Australian model snares Chanel coup

Australian model Abbey Lee Kershaw's star is on the rise. Photo / Wikimedia Commons image by Ed Kavishe

SYDNEY - Fashion king Karl Lagerfeld has given Australian supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw his royal seal of approval by casting her in Chanel's new advertising campaign.

Kershaw is only the third Australian to feature in a Chanel campaign after actress Nicole Kidman and model Alyssa Sutherland were also given the nod by Lagerfeld.

The coup confirms Kershaw's international modelling status as the face of 2010.

The 22-year-old, known for tattoos and body piercings, cracked the designer's elite inner sanctum because of "her very real beauty", says Susie Stenmark, general manager of communications for Chanel Australia.

"I do know that Karl considers her to be a very modern beauty, a very contemporary beauty, and she has a very of the moment look and I think he likes to choose a girl who fulfils that criteria for the brand."

Chanel's new campaign for the Autumn/Winter 2010/11 season was shot on the streets of New York's Soho and the Lower East Side, wrapping production last week.

It stars Kershaw and two of Lagerfeld's favourite models, Freja Beha Erichsen and Brad Kroenig, wearing heavy fur ensembles.

Kershaw has said that individualism and personality can sometimes be important to a model's success.

"In some aspects yes, a girl who reveals a part of herself behind a camera, as well as playing dolly is always more intriguing," she told AAP earlier this year.

"In other cases we're nothing but a coat hanger."

In 2004, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman starred in a four-minute Baz Luhrmann-directed Chanel No. 5 cinema commercial and netted a reported US$3.71 million (NZ$5.2m) for her role as the iconic perfume's ambassador.

Another striking redhead, model Alyssa Sutherland, secured a Chanel cosmetics advertising campaign in 2007.

But Kershaw is the first Aussie to win the ultimate fashion trifecta - she closed Chanel's Spring 2010 couture show on January 26 with the traditional bridal gown and then opened its Ready-to-Wear Autumn/Winter 2010/11 collection in an excessively furry suit on March 9.

Less than three weeks later she replaced one of Chanel's most enduring models, Claudia Schiffer, who is pregnant, as the latest campaign's beauty du jour.

Kershaw could now generate a multi-million dollar income from further luxury brand campaigns.

"If you are chosen by Karl to appear in a seasonal ad campaign it is very much an imprimatur that yes, you are at the peak of your game," Stenmark says.

"He has chosen some amazing girls over the years and for Abbey this will be a further boost to her career."

- AAP