ELLE OF A TIME
Supermodel’s Auckland trip
Supermodel and businesswoman Elle Macpherson started working for a chemist when she was just 13.
She turned to modelling to pay her way through university. That was 37 years ago. Her star rose so quickly that she never finished her degree.
“It’s been a really interesting journey along the way,” the 55-yearold said in Auckland before a soldout speech last night at SkyCity.
Macpherson last appeared on the catwalk to close Louis Vuitton’s autumn 2010 show at Paris Fashion Week, flanked by fellow supermodels Laetitia Casta, Bar Rafaeli, Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima.
She says the transition from supermodel to businesswoman was a smooth one, describing how her “own personal wellness journey has become my personal business”.
“It’s incredibly fulfilling,” she says.
Macpherson found her business niche in the wellness space, forming her brand WelleCo in 2014.
“For me, wellness has always been part of my life—when I was younger it was probably called ‘fitness’ — but I believe [in] working in a business that I adore,” she says.
WelleCo specialises in superfood and protein powders. Its headquarters are in Perth. Despite being based in Miami, Florida, Macpherson says she tries to make it back to Perth every two months or so to check on how things are progressing.
“Moving from Australia to the US led me to one of the biggest crossroads in my life,” she says.
“I was a jack of all trades in Australia, but I came to a country where models specialised — they only did runway, or they only did covers, or editorial.
“But the rise of the supermodel meant there was a need for more versatility — which I had already been schooled in,” she says.
A professional mantra she lives by is: “To get something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.”
This motto has stuck with her throughout her career, during which she launched a lingerie collection and her own skincare line, before dabbling in the world of wellness.
She says she often tells her sons Flynn, 21, and Aurelius Cy, 16, “if you do what you love and you love what you do, you never really work another day in your life”.
“And don’t take short cuts. Short cuts often end in dead ends.”
Macpherson was in Auckland as a guest of honour for last night’s New Zealand Fashion Week Gala at SkyCity.