Samantha Harris is my fashion muse because she has shown that ethnicity and poverty mean nothing when you are truly beautiful inside and out. Her mother, Myrna Sussye, was part of the Stolen Generations (Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their parents and ‘re-educated’ so they could be assimilated into European culture as servants). She then had to raise four children in a housing estate, struggling to finance Samantha’s dream of becoming a beauty queen/model.
Samantha started attending beauty pageants when she was six years old, wearing op shop gowns and encountering rejection and subtle racism, as she was always finalist and never a winner. What did the winners look like? White with blonde hair and blue eyes, usually wearing a $500+ outfit. Her mother convinced her to keep going, instilling ideals about her inner beauty and at age 13, she was a finalist in Girlfriend Magazine, and was signed up to Chic Management not long after.
So why haven’t we heard of this girl until this year? Because she was being smart: going to school while looking after her body, and only doing modelling gigs on holidays and weekends. Samantha finally graduated high school, her portfolio with new pictures were sent to every big name in Australia- and she ended up walking in 18 shows (the majority she opened) during their fashion week. Now that she has conquered Oz with her good looks, the rest of the world should be sitting up and taking notice.
I admire this girl because she’s not like most teenage models who quit school and don’t look after themselves (and then end up being undesirable models after puberty). She’s made a smart career move, and if she plays her cards right she’ll be the next Naomi Campbell!
