10 things you don't know about Audrey Burgess-Barakat

Say the name Audrey Burgess-Barakat in national and international circles and it evokes imagery of high fashion and the elegance that was once synonymous with style and the pageantry that represented the coming of age of Jamaica's fashion industry.

For many, Burgess-Barakat was not only muse and fashion icon, whose lithe frame was a designer's dream, her modelling style-poetry in motion, as she strutted the catwalks of this nation, the Big Apple, or whenever she graced the covers or fashion magazines of the day. She made otherwise inanimate objects come to life with her very own cachet.

In the era that preceded one-name acts such as Iman, Bianca, or Naomi; there was Audrey Burgess-Barakat - Jamaica's double-barrelled, hyphenated modelling phenom, who single-handedly spearheaded and rejuvenated Jamaica's fashion industry with her inimitable sense of style.That made her one of the hottest drawing cards in an era when the audience went to a fashion show to see a model, with the fashion and designers being secondary!

In the late '70s and '80s, Kingston and Jamaica were in the throes of a fashion renaissance and, during that period, it was the models who rocked the clothing and the audience.

It's been two decades since Burgess-Barakat strutted her stuff on the Jamaican catwalk, but the dazzling diva has not lost her magic or her celebrated sense of continental style.

Today, Outlook Magazine shares 10 things you didn't know about the much-celebrated and admired Audrey Burgess-Barakat - Jamaica's first lady of the catwalk, who now calls the Big Apple her home!

1. She started her modelling career by being hurriedly pushed on the stage barefoot by Valerie Deans of Climax boutique (who used Air Jamaica stewardesses to model) when one didn't show up. Burgess-Barakat was formally trained by Molly da Silva of Grooming Dynamics, and graduated head of the Class of 1980.

2.She was the founder of the first make-up salon on the island, called Aura Cosmetics for women of colour who could not get make-up to match their skin tone.

3.She was the first Miss Jamaica Fashion Model in 1981, encouraged and driven to be the best by famed choreographer and stylist, Bert Rose.

4.She was adjudged the first Model of the Year in 1985. Aspired to be a member of the NDTC, but was advised by the late Ken Ramsay - the photographer, that modelling would be more rewarding because of her height.

5.She was the only Jamaican model represented on Allen Bailey's Fashion Extravaganza and was the only Jamaican model hired to appear on Ebony Fashion Fair when the world-famous fashion extravaganza made its Jamaican debut.

6.She worked as an fashion model and ambassador at large for the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) Miami campaign which was broadcast nationally in the United States (on ABC, NBC, CBS) for JTB in their 'Come back to Jamaica' ad campaign to recast Jamaica's image as an international tourist destination after political turmoil had affected its international standing.

7.She was trained by Bev Corke in the art of modelling and later taught at Pulse. She later worked at what she called "A triple treat" - as a print, television and runway model and as the highest paid model in Jamaica who reigned as number one for over 10 years. During that period, she worked in New York, London, Los Angeles, Paris and Switzerland, and trained numerous aspiring models.

8. She is divorced and is the mother of one adult son.

9.Her favourite place for brunch in Kingston is Boone Hall Oasis, and when in New York, Fisherman's Dawta in Brooklyn.

10.She is a vegetarian who only eats seafood and, as to her taste in wine, says "a good Cabernet Sauvignon makes me want to sing." She admits to making a 'wicked' jerk salmon with ackee.