Erin O'Connor

Mar 4, 2026

Erin O'Connor, British supermodel, writer and advocate who founded Model Sanctuary, recalls walking for Alexander McQueen and early backstage rituals. She discusses performing characters to hide shyness, navigating working-class roots and body shame, and using alter egos to manage anxiety. Conversations touch on fashion as art, collaborative craft, and moments of liberation on stage.

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INSIGHT

How Playing Characters Protected Her Identity

Erin O'Connor detached from photographed

ANECDOTE

Working Class Childhood Fueled Her Ambition

Erin describes growing up in an Irish Catholic working class family that fostered creativity and ambition despite economic struggle.
She recalls playing outside until street-lamp curfew, vivid Catholic imagery of the stations of the cross, and sisters inventing stories as performers.

INSIGHT

Compliance Became A Survival Strategy

Erin explains early compliance came from learning that doing as told bought acceptance and safety.
She connects school rituals like confession to becoming a people-pleaser who suppressed herself to earn belonging.

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Erin O’Connor is a British supermodel, writer, and advocate. She grew up in the West Midlands and was scouted as a teenager at the iconic 90’s cult show The Clothes Show live.

Erin O’Connor’s modelling debut was in i-D magazine in 1996, shot by Juergen Teller. She soon rose to prominence, walking the runway for esteemed designers including Prada, Gucci, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior, Versace, John Galliano and Jean-Paul Gaultier. More recently, Erin has walked for Tom Ford and Willy Chavarria.

Karl Lagerfeld once described O’Connor as “one of the best models in the world” and Erin has been photographed by industry giants including Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Nick Knight, Mario Testino, David Bailey, Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Lindbergh and Tim Walker. Erin featured in the Channel 4 documentary This Model Life in 2003, and has since written and presented two documentaries about fashion for BBC Radio 4, as well as contributing articles to British Vogue, The Times, i-D, and GQ.

Alongside her modelling, Erin is an advocate for model well-being and mental health. Through her position as Vice Chair of the British Fashion Council Erin founded Model Sanctuary, a non-profit initiative, providing support and resources for models during fashion week.

Since 2011, Erin has been an ambassador for Save the Children and is an ambassador for Borne, a UK-based medical research charity dedicated to preventing premature birth and improving outcomes for mothers and babies.

In recognition of her substantial contributions to fashion and charitable causes, Erin was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II.

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Erin O’Connor discuss walking for Alexander McQueen, coming from a working class background and being described as aristocratic, and holding her own against an unfriendly Feminist.

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