The debate about how young is too young to enter the cut-throat world of fashion modelling has reared its head once more following today’s announcement that 13-year-old Queenslander Kirsty Thatcher has won the Dolly magazine Model Search contest.

“I like to see myself as being a role model for other girls my age … it’s not about how you look, but about how you are on the inside too. Sure, there is pressure on girls my age to look at certain way, but for me it’s about being healthy and being true to myself,” the articulate and statuesque teenager told PS this morning at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, minutes after receiving the gong.

Sure, there is pressure on girls my age to look at certain way, but for me it’s about being healthy and being true to myself

In her second year of high school, Kirsty beat 500 other hopefuls to win the contest. She will now have an exclusive year-long modelling deal with Dolly and has been signed to high-profile agency Chadwicks, as well as fly to New York to meet potential agents there.

Dolly editor Tiffany Dunk said the magazine would only undertake “age appropriate work” with Kirsty, which extended to “not just fashion shoots, but also as an ambassador for our young readers. This is not just about how she looks, but about who she is”.

However, in 1997, another 13-year-old won the competition, a girl from the country who would go on to become one of the biggest models in the world: Miranda Kerr.

When Kerr won the coveted prize, it caused an outcry in the media because she was so young.

Kerr was flown to Sydney a week before her 14th birthday to shoot for the magazine. She would soon be modelling in revealing swimsuits, leading to sections of the media criticising the inappropriate nature of the modelling for such a young girl.

Years after the press, Kerr would later reflect: “In the media at the time they were trying to cling on to anything remotely to do with paedophilia. Dolly is a magazine for teenage girls, not for old men. And I was fully clothed! Doing a winter shoot! They just made something out of nothing.”

The competition was subsequently axed by former editor Mia Freedman, who said it sent the wrong message to its young readers.

A decade later the competition is back, however current editor Dunk said it had changed considerably, the magazine now working with the Butterfly Foundation which focuses on body image issues and the media, to ensure it presented a “positive role model for young girls.”

Miranda Kerr has got her own waxwork.
The model is the latest star to be immortalised in wax and her doppelganger was unveiled at Sydney’s Madame Tussauds museum at Darling Harbour on Thursday (05.07.12).
The replica took four months to complete and Victoria’s Secret Angel Miranda was required to undergo 500 measurements so her incredible figure could be recreated exactly.
The figure has been dressed in the red sequin gown that she modelled at the David Jones Spring/Summer Fashion Parade in 2011 which was designed by Alex Perry.
Perry was present to see the waxwork yesterday and he admitted he was thrilled Miranda, 29, had chosen his dress to adorn the statue.
He said: “It’s such an honour that she has chosen her wax figure to wear the scarlet red gown I designed for her.”
Miranda may not be happy letting her husband Orlando Bloom see the waxwork because she recently admitted she doesn’t like the actor being in the audience to watch her at her Victoria’s Secret lingerie fashion shows.
The 29-year-old supermodel – who has a 17-month-old son, Flynn, with Orlando, 35 – said: “I never really want Orlando to be there because it makes me nervous.”

Victoria’s Secret model, Miranda Kerr, has opened up about her natural child birth to son Flynn, explaining that she eschewed an epidural in efforts to avoid ‘drugging up’ her baby.
The 29-year-old Australian made the decision to go without the commonplace pain reliever, despite doctor’s recommendations, after watching numerous birthing videos.
Recalling how in a few of the films she watched, ‘the baby was a little bit drugged up’ when put on its mother’s breast, she decided: ‘Well, I don’t want that’.
The dramatic revelation was detailed during an interview as part of an equestrian-themed shoot for Britain’s Harper’s Bazaar’s August issue.
Miranda explained: ‘I had made a decision I wanted to do it naturally. So I was kind of upset when the doctor said I had to be induced because there wasn’t enough liquid around the baby.

Designer Alex Perry put the finishing touches to the Australian supermodel unveiled as the latest celebrity at Madame Tussauds Sydney.

The Victoria’s Secret model chose Perry’s scarlet sequinned gown to feature on her double.

The exact replica of the model’s 175cm frame took four months and 500 measurements to complete.

Kerr turned heads in New York last week when she donned a wild blonde wig for a photo shoot for Italian Vogue.

The wife of Orlando Bloom and mother of son Flynn has also donned racy lingerie for the cover of next month’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

London: Miranda Kerr, who is married to Orlando Bloom, has revealed that she wants more kids.

The 29-year-old supermodel, gave birth to Flynn last year, and thinks it might now be time to have another child.

“I think probably yes. Having a child is the most incredible experience,” the Daily Express quoted her as telling Tatler magazine.

“What has surprised me most is how incredible the bond is between you and your child.

“To watch him grow and evolve every day is inspiring,” she added.