Marpessa Hennink

Dutch fashion model, nicknamed "the Catwalk Contessa" and best known for her collaborations with Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana, having walked the runway for their first fashion show in 1985, at the beginning of their career as designers. In 1987, Hennink was chosen by Dolce & Gabbana to star in the advertising campaign for their Fall/Winter collection. It was the first campaign for the label, and Hennink agreed to do it for free. The campaign was photographed in Sicily and Hennink made such an impression that she came to be seen as an icon of Mediterranean femininity. In October of that year, Hennink was named "Model of the Year". She was sometimes paired with model Veronica Webb in fashion shows and in magazine photo spreads. In 1993, Hennink retired from modeling, having been put off by the arrival of the grunge fashion trend. Upon her retirement, she moved to Ibiza, Spain, where she began a career as an interior decorator. She made a return to the fashion runways in 2004, where she closed the Fall/Winter show for designer Antonio Marras. In January 2011, Hennink was chosen to walk in a special fashion show held by designer Alberta Ferretti in Florence, Italy. In 2012, Dolce & Gabbana launched a line of made-to-measure clothing called "Alta Moda", and chose Hennink as the global ambassador for that line. Hennink was born to a Dutch hippie mother and a Surinamese father of partial black African ancestry. She speaks six languages. In her spare time, she enjoys photography. In 2005, Hennink gave birth to a daughter. Link to Wikipedia biography