Kylie Bax

By Sara Templeton

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Largely unknown in Australia, Kylie Bax went from living a relatively normal life, to being thrust into the hectic world of fashion.

She's appeared in glossy mags like Elle, Marie Claire and even Vanity Fair, and has worked with a host of top designers and fashion houses to boot.

It all started in the North Island of New Zealand, Thames to be precise, where Kylie was born.

The day was January 5th, the year 1975, and she grew up in the serene countryside on her parents horse-breeding farm, and most will agree that she got her stunning good looks from her mother - also a model in her heyday.

Kylie's rise to prominence was quick - some would even say one of the quickest - perhaps a testament to her natural talents, and also her willingness to work with others for the ultimate shots.

She was first spotted in New Zealand (reports suggest it was in a shopping centre of all places) by a Clyne Model Management agent, a company with bases in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. After some initial local modeling, is wasn't long before Kylie Bax left her home country for the Big Apple - NYC, New York.

Kylie was warmly accepted into the modeling fraternity, and from an early stage none other than German-born Karl Lagerfeld took her under his wing, seeing huge potential in the New Zealander.

The Chanel front-man persuaded Kylie to cut her hair short and colour it blonde, and the effect was dazzling to say the least -- Kylie went from pretty-but-generic to gorgeously unique in less than a day. Lagerfeld then sent the emerging model to work with and learn from Steven Meisel, on of our time's most influential photographers.

Before long, Kylie's grooming was complete, and she made a big impact in the minds and hearts of fashion gurus and industry bigwigs everywhere.

In addition to her natural beauty, she had a level of self confidence, and perhaps it was her can-do attitude that landed her deals with three agencies: Storm in London; Marilyn in Paris and Women in New York.

She went on to work with fashion labels such as DKNY, Versace, Oscar de la Renta, Clinique, Escada, Georgio Armani and Louis Vuitton on various advertising campaigns, while strutting her stuff on international runways for the likes of Christian Lacroix, Valentino, Chanel, Moschino and Christian Dior.

She's appeared on the cover of many a fashion magazine, including Vogue (Australia, Paris, Spain, Italy), Marie Claire (USA, Spain) and Harper's Bazaar, in addition to the aforementioned Elle and Vanity Fair publications - and you may as well add the World famous Web Wombat Fashion Channel to that list as well.

With her status as a top model cemented, and her recognition building, Kylie Bax did what was normal for a model who yearns for more celebrity - she went to Hollywood.

She managed to score bit-parts in movies like Storm Catcher (1999) and later appeared in We Married Margo (2000) and The Bone Ripper (2000) alongside 90s action star Dolph Lundgren.

Her inclusion in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the year 2000 was the icing on the cake for Kylie, which thrust her into the mainstream, and made her face an unmistakable visage in the consciousness of non fashionophiles.

Today, Kylie Bax still generates plenty of interest, whether it's for new photo shoots, ad campaigns or just for the next beau she's dating. And still very fond of horses, she in fact owns a 100-acre ranch in the American state of Kentucky, where she breeds racehorses. She also has home in Los Angeles and New York.

Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown	Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown
Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown	Source: Unknown Photography: Unknown