milan and New York Fashion Weeks and I want to also appear in Vogue one day – I just want to do it all!” Words: Adele Rowlands-Dealey
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April 2011