SHE could be our next supermodel, and Samantha Harris hopes to change a few perceptions. --------------------------------------------------
IF Samantha Harris has heard the talk that she is going to be the first Aboriginal supermodel she is keeping it to herself. Instead, as we chat during her hair and make-up session ahead of our shoot at Gouger St's Royale Lounge bar, she prefers to discuss her hairstyle, plans for her 21st birthday earlier this month, and her engagement last August to 25 year-old builder Luke Hunt - low-key and the only way she would have wanted it.
But there's nothing low-key about her catwalk success. As the face for young women's fashion with top-end department store David Jones, Harris now finds herself in the enviable company of ambassadors Megan Gale and Miranda Kerr. Being associated with the DJ's brand and a pair of household names like Gale and Kerr, "is just a dream come true," she says modestly.
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I sense that Harris, who once said that she hopes her success is "because I work hard at being a good model", would like to live in a world where racial diversity among models passes without comment. The overseas market is "completely different to Sydney and Australia".
Harris plans to head to New York for castings later this year. "Overseas they've got more ethnically different girls," she says, adding that she would like to have a long career like Heidi Klum or Naomi Campbell.
Later that week, I come across the Shop Til You Drop July issue. Editor Justine Cullen refers to her covergirl as "the beautiful Samantha Harris". No mention of race. Perhaps Harris has already changed the way we see ourselves.
Samantha Harris will be modelling at the David Jones Spring Summer 2011 National Fashion launch in Sydney on August 3.