New Year Honours 2019: 'Super model' Daphne Selfe receives British Empire Medal

Daphne Selfe was photographed for the leading fashion and style magazine Vogue at the age of 70

A 90-year-old fashion model who helped boost opportunities for older women in the industry has received the British Empire Medal.

Daphne Selfe, of Baldock, Hertfordshire, began modelling in 1949.

Her long career has helped to challenge negative views of ageing which has helped put older people in front of the camera as models, she said.

Official recognition in the New Year Honours now stands beside her industry-accepted status as a "super model".

After she was photographed for the leading fashion and style magazine Vogue at the age of 70 - the first time it had featured an older model - she was approached by leading organisations to do more work.

This has helped inspire agents, photographers and clothing designers to consider older people as models.

'Building confidence'

"Older people have money to buy nice clothes and want to see people of their age wearing them in the magazines," she said.

She has no plans to retire because she enjoys what she does so much and can look back on career highlights such as being photographed by David Bailey and modelling for Dolce and Gabbana.

The Daphne Selfe Academy was founded in 2015 so women of all ages could benefit from her industry experience and what she called her personal values of professionalism, etiquette, positive thinking and healthy living.

"The academy helps them to build confidence to do what they want to do," she said.

The academy also aims to develop young models and encourage women from all walks of life to improve themselves.

Mrs Selfe, whose husband Jim died in 1997 after 43 years of marriage, has three children and four grandchildren.

The British Empire Medal was founded as a military honour in 1917 and was revived for civilians in 2012 to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.