Indigenous Australian model Charlee Fraser has said her big win at the Australian Fashion Laureate Awards this week represents the industryâs progress towards greater diversity and representation.
The 23-year-old was nominated for the Model Of The Year award alongside Sudanese Australian Duckie Thot, body diversity advocate Robyn Lawley and fellow model Julia Nobis. On Wednesday she claimed victory at an exclusive lunch in Sydney, and said âthis award means everything to meâ.
âI feel insanely honoured to have been nominated alongside some of Australiaâs most iconic and diverse women,â Charlee told HuffPost Australia. âItâs great to physically see the fashion industry change in such positive ways.â
After being scouted back in 2013 at age 18, the modelâs career took off internationally when she made her New York Fashion Week debut in 2016. However, modelling wasnât always her first career choice, as sheâd initially hoped to study business and beauty after high school.
Charlee, whose Indigenous mother is an Awabakal woman from New South Wales, said her heritage has helped shape many personal and professional decisions.
âWhen I was younger, I had many different ambitions, none of which involved fashion but all of which involved creativity, business or the environment, which is currently Iâm doing,â she said.
âIdentifying with my Aboriginality has highly influenced my direction in life. Having no direct source of information on our history, traditions, way of life, etc. has led me down a path of self-discovery and a journey of obtaining knowledge. Watch this space.â
Charleeâs hope is that greater representation in the fashion industry will create a great impact on the future of modelling.
âItâs really quite largely important for me to see/experience these changes, not only because Iâm a woman of ethnicity myself, but because our generation now is the next generationsâ history,â she said. âThe changes we make/implement today will hopefully create a more peaceful and understanding future.â