MADELINE. Modelling for Daisy’s

MADELINE

The Model

Madeline and I grew up in the same area. Before she ever modelled for me, she was a client at Daisy's Hair Shop — a regular in the chair, long before anyone thought about magazines or editorial shoots.

She trained as a nurse and went on to specialise within her field before moving away. But in the years she sat in my chair, she had a softness to her — a genuinely feminine nature — and she was hugely photogenic. Every style suited her. That's rare. Most people carry one or two looks well; Madeline carried all of them.

She was adventurous too, at a time when that wasn't the easy option. Bold, vivid fashion colours. Sharp geometric cuts. She said yes to things a lot of clients would have hesitated over, and she never looked anything less than striking wearing them.

Scarlet Flash© was the piece that ended up published on the centre page of a national magazine, alongside Trevor Sorbie. Later, after growing her hair out, she modelled Bronze Plane© for the Cubist Collection. Years after that, she came back again for The Firebird© — a different decade, a different setting, the same willingness to trust the work.

Bronze Plane© was published more than once. On one occasion it was wrongly credited to a salon in Germany — not us, though the work was ours. We never knew in advance when we'd been published. There was no notification, no advance copy. We'd just get wind that a new issue might be out and run down to WHSmith on the chance we'd be in it again. The buzz between us all in those moments is hard to describe now. None of us ever thought it was something that could actually happen to us — and then it kept happening.

Three collections. Three completely different conversations. One model, carrying all of it.

None of it happens without saying thank you, and meaning it. Without Madeline, without everyone who worked alongside each other none of this exists. Daisy's Hair Shop was a salon from nowhere — a market town, a back street, no pedigree, no backing. What it had was enthusiasm, and a team willing to put the work in. That's the only reason any of that coverage ever happened. It was never one person's achievement.

A note on the images: some of these were photos of photos, forwarded on over the years, and not all have survived in great quality. Where needed, I've edited them — and for Bronze Plane©, I gave her some bold red lipstick, simply because I could.