Stella Tennant

Stella Tennant (born 17 December 1970) is a British model. The granddaughter of Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire and Deborah Mitford, one of the well-known aristocratic siblings the Mitford sisters, Tennant was born in Scotland and attended St Leonards School in St Andrews. Her parents are The Hon. Tobias William Tennant, son of the 2nd Baron Glenconner, and Lady Emma Cavendish.

Career

Tennant was studying sculpture at the Winchester School of Art when she was "discovered". She sent photographs of herself to a high fashion magazine, and a friend introduced her to fashion writer Plum Sykes. She had recently had her nasal septum pierced, which was an unusual look for models at the time, and Sykes was taken aback. She subsequently attracted the attention of photographers such as Steven Meisel and Bruce Weber and soon achieved success, posing for magazines such as French, British and Italian Vogue as well as Harper's Bazaar and Numero.

"One key shoot she did was photographer Steven Meisel's Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in 1993, informally known as the 'London babes' shoot. At a cost of around £80,000, it is still the most expensive shoot for British Vogue. Isabella Blow's brief was to find beautiful aristocratic English girls to inspire Meisel. The girls who made the final cut were Blow's cousin, Honor Fraser, the designer Bella Freud, Blow's new assistant Plum Sykes, and Tennant." Meisel then used her on the cover of Italian Vogue. Soon after, Karl Lagerfeld announced Tennant as the new face of Chanel, with a rumoured £1 million contract. During the Babes shoot, Issie told Tennant, "If I make you famous, I want a bottle of my favourite perfume.' A bottle of Fracas duly arrived".^[1]

Tennant has appeared on fashion runways for Shiatzy Chen, Chanel and is a muse of the designer Karl Lagerfeld. She has also appeared in numerous advertising campaigns, including Calvin Klein, Hermès, and Burberry. Recently she has starred in L.K.Bennett's new Spring Summer 10 campaign photographed by Tim Walker.

Tennant married French photographer David Lasnet in her home town of Oxnam, Scotland on 22 June 1999. They have four children together (Marcel, born 1998, Cecily, born 2001, Jasmine, born 2003 and Iris, born 2005) and live near Duns, in the small village of Edrom in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders.

In 2009, Tennant worked with green lifestyle organisation Global Cool to promote using less energy at home. She made a video with them and became one of the faces of their Turn Up The Style, Turn Down The Heat campaign.^[2]

In June 2012, Tennant was inducted in the Scottish Fashion Awards Hall of Fame at their annual awards event.^[3] During the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, Tennant was one of the British models wearing fashions created by British designers specifically for the event.^[4]

London 2012 Models (2)

In August 2014, Tennant was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.^[5]

References

External links

• Stella Tennant at the Fashion Model Directory
• Hello magazine profile