Jodie beats her fears to return to the catwalk

MODeL Jodie Kidd, who became a poster girl for the ‘ heroin chic’ grunge look in the Nineties alongside Kate Moss, stunned the fashion world when she retired from the catwalk because she was suffering from severe panic attacks.

Now the 40-year-old, below, who has modelled for chanel and Dolce & Gabbana, is to face her demons today by returning to London Fashion Week for the first time in ten years. I can reveal that Jodie, who since leaving full-time modelling has enjoyed a varied career including tV presenting, race car driving and owning a pub in east sussex, will be making her comeback in the Vin + Omi show at the Andaz London Liverpool street hotel.

British design duo Vin + Omi, whose colourful and quirky wares have been worn by the likes of Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama, specialise in sustainable fashion — a cause close to Jodie’s heart, as she campaigns against the use of plastic to protect our oceans. the 6ft 2in mother-of-one will be modelling an outfit made from salvaged plastic bottles. she tells me: ‘I would like to write about anxiety next, having suffered from it for so many years. I would like to talk about it a bit more, even though I’m not an expert therapist. through the years of suffering I’ve explored different avenues.’ Jodie, who made one charity catwalk appearance in 2015, has talked of suffering anxiety her whole life, which compelled her to stop modelling.

‘It’s not performance anxiety — it’s full-on anxiety,’ she said. ‘I had proper wobbles when I was in my late teens and there was a lot of pressure in the fashion industry, which made things worse.’

‘I had to stop. I could be backstage about to go on the catwalk, or even doing something as ordinary as the weekly shop, and I’d panic. I knew I couldn’t walk down another catwalk again.’