New York model hit - and only 13

A smalltown Kiwi model is making waves in New York - and she's barely out of primary school.

Thirteen-year-old Grace Hobson, originally from the Coromandel township of Kaio, is learning to juggle walking through the corridors of Pakuranga's Edgewater College with strutting down the catwalks at Fashion Week as her modelling career takes off.

She has just returned from a trip to New York, accompanied by her father Steve and a chaperone from her agency Nova, where she met high-profile photographers and clients. Short-listed as a model for Abercrombie & Fitch, she did a photoshoot for Shiseido and was chased around Barney's department store by talent scouts.

Nova agency head Caroline Barley said the New Yorkers loved Grace's distinct look. "She's so unique. She's part-Maori and her look is just so different from everything else they see."

Grace was discovered earlier this year when she went to watch her sister compete in a shopping mall modelling competition. Miss Barley said Grace "stood out like a beacon".

But Grace is not letting her success go to her head.

While the budding singer loves modelling and meeting people through the job, she prefers not to talk about her work with her friends and confesses to being a little "embarrassed" by her modelling shots.

Her age has raised a few eyebrows - she is young even by international standards - and for this reason Miss Barley wants her to take things slowly.

"Most girls don't start until they're 15 or 16, so she's got a couple of years up her sleeve."

And Grace agrees.

"I'm quite young. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it at the moment. It's just fun."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY