| Early life |
| Lily Donaldson was born in London, as the child of the photographer Matthew Donaldson and wife Tiffany. She was educated at the Camden School for Girls and lived in Kentish Town with her parents. |
| At the age of 16, Donaldson was shopping in Camden when she was spotted by a scout from the agency Select. It was a rainy day and she and a friend were huddling for cover under a shop awning when the talent scout handed her a business card and asked her to get in touch. |
| Career |
| Since being scouted by Select Model Management in 2003, Donaldson has become one of Britain’s most coveted models, landing campaigns for leading fashion houses such as Dior, Jil Sander, Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana. |
![]( "Vogue US May 2007") |
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, Agyness Deyn, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda, Chanel Iman, and Jessica Stam as the new crop of supermodels and she was described as the “smartest and most sophisticated of the bunch”. Later, in the September 2007 issue of British Vogue, she was named a “Head Girl”, a model to watch out for in the upcoming season. She is featured on the front cover of the May 2008 issue of Wound Magazine against a backdrop of artwork by the Japanese artist Yutaka Inagawa. |
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| Donaldson has appeared in advertisements for Gucci, Chanel, Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Jil Sander, Roberto Cavalli, Valentino, Emanuel Ungaro, Max Mara as well as being the face of British luxury goods house Burberry. She is one of the favorite models of designer Alber Elbaz of Lanvin. Booking agents describe her as down to earth and a pleasure to work with. A staff member at Select said: “She is the biggest British model in the world and absolutely beautiful but she doesn’t act like it.” |
| Donaldson, who was considering going to art school before she was discovered, says her heroine is Linda Evangelista, whom she describes as a “serious supermodel who still looks amazing”. |
She sees modelling as a utopian melting pot.
We have all come from different parts of the planet and every walk of life, and we come together in this mad ball of energy.
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| In 2005, Donaldson was nominated for the Model of the Year award at the British Fashion Awards, but was beaten by Karen Elson. Three years later, in 2008, she was nominated for the award again, but was beaten by Jourdan Dunn. |
| Personal life |
| Donaldson dated Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, son of Vogue Paris Editor-In-Chief Carine Roitfeld. She is close friends with models Gemma Ward and Irina Lazareanu, the latter with whom she shot a Mulberry campaign. Her other friends include fellow models Freja Beha Erichsen, Caroline Winberg, Lisa Cant, Jessica Stam, Caroline Trentini, Julia Stegner, Agyness Deyn and Raquel Zimmermann. |
| Donaldson is one of the highest paid models of the new generation. In May 2008 she reportedly spent US$2.2 million on purchasing a two-bedroom apartment on Tompkins Square Park around East Eighth Street in New York. |
Source: Wikipedia (also edited in part by Cynthia)
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