in an age obsessed with youth, it seems highly unlikely that any model could still be working at 85. In her 60th year in front of the camera, she not only makes more than $1,500 per day, but she has more jobs now than when she was young!! Thanks to her striking cheek bones, slender figure and beautiful long gray hair, she is helping to shape the newest trends in fashion.
Daphne never grew up wanting to be a model and never thinking she was the right type. In 1949, her friends convinced her to enter a competition to be the cover girl for a local magazine. Of course she won, and then the rest is history, so to speak.
She started off as a model for a fashion wholesaler and then for a furrier in London. Back then, she got free weekly manicures, and hair appointments, but she was required to look good off camera as well as on, unlike today! Daphne was always bigger boned and a little heavier than other models, but no one complained. Until 1954, there was rationing in England, so no one could afford to be too picky about what they ate, either.
In 1953, Daphne met her husband and married the next year. For the next 10 years she had 3 children and loved being a mother. She never thought she would return to modeling, especially when models like Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton became in vogue in the 60’s.She knew there was no way she would fit back in, so, instead, she decided to try working in commercials and as an extra in film and television.
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| In her 20’s Daphne became a model. Back then, she had a manicure and her hair styled every week. It was required that she look as good during her off time as she did during her “on time”. |
In the 70’s, styles again started to change; the models weren’t quite as thin, make-up wasn’t so thick, and hair was looser. By this time she was in her 40’s and her hair was beginning to gray. Nonetheless, she continued to have small roles on television and modeled in department store cafes.
By the 1980’s Daphne was in her fifties. Never did Daphne have a beauty regime, she washed her face with regular soar and used Nivea as her night cream. When she began to see wrinkles, it didn’t bother her(can you imagine that today?, My, how things have changed.) because they told the story of her life.”Age happens to us all, no one is immune” She felt the same about her hair and let it go gray forgoing dye.
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| In her 50’s Daphne didn’t care that her wrinkles started to show. She said that they told the story of her life. “Age happens to all of us, no on is immune.” |
The realm of “senior modelling” was happening for Daphne in the 1990’s until her husband had a stroke. She cared for him for 4 years until he died. Wanting to stay busy she wasn’t sure what she would do until her Agent asked her if she would like to do a fashion show of the edgy label “Red or Dead”. From there, it was like the Angels were shining down on her. That stylist told her Vogue was looking for models for an article on how it felt to be old. So, in 1998, at the age of 70, Daphne was indeed in Vogue!! A talent scout for the Agency Model 1 saw her and signed her up.
The rest truly reads like a fairy tale. At the age of 70, she was jetting all over the world. She got more stamps in her passport in those first two years than in her entire life before. She did start doing yoga and circuit training to keep herself fit. Not bad, starting those at 70! fifteen years later, she can’t believe she is still working. She now commands top dollar to pose for leading fashion houses.
She is proud to say that she has never “had anything done to her face” The best thing of all, and for all of mankind, is that she says “the younger models look up to her” At last, a role model for all of us to look to with admiration for staying true to herself!!
