Who Is Agyness Deyn? The Rise and Rise of a Fashion Icon

5 months ago 14th Mar 11:30

Agyness Deyn is a name on everyone's lips these days. You can't switch on the TV, read a magazine or flick through a newspaper without seeing her funky peroxide head. Female First look at just who she is and how she managed the grab the attention of the fashion world.

They're already hailing her as the new Kate Moss and she's living the supermodel dream walking the catwalk for big names such as Burberry and Armani but not so long ago Agyness Deyn (or Laura Hollins as she was back then) was waiting tables in her local chippy.

Northern lass Agyness was born in Littleborough in Manchester where she lived a pretty normal life going to school then college to study for her A Levels while also working part time in the Village Chippy to earn some extra cash.

"You always knew she had something," said Agyness's former boss, Irene Kershaw, to the Independent. "She was a lovely looking girl with short hair and beautiful long legs and I daresay all the boys round here fancied her.”

And it was during her time at the chippy that Agyness met one boy in particular- her best friend, wannabe designer and apparent chip lover Henry Holland.

Henry and Agyness were united in their love of fashion and desire to swap the simple life in Lancashire for the bright lights of the big city so when Henry went to study fashion in London Aggy was a regular visitor.

It was during one of her visits to London in 2001 that Agyness was spotted by a photographer for Models 1 model agency who were quick to sign her up.

Agyness' rise to fame had begun. Her first step towards supermodel stardom was to get a new name as the agency didn't feel Laura Hollins was quite cool enough. Agyness Deyn is a combination of her grandmother's name Agnes and an old family surname that were re-jigged by her numerology fanatic mother Lorraine to create the perfect combination of letters to bring good luck.

It wasn't long before the big fashion names started to notice Agyness and by 2006 she was being photographed for the cover of Italian Vogue and also hired to front a Giorgio Armani campaign.

"In January, a parcel arrived at the house and when I opened it, it was a poster of her first Armani campaigns,” recalls her proud mum in an interview with the Daily Mail.

"I sat in front of it and just felt so overwhelmed with pride and emotion because she looked so beautiful."

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