Saffron Aldridge Biography

Saffron Aldridge (born in 1968, London) is an English fashion model, freelance journalist and social activist. Discovered at the age of sixteen, she rose to prominence working for Ralph Lauren in the 1990s. Her brother is fashion photographer Miles Aldridge.

Early life

Born in Parliament Hill, North London, Aldridge is the daughter of graphic designer Alan Aldridge and Rita, a housewife. At sixteen years old, she left school to work on a hamburger stall in Camden Lock. One day, a customer, who turned out to be a model, gave Saffron the number of her agent at Take Two. She gave them a call and got her first job a month later.

Career

Aldridge began her career as a model at sixteen years old wearing jewellery for The Field Magazine.

She worked in Paris for nine months, then tried her luck in New York where she was persuaded to appear as an extra in a Ralph Lauren campaign shot by Bruce Weber. When the fashion designer saw the pictures he hired her on the spot. From then on Aldridge gained popularity as former face of Ralph Lauren.

She was photographed for numerous advertising campaigns such as Burberry, Gianfranco Ferré, Harrods, La Perla, Olay, Ralph Lauren, Selfridges, and also appeared on the covers of italian and brazilian magazines.

After almost two decades of modelling, Aldridge has moved on to launch a charity for children. In 1998 she presented a fundraising project called Through the Eyes of a Child, with the proceeds going to the NSPCC. Aldridge persuaded Canon Inc. to donate 200 free cameras, that were handed out to children between the ages of 3 and 12. They could photograph anything they wanted but they were under instructions not to get help from grown-ups. The top 200 shots went on display and were featured in a coffee-table book. Altogether, including the charity dinner and auction (supported by many celebrities such as Hugh Grant, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Adams and Sting), the project raised £150,000. The following years the campaign was repeated worldwide. With her husband Ian Wace, Aldridge also works for ARK.

Personal life

After her parents' divorce at the age of eight, Aldridge grew up in North London with her mother and her older brother Miles Aldridge. Models Lily and Ruby Aldridge are her half-sisters from Alan's second marriage in Los Angeles.

She suffered self-doubt for many years of her career as a model, also marked by the loss of her best friend, in the Marchioness disaster, and by the death of her mother for ovarian cancer in 1992. The motherhood gave her new energy. While she was modelling, in 1993 Aldridge became pregnant with her first child, Milo, by her partner Simon Astaire. A year later she married media executive Toby Constantine and gave birth to her second son, Finn Constantine, in 1997. When the marriage foundered they divorced. In 2012 she married Ian Wace.