How a spur-of-the-moment decision to attend a Khloe Kardashian casting call out launched an extraordinary modelling career for an Australian teenager
- Cameron Stephens went to a casting call for Khloe Kardashian’s Good American
- She said she wasn’t going to go but a friend insisted and a month later flew to LA
- Stephens signed a modelling contract with IMG Sydney following the campaign
Sydney local Cameron Stephens’ break in the modelling industry is better described as a bang.
Fresh out of high school in 2018, Stephens won a coveted spot as a model for Khloe Kardashian’s denim label Good American after a friend urged her to attend a casting call.
‘I wasn’t going to do it but my friend insisted. I really didn’t think much of it at the time,’ she told AAP on Tuesday.
Cameron Stephens (left) went to a casting call for Khloe Kardashian’s (right) denim label Good American in 2018
‘Literally a month later on my 18th birthday, I found out I was going to Los Angeles to join the campaign.’
After landing the coveted spot in the Good Squad – as the brand dubs its models – Stephens signed a modelling contract with IMG Sydney and has walked the runway for designers including Hansen and Gretel and Matteau at Australian Fashion Week.
‘I’ve been catapulted straight into it but it’s been a blessing,’ she said of the past year.
The 19-year-old is proudly breaking stereotypes as a curve model in the fashion industry, which globally has turned its back on the trend of waif-thin models and recently made strides toward body diversity.
Overseas, the latest autumn-winter season saw significantly more representation for women of different body types than in previous years.
Locally, plus-size model Ashley Graham received a standing ovation as she sashayed down the runway at the 2019 Melbourne Fashion Festival.
After landing the coveted spot in the Good Squad – as the brand dubs its models – Stephens signed a modelling contract with IMG Sydney
Stephens has walked the runway for designers including Hansen and Gretel and Matteau at Australian Fashion Week
Stephens counts Graham as one of her inspirations, along with Paloma Elsesser, who made history in February as one of two plus-size models to be cast in a Fendi show for the first time.
‘I feel like I was lucky to come in at a time where diversity is celebrated,’ Stephens said.
Stephens followed in the footsteps of Graham as she walked in David Jones season launch at the Melbourne Fashion Festival on Tuesday night.
Stephens counts Graham as one of her inspirations, along with Paloma Elsesser, who made history in February as one of two plus-size models to be cast in a Fendi show for the first time
She joined David Jones ambassador Victoria Lee and internationally renowned indigenous Australian model Charlee Fraser at the Royal Exhibition Building as the department store unveiled its new autumn-winter collection.
Among the more than 160 looks shown were new designers to David Jones’ stable including Isabel Marant, LaCausa, Marle, Marni, and Paris Georgia.
David Jones general manager womenswear Bridget Veals said key trends for the season include ‘oversized yet structured tailoring, details of exaggerated shoulders and draping, and soft fabrications of cashmere and buttery leather in tones of burgundy, grey and neutrals’.