Kick-start to modelling
Raylene, 17, to walk at New York Fashion Week
A YOUNG stunner who is just beginning to break into the modelling world has been given an opportunity of a lifetime - modelling at New York Fashion Week.
Raylene Smith is a 17-yearold Harristown State High School student whose dream it is to model as a career.
She has done a few photoshoots and taken to the catwalk in an Alice Springs fashion show with indigenous model Salma Bowie.
Ms Smith is a proud Mandandanji and Kamilaroi woman, with a famous Indigenous fashion designer aunty.
Colleen Tighe-Johnson uses her talents to harness the spirits of her ancestors and revive Gomeroi dreaming stories through her label Buluuy Mirrii.
Her work has featured on international runways in Melbourne, New Zealand, Canada and New York Fashion Week.
Now, she has invited her niece to model for her in New York.
Ms Smith said it was an incredible opportunity.
“I am so keen. It is a big opportunity and I am really excited to get my name and face out there,” she said.
“I’m also extremely nervous as this will be the biggest modelling job I’ve ever had and I am still quite new to it all.”
New York Fashion week will take place from Thursday, September 6 to Friday, September 14.
While her aunty is covering a majority of costs to get Ms Smith to the United States, she has also started at GoFundMe to help lessen the financial strain.
“My goal is to raise $1000, I’m saving money from my part time job and hoping the fundraising page will help too,” she said.
To donate visit www.gofundme.com/n65ufg-help-raylene-get-to-new-york.