Wall Street Journal follows Pulse star Alicia Burke to Kingston

While she is used to being featured in the glossy pages of fashion magazines, Pulse model Alicia Burke has broadened her reach, starting the year shooting for The Wall Street Journal – one of the world’s iconic business publications.

What also made the shoot extra special was that it was the first time that the international star has shot in her own backyard. The team journeyed to Kingston to shoot an all-girl fashion story for its global audience, shot by the famed Dan Martensen. Burke said that she was proud to be home to shoot for such a publication that does fashion shoot only occasionally.

Business Phenomenon

Burke, herself something of a business phenomenon, listed among high earners such as Bella Hadid on Models.com, the only Jamaican or Caribbean model on that list. The website notes, “Caribbean export Alicia Burke continues to mesmerise industry shot callers, leading her poised prettiness to being tapped for Meisel-lensed Ralph Lauren campaigns. Beauty clients from Bobbi Brown and Gucci to Nars and Tom Ford show her broad appeal. Laura Mercier for Fall 2018 adds another top beauty brand to Alicia’s roster.”

Shot across central Jamaica at various locations in Manchester, and Treasure Beach and Black River in St Elizabeth, Burke was in her element working with a great team of photographers and stylist Camelia, and also casting director Ricardo, who she has worked with before. “It was really amazing being able to show them my island,” she told The Gleaner. Burke soldiered through the shoot on a sprained ankle, hiding the pain behind her radiant smile, even though she had to be physically lifted to various locations.

Not a lot more can be said about this Jamaican star whose worldwide appeal is such that she has to be turning down jobs due to high demand and scheduling conflicts. Almost every major label has been represented by Burke’s beauty brand. After doing serious runway mileage for the likes of Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Versace, Jason Wu, Diane Von Forstenberg, Altuzarra, Caroline Herera and many others. Burke now picks and chooses her runway looks, often choosing Vogue and other major assignments over the shows when they conflict or are otherwise inconvenient.

Her campaigns include Iconic for Ralph Lauren, shot by Steven Meisel, and contracts with Clinique, J Crew and Ann Taylor, for whom she shot this week.

The model who Vogue had declared to be “one of six bombshells taking over the modelling world”, has a rapidly growing client list that includes French and Russian Vogue, cover and 18 pages of Harper’s Bazaar, Style.com, Coach, Gucci, Prada, Italian Vogue (twice, including the cover), i-D, Benetton, The Sunday Times, Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood, 1883, Top Shop, Bottega Veneta, Theory with David Simms, Clinique, Valentino, Lesley Goring, Harvey Nichols, Tush, J.JS Lee, Blumarine, Trussardi, Azzedine Alaia, Emelio de la Morena, Bora Akeem, Sibling, Osman, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Stella McCartney, Salvatore Ferragamo, Francesco Scognamiglio, Amanda, Schiaparelli, Self Service with Matteo Montanari, Elie Saab, Viktor & Rolf, The Last Magazine with Dan Martensen and Clare Richardson, as well as Double Magazine.

As regards the Wall Street Journal shoot, Alicia said that she could only find one way to describe it and that was “amazing”, for many reasons.