Aboriginal teenager eyes world's catwalks

Samantha Harris. Photo / Getty Images

Samantha Harris's mother was one of the "Stolen Generations", removed from her parents because she was black.

Now, Harris seems destined to become the first Aboriginal supermodel, after treading the catwalk for 18 designers at Australian Fashion Week and being chosen for the cover of next month's Australian Vogue.

The 19-year-old is only the second Aboriginal model to be a Vogue covergirl, following in the footsteps of Elaine George in 1993. But she is considered the first with international appeal.

She appeared at London Fashion Week in February, and has also modelled in New York, New Zealand and Tahiti.

Later this year, she plans to move to New York to pursue her career.

That the fashion world is smitten with her was clear in Sydney last week, with Australia's leading designers engaging the smoulderingly beautiful teenager, with her almond eyes and bee-stung lips, to open their shows.

Vogue Australia threw a party to unveil its June cover, featuring Harris - whose father is of German descent - in a yellow Pucci gown.

The glitz and glamour are far removed from the Queensland housing estate where she grew up, and the childhood beauty pageants where she wore outfits that her mother, Myrna Sussyer, found in charity shops.

Sussyer used to tell her: "You'll look beautiful anyway ... You've got to be beautiful on the inside before it becomes visual."

Apparently unfazed by the buzz surrounding her at Australian Fashion Week, where she was declared the top model, Harris told local media she hoped to reach the pinnacle of the fashion world.

"I spent my childhood wondering why you had to have blonde hair and blue eyes to do well in modelling competitions, so I'm proud that a girl with my looks might make it."

She added: "My Aboriginal heritage is very important to me. I'd like to be a role model for other indigenous girls."

Her mother said: "I never dreamed Australia would embrace an Aboriginal model."

- INDEPENDENT