I’m delighted my daughter aged six will be modelling on the catwalks of Paris and New York, says her Co Armagh mother
THE mother of a Northern Ireland child model who stormed Kids’ London Fashion Week and earned invites to hit the catwalks of Paris and New York said it was a “positive” experience for her six-year-old daughter but acknowledged some parents may disapprove.
Last week Paulina Reynolds’ daughter Hailey-Jane from Ballyhegan in Co Armagh, walked in the Mini Mode fashion show as part of Global Kids’ Fashion Week.
The show is a platform for the children’s fashion market.
It showcases both emerging designers and major kids brands and takes place during the renowned London Fashion Week.
Hailey-Jane and her fiveyear-old brother Jackson are both signed up to modelling agencies.
Paulina acknowledged that some people would disapprove of thrusting young children into the modelling world and admitted there were “positives and negatives” to working in the industry.
“For myself, I don’t do anything that my kids don’t enjoy and don’t want to do,” she said.
“It’s not like I force them to do it. I always ask them if they want to and if they enjoy it. If I see they don’t, they don’t have to do it.
“It’s only because I know that they’re enjoying the photoshoots and now the catwalks that I don’t mind putting them on social media or doing modelling.
“But if at any stage they don’t like it or they’re not okay with it, I would stop it straight away. I’m glad that it’s happening as a mother, but they come first and how they feel comes first.”
Paulina wants both her children to get into modelling because they love being in front of the camera.
Despite thousands of applicants for this year’s Mini Mode show, Hailey-Jane, a pupil at St Oliver Plunkett’s Primary School in Loughgall, Co Armagh, made it on to the shortlist before waiting five months to find out if she would be walking the runway.
“I was so, so happy because I actually thought they would just shortlist her and that would be it, but when she got in I was really happy and so was she,” said Paulina.
Paulina, who is originally from Poland, but now lives in Ballyhegan with her husband Mark and two children, described the whole experience as “surreal.”
“I thought she would be a little bit scared, you know, because even though she’s a typical wee girl and she loves trying on clothes and all of that, I was so scared that when she came out on stage and saw all the cameras and the music and the people, she wasn’t going to walk.
“But she simply loved it. After the first walk, she said, ‘Mummy, I can’t believe I’ve done it.’”
The show opened up opportunities for Hailey-Jane, with she and Jackson both invited by designers to walk in some of next season’s Paris and New York Fashion Week shows.
As well as kidswear designer bosses, former Love Island winner Cara De La Hoyde attended the show, where the 26-year-old was debuting her childrenswear collection, Embroidery by FJ.
Hailey-Jane and Jackson are signed up to several modelling agencies in the hope that they will get into catalogue modelling for high street brands such as Next and Gap.
Paulina spoke of the lack of modelling opportunities in Northern Ireland, saying that her kids’ modelling careers were at a huge disadvantage because they didn’t live in London. “We would already be in catalogues if we were based in London because we do get phone calls, but they will be for last minute jobs and asking us to be there at 9.30am the next day,” she said.
“Sometimes it’s just impossible (to do that) because I work, my husband works and the kids have school, so it’s unrealistic.
“But I know if we lived in London they would be so much further along with the modelling.”
❝ I thought she would be a bit scared when she came out on the stage, but she simply loved it