New superstar model Bridget Malcolm is only 15
BEFORE the ink has dried on her official test shots, 15-year-old Vivien's model Bridget Malcolm is headed for super-stardom.
In just nine weeks, the Year 11 Perth high school student has been snatched from obscurity and snapped twice for the fashion bible Harper's Bazaar. She has also posed in a bikini in the red dirt of Central Australia for Jodhi Meares' swimwear label Tigerlily.
But, Bridget's career is being carefully mapped by her agency and her parents Andrew and Deborah, who won't allow the teen to travel without one of them accompanying her.
The Perth beauty, who turns 16 in November, was to have flown to Bali in October for a third Harper's shoot, but because her mother was unable to go with her, Bridget pulled out.
Vivien's has not seen this kind of excitement about a model in a long time.
"Bridget is the complete package,'' Vivien's head Chris Fox said. ``She encapsulates exquisite beauty inside and out, and is attracting major interest at the higher end of the fashion industry.
"She has her own look that does not mirror anyone that we have seen before and she has everything that the international industry is looking for.
"She has the real potential of going all the way and everyone can see it. Her innocence is another factor. This is really fate. She really had no intention or inclination of being a model.''
The 180cm beauty, who has modelled twice for STM magazine, has been dancing since she was three.
Last October she was in the Forrest Place crowd at Vivien's annual model search parade, when she was picked out by the organisers and flung on the catwalk.
She came third to Anna Davoll in the competition, but has been on a rapid ride to stardom since.
"Honestly, the thought of modelling never even crossed my mind so all this is new but very exciting,'' Bridget said of her ``accidental'' modelling career.
"I've had to get a lot more organised so that I don't fall behind in my schoolwork, but I've managed to adapt and stay on top of my study. I find a way to fit it all in. I break up modelling with other things that keep me sane, like ballet and my music.
"My parents are very supportive. They come with me to the shoots that involve travelling, which is good because they can take care of me after working
"They want me to do what I'm happy doing, but I want to finish school. It is a bit of extra pressure, but it's very rewarding pressure, and that makes it all worth it.''
Meares heard about Malcolm from a Harper's contact when the two met at the hairdressers.
"We had a girl coming from Paris and at the last minute she just decided she didn't want to come,'' Meares said.
"It's hard to find models of that calibre in Australia because they're always overseas.
"I was sitting in the hairdressers wondering what I was going to do when Claudia Navone from Harper's Bazaar came by and said, `You've got to use this girl, she's amazing, and she's from Perth'. She showed me a photo -- and that's how we got Bridget.
"And what a gorgeous girl, the way she moves because of her ballet training is unbelievable. She's exquisite.''
