ROSIE HUNTINGTONWHITELEY

BUSINESSWOMAN

At the Ralph Lauren S/S 17 show during New York Fashion Week, all eyes were on the supermodel Rosie HuntingtonWhiteley. On this occasion, however, she wasn’t strutting down the catwalk. Instead, wearing a burgundy velvet slip dress, black snake-skin boots, and a bejewelled choker, she was seated in the front row, alongside Julianne Moore and Jessica Alba, reflecting her ascent to the A list as one of fashion’s most bankable brands.

At the age of 29, Rosie is Britain’s biggest-earning model, netting an estimated £7 million since June 2015. In the past year, she has appeared on the cover of Bazaar, starred in a Burberry campaign and walked for her friend Olivier Rousteing in his Balmain show. But her skyrocketing income owes even more to her own astute business decisions than it does to her beauty.

After five years, her Rosie for Autograph partnership with Marks & Spencer remains as successful as ever, and now has fragrance, sleepwear and make-up added to the original range of beautiful vintage-inspired silk and lace lingerie. Initially, Rosie was approached by the brand merely to star in an ad campaign; it was she who suggested a collaboration. Having modelled for Agent Provocateur and Victoria’s Secret, she knew the market inside out. The statistics speak for themselves: a third of women in the UK wear Marks & Spencer bras – and one in three of those bras is Rosie for Autograph.

Not content with conquering the underwear market, Rosie is the new face of Nirav Modi diamond jewellery. She also has a partnership with Paige Denim, and Ugg Australia has announced her as its first global women’s brand ambassador (Rosie’s love affair with the boots began when she was a teenager, after she saved up to buy a pair). ‘I’m proactive when it comes to reaching out to brands,’ she says. ‘It’s so important that I have a genuine connection with a product.’

She has also curated an impressive social-media presence, sharing pictures of her collaborations, campaigns and red-carpet appearances with her six million Instagram followers and always keeping her businesses at the forefront.

It’s this drive for authenticity, combined with her work ethic, that has made her so successful in the fashion industry. ‘I come from very humble beginnings,’ she says. ‘I grew up on a farm in Devon and I left school at 16. So when I decided to go full-time as a model there was no option to give up. That survival instinct is what keeps me focused.’

For now, that ambition means Los Angeles is where Rosie needs to be; she lives in Beverly Hills with her fiancé, the actor Jason Statham. ‘The one big downside is not having my family within reach,’ she says. ‘I would love to be able to invite them over for a roast dinner, or to be able to say to my sister or brother, “Why don’t you pop over for a glass of wine tonight?”, but I can’t, and it weighs heavily on me.’

Perhaps, I suggest, with a wedding to plan, and a milestone birthday coming up next year, she might be able to take her foot off the accelerator for a while? ‘I don’t think you can ever sit back and think, “I’ve made it, now I can relax,”’ she says. ‘As soon as you start to have that attitude, that’s when you lose it. My mum taught me to never be complacent; I’m always thinking, “What else there is left to do and where I can go now?” I have always been drawn to women who have built something for themselves and who are unashamedly themselves. To me, that is the true power of a woman.’

Britain’s highest-earning supermodel has also developed her business talents

to build the ultimate personal brand. By Lucy Halfhead PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEXI LUBOMIRSKI STYLED BY MIRANDA ALMOND