‘I’m happy that my career is still going strong’

Supermodel Jeneil Williams appears in American Vogue this March, the first major editorial outing for the megastar since giving birth to her daughter, Dylan. This appearance is significant in many ways for a model who is one of the most successful and enduring from the Caribbean. In tribute to her unprecedented success, Williams, a much-awarded star, also appeared on both covers of a special Pulse 42nd anniversary magazine.

“I feel good about shooting with Vogue again. The team was great, and working with such an important magazine is always awesome,” said Williams, adding that the shoot was like a reunion. “It was cool to be with some of the legends like Cindy Crawford and also to be back on set with some of the girls like Amber Valetta, whom I shot the Love cover with.”

Vogue is the unofficial ‘bible’ of the fashion industry, and American Vogue is its flagship publication. In the current issue, Williams is one of a number of models featured as the magazine explores body types and diversity in fashion. She is photographed with her daughter for the first time in a major publication, and a number of additional mother/daughter images will appear in subsequent issues. This previously hush-hush project is a special Vogue feature that explores some of the burning issues of this groundbreaking era.

Williams has appeared on the cover of Vogue no less than three times, joining a list of Jamaican models including Lois Samuels, Alicia Burke and Sedene Blake. Over the years, she has become one of the true icons of the modelling industry. She has also been one of the most enduring, shooting a publication such as Vogue almost 20 years into her career. She still looks amazing, and is excited about the direction the magazine has taken with this feature. “I’m glad that they ( Vogue) are featuring people with different body types, mothers etc.,” Williams shared. “Having my daughter, Dylan has been such a blessing, and I wouldn’t trade my body after baby for anything.”

ACHIEVEMENTS

A former Vere Technical athlete, Williams has been a Nike model for a long time. Recently, she was the cover of a new book – Supreme Model – highlighting the rise of black supermodels in the world. Her awards, accomplishments, accolades and game-changing achievements have been many and several, and have been catalogued by fashion’s most important manuals. Vogue featured her as one of five Jamaican models who changed the face of fashion. Only herself and Pulse agency colleague Nadine Willis were raised and developed in Jamaica. The others, such as Grace Jones and Stacy McKenzie, were discovered and developed in Europe and Canada, respectively.

Karl Lagerfeld, the celebrated designer, chose Williams as his special muse, one who constantly inspired great work from the Chanel creative director legend. He shot her for the famed Pirelli calendar and a slew of campaigns, including an iconic marketing triumph for Coca-Cola.

Williams has walked runway miles for almost every fashion brand making the cut as a “great” or noteworthy fashion line. Similarly, her covers include many of the world’s top publications other than Vogue, including the special Conde Nast sister publication Love, in an issue that featured different covers, all highlighting a different member of the then top 10 models in the world, including Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Amber Valetta, Natalia Vodianova and Daria Werbowy. French, i-D, BNM, The Wall Street Journal are among the others for which she was the cover girl. In her campaigns, also, she represented the world’s major brands, too numerous to mention. Another great moment was her selection for a major L’Oreal Paris campaign.

Having come from humble beginnings to the Pulse Model Search, and introduced to the New York market by Pulse chief, Kingsley Cooper, Williams’ legacy is now emblazoned in the annals of fashion history, and she is still going.

“I’m happy that my career is still going strong, through and beyond motherhood. I haven’t really stopped, and it’s such a blessing,” shared Williams.

lifestyle@gleanerjm.com