Catherine McNeil

Model

Catherine McNeil was born on March 20, 1989, in Brisbane, Australia. A tomboy at heart, McNeil always rode motorbikes to pass the time and wanted to pursue a career as an auto-technician. However, her life took a significant turn when she won a CoverGirl Model Search competition at 14. In 2006, she signed with Next Management, and the agency sent her to meet with fashion photographer Mario Testino. After meeting McNeil, Testino signed her to an exclusive six-month contract and photographed her for Vogue British and Vogue Paris. She continued to work with Testino throughout her career including an editorial for Vogue and V. In 2007, she landed her first major cover for V, which predicted that she would be the next supermodel and Vogue British named her one of their Head Girls, an up-and-coming model to watch for the season. McNeil has been a part of numerous editorials and featured on many magazine covers; among the numerous worldwide editions of Vogue, she has also been in Numéro, W, and i-D. McNeil made her runway debut in 2007 and opened for Missoni, Alexander McQueen, Alessandro Dell’Acqua and Givenchy. Soon enough, she was being featured in Style.com as a rising star and the New York Times published an article about her titled, “Fashion’s Latest Crush.” In 2007, she was photographed for her campaigns with D&G, Hugo Boss and Donna Karan. The following year, she became the new face of Jean Paul Gaultier, replacing supermodel Gemma Ward.