Dior: Tyrone teenager turns heads at Paris Fashion Week

Alice McGrath walked the runway at Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday

A former Loreto Grammar School student is making waves across the fashion industry.

Nineteen-year-old Alice McGrath from Omagh, County Tyrone, helped open Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday as she walked the runway for Dior.

The model also appears in the luxury brand's latest advertising campaign.

She was signed to IMG modelling agency after being scouted on social media in early 2021.

She is represented by the agency in Paris, Milan and London and has also been signed to Uno Models in Barcelona.

Her first runway booking was for Magherafelt-born designer JW Anderson, appearing in his SS24 show during London Fashion Week in September.

"It was the most surreal experience because I had never [walked in a show] before and was aware that all my friends at school were watching it," she told The Irish Times.

The Omagh-born model made her runway debut for JW Anderson last year

She then was booked to open Dior's haute couture show in Paris the same month.

Haute couture is considered the ultra-elite of fashion design.

The clothes are often made from the finest of materials and are extremely expensive, with starting prices in the tens of thousands.

Alice has since gone on to appear in an editorial shoot for renowned fashion publication The Face and has made runway appearances for 16Arlington and Erdem.

She also walked for Chanel during the brand's Metiers d'Art show in Manchester last December before a further appearance for the French fashion house's SS24 haute couture collection.

Alice walked the runway for Chanel during last month's couture showcase

Alice regularly documents her journey on social media platform TikTok, offering behind-the-scenes access for her growing fanbase.

"I was so nervous... because I've never done a show in heels," she shared after the Chanel presentation last month.

"But I think I did really good, I loved my look. I felt like such a princess, like such a wee Barbie, it was so cool... it was insane."

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The emerging model said she wants to "ride the wave of luck" she has had, having previously intended to study finance at university.

"I think [casting directors] like the novelty that I am Irish, that I have a positive outlook and I don't show off, because that's the way I was brought up. I think success in modelling is 10 times due to personality," she told The Irish Times.