Martha Brown is a recent addition to our Athens community, and is here to pursue a career in law. Flipping through pages of old photos; she recounted her life’s adventures with a charming mix of European and Southern charm. While her goal is similar to that of many of those who call Athens home, the journey that brought her here was anything but ordinary.
Brown, a Louisiana native, was a Parisian fashion model in the late 1970s and 80s. Her journey began in Manhattan as a home-grown Southern girl who knew little of the modeling industry. Armed with a small snapshot of herself, Brown went to different agencies in hopes of beginning her career. Although every agency accepted her and claimed she had “the stuff” the year she spent in New York was unfruitful.
Brown modeled with the Wilhelmina Agency, and during that time, Wilhelmina Cooper passed away from lung cancer. “I was with Wilhelmina and she wanted me to go to Paris because she thought my look was rather French. When she died, that’s what stimulated me to go to Paris. I just got on a plane and never came back,” Brown said.
During Brown’s time abroad, she appeared in magazines such as Time, French Elle, and Italian, American, and French Vogue. Her lucrative career was not just limited to France. Brown’s work took her to Germany and Switzerland and allowed her to work with designers such as Sonia Rykiel and Jean-Paul Gaultier, who she modeled for regularly at the beginning of his career.
She lived in France for 35 years, staying even after her modeling career ended. She only returned to the States five years ago to enter Law school at Ole Miss and has now lived in Athens for over a year.
What brought you to New York and started the whole modeling journey for you?
I was a Southern woman at a very interesting time, when a lot of girls were still just getting married and not going to work. Then, there was a whole other group of women who were entering the market place.
I was looking for my identity, and I’d wanted to go to law school even then. I was accepted into LSU for law but my father, who was an attorney in Louisiana, wouldn’t send me because he told me it was a man’s profession. I was frustrated that my father wouldn’t let me go to law school and I thought “If I can’t work with my mind, I’d just work with my body.” Then, I saw actual models and they didn’t seem to have anything that I didn’t have. I wanted to go to law school and my father didn’t encourage me, so I ran off to Paris to be a model. It was a very innocent thing really.
What was your favorite part of being a model?
From having no success in New York to having nothing but success in Paris, I had to keep pinching myself. I got caught up in the creativeness of it. You can tell by the photos that they are more interested in taking beautiful pictures and designing interesting clothing. They aren’t concerned with how many they are going to sell. They just go all out for the picture, and being part of that creative process felt more like art. It was to be young, and in Paris and to be around people who could do beautiful work.
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"The most famous photographer I ever worked with was named Horst. He was a German photographer who became extremely well known. He photographed the British Aristocracy between the two world wars. For this picture, he went behind and old camera with a tripod. He was ancient when he took this picture, but he put the velvet curtain over his head and everything flashed, and he came out and said “Thank You.” I waited around because most people take hundreds of pictures, but this one just took one click."
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What has it been like getting your law degree after being in a different culture for so long?
Paris to Mississippi is a completely different world. I had terrible culture shock because I had been living in a very Cosmopolitan city and then suddenly everyone is saying “Yes Ma’am” to me and acting very bizarre. There was the shock of being in a different culture and then the shock of law school. It’s hard to remobilize your brain after you haven’t been using it in that way in a while. Plus, I was in school with kids my son’s age.
As someone who’s been through all the pressures of the modeling industry, what do you feel about the size debate surrounding the industry?
You do have to have certain credentials like bone structure and height, and for the most part, if you don’t have those, you’re not going to be successful. But I think it’s terrible that this fantasy has been created with these model competitions and model this and model that. I’ve met so many women who are so body conscious that if they have one little bit of fat they won’t wear something. I think it’s horrible, every woman has her own beauty and can be beautiful, it’s just a matter of bringing that beauty out. Trying to make all body types conform to one is just a travesty.
What’s your favorite part of Athens?
When I first got here, I couldn’t stand it and just wanted to leave. It looked dingy, the people were all dressed differently, and I couldn’t tell what was going on here. I didn’t understand the style, and it’s got its own definite style. I was coming from Paris to Mississippi. Then, the difference between Ole Miss and Athens was huge. Then it started to grow on me, and I must say that I like it very much.
"I like the tolerance here. It’s a town that’s tolerant of individual and artistic expression. I’d like it to stay, I like it that much. I think sometimes things happen for a reason and it seems like Athens kind of found me. It’s very special here."
After getting to be a model and then coming back and getting your law degree, would you say that both of the dreams you had for your life came true?
Going through my old portfolio is like a dream to me. Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I have come full circle. Yeah I was there and I did all of that, but it’s taken almost like dream proportions in my mind. It’s part of who I am but now I’m really getting to do what I wanted to do in the first place. It’s like a beautiful saying that says “going back to the beginning and seeing it for the first time.”
Seyi Amosu
Community Intern
Photos from Martha's Portfolio
