Jourdan Dunn was named Model of the Year at the 2015 British Fashion Awards.
Jourdan Dunn was discovered in Hammersmith Primark in 2006 and signed to Storm Model Management in London shortly thereafter. She began appearing on international runways in early 2007. In February 2008, she was the first black model to walk a Prada runway in over a decade.
Jourdan Dunn has attracted attention because of the paucity of black models in the fashion modelling industry. In April 2014, it was announced that Dunn was signed as the new face of Maybelline New York. As of July 2014, she was declared an icon by models.com In 2014, Forbes listed Dunn in their top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $4 million in one year. She was the first black British model to make the list.
Other awards include:
- 2008 British Fashion Awards Model of the Year – Won
- 2012 British Fashion Awards Model of the Year – Nominated
- 2013 Harper’s Bazaar Women of The Year Model of the Year – Won
- 2014 British Fashion Awards Model of the Year – Nominated
- 2015 Glamour Women of the Year Inspiration Award – Won
W Magazine named her one of the “New Royals” on the October cover this year.
Here is Jourdan Dunn in an editorial spread in the January 2016 Japan Vogue.
In July 2008, Steven Meisel selected Dunn to appear on the cover of the Vogue Italia issue devoted entirely to black models. She has also been featured on the cover of American Vogue, British Vogue, Vogue Turkey, Vogue Japan and Teen Vogue, as well as covering i-D- eight times, W Magazine, Elle, Pop, Russh, Muse, The Sunday Times Style, Ponystep, Antidote and Luella.
She has been in campaigns for Ann Taylor, Burberry, Balmain, Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, DKNY, John Galliano, Victoria’s Secret, Tommy Hilfiger, Topshop, Jaeger, Rag & Bone, Gap, Aldo, Shiatzy Chen, Benetton, H&M, Banana Republic, Free People, Neiman Marcus, Pepe Jeans, Liu Jo and Saks Fifth Avenue, and was the face of Rihanna’s collections for River Island.
During the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Jourdan Dunn was one of the British models wearing bespoke fashions created by British designers specifically for the event. She also made her Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show debut for the 2012 show.
In March 2013, Dunn appeared as the cover story in Net-a-Porter’s “The Edit.” In it she spoke of encountering discrimination telling the magazine that casting agents would say clients
“didn’t want any more black girls”.
In July 2013, Jourdan Dunn received media attention for tweeting that she had been cancelled from a Dior haute couture show, “for her boobs”; rather than her skin colour – which she noted, “usually happens”.
Great news for all of her fans.