Agyness Deyn

Agyness Deyn is from Littleborough in Greater Manchester. She is the second of three children. Her mother Lorraine is a nurse. She attended All Saints RC High School and Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School and Sixth Form in Waterfoot, Rossendale. Deyn's working life started serving cod, chips and mushy peas part-time at 17, which she did in Stubbins. In 1999, she won the Rossendale Free Press "Face of '99" competition, aged just 16. She left home for London, working in a burger joint during the day and a bar at night but she admits: “I tried to make cocktails but it didn’t quite work.”During this time she says she was also at college in Hull, studying drama and music. Aged 18, she was spotted by a photographer and snapped up by Models 1 model agency.

One of her regular customers in the chip shop was Henry Holland, designer and creator of the House of Holland rhyming slogan T-shirts. She is now the face of the company. Deyn has appeared on Vogue Italia, twice - the November 2006 issue and the September 2007 issue. Both covers were photographed by fashion photographer Steven Meisel.

In the May 2007 issue of American Vogue, she was featured on the cover with fellow models Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Sasha Pivovarova, Jessica Stam, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda, Chanel Iman, and Lily Donaldson as the new crop of supermodels. She was on the cover of June 2007 issue of UK Vogue. Deyn was also on the cover of the Observer Woman supplement in September 2007.

Despite in interviews claiming to be 22 years of age, her listing on the Companies House website, under the name Laura Hollins, shows her birthdate as February 16, 1983, not as February 16, 1986, as she, her associates and internet databases claim. Throughout 2007, Deyn's mother, Lorraine, has been questioned in various publications and tabloids about her daughter's age, but in response has said that she has been advised not to comment on the issue.