Supermodel Ashleigh Good has come back to her home shores.
Most women choosing a wedding dress don't have quite the same benchmark as Ashleigh Good. The New Zealand model who shot to international fame when she starred as a pregnant bride on the Chanel catwalk is back in New Zealand with a new home, a new baby and a new marriage to her childhood sweetheart.
Moving home from Europe to Torbay, on Auckland's North Shore, Good, 25, purchased a home at just 22 with her earnings from modelling.
But while the mother-of-two finds herself in a moment of calm since coming back to New Zealand, getting here has been a rollercoaster of professional triumphs peppered with challenges in her personal life.
Based in Europe, Good picked up modelling gigs all over the world for iconic brands such as Chanel, Gucci, Miu Miu and Givenchy and was twice a Chanel bride for Karl Lagerfeld, a man she refers to as her friend.
Ashleigh and her daughter Emily on the runway for Dolce & Gabbana. Photo / Getty
As her career was taking off, Good was going through a lot in her personal life, working through a break up and subsequent custody battles over her daughter, Emily.
She credits her family for getting her through those hard times: "They have been really supportive, and now being married to my husband, he's taken my daughter on and he loves her like his own."
Good and Lock have a son, James, and hope to have more children in the future.
Ashleigh and her son James. Photo / Supplied
"I do want to have a lot more children, so it's just a small start for me, but I really enjoy it, they have such beautiful spirits about them, but it is a full time job."
Good grew up with her now husband, Aaron Lock, and says when she returned to the church the two had attended as children she felt an instant connection that blossomed into a fairytale romance.
Reconnecting with Lock is something the model believes was "meant to happen". And just three short months after the pair became romantically involved, Lock proposed outside a Spotlight store in Auckland's Albany.
Good says her proposal story begins and ends at the fabric and craft store, where, while standing outside one day she became overwhelmed by the feeling that Lock would one day be her husband.
Ashleigh and her husband Aaron on their wedding day. Photo / Trimage Photography
"All of a sudden this feeling of, 'you're going to marry this man' just came over me, it was so powerful."
Lock made several different attempts to propose to the girl of his dreams. In the end, he took her back to the spot where their love was first sparked, outside Spotlight, and got down on one knee.
They married among family at a venue in Kumeu, West Auckland and Good says the celebration of two families becoming one was something that was destined to happen.
CHANNELING CHANEL
Good, right, modelling as a Chanel same-sex bride. Photo / Getty
A triumph for any model, Good was bestowed the honour of being a Chanel bride not once but twice. She says she has a special relationship with Karl Lagerfeld, who designed an entire collection around her, his pregnant muse.
"To find out that Karl had designed the entire collection based on the dress he designed for me was a pretty "wow" moment. It was definitely a testament to how much of a family I had become with Chanel and how much of a great friend Karl had become to me."
So when it came to deciding on her own wedding dress, of course the bride turned to Karl's creations for her as inspiration.
"It took parts from both gowns to inspire my own, so the top part was lace, which was from my first gown, and the bottom was just nice and simple."
Paparazzi surrounding Ashleigh and models after Mui Mui show. Photo / Supplied
Modelling for such iconic designers hasn't come without a downside. Good recalls being harassed by paparazzi as she entered and left fashion shows.
After a Miu runway show, Good was sat with a number of other models in a bus stop where they were surrounded by Paparazzi and hounded for photos.
Ashleigh and the other models saw the humour in the situation and decided to turn the cameras on the photographers who she describes as "relentless".
Ashleigh and models take photos of the paparazzi in return. Photo / Supplied
GIVING BACK TO THE INDUSTRY
With so much experience under her belt, Good has turned her focus to helping younger models succeed in the industry.
"I really love to see them in shows, I teach our boys and girls how to walk before we have the castings, I love taking their rawness and developing it into what I've learned over the years."
Ashleigh modeling for Gucci during Milan Fashion week 2014. Photo / Getty
FASHION WEEK JITTERS
While she's paraded on runways all over the world, Good says the nerves are still there when she walks in New Zealand Fashion Week.
