It's September 2019, and Catherine McNeil is backstage at Burberry's spring/summer '20 show, one of the most anticipated events of the London fashion calendar. It not only marks creative director Riccardo Tisci's third collection for the esteemed British fashion house, but McNeil's, too. As one of the designer's favourite faces, McNeil has walked in all three shows.
The show caller waves her over, and she takes her place alongside Kendall Jenner, Irina Shayk, the Hadid sisters and noughties It-girl Agyness Deyn, who is making a much-anticipated return to the runway. Then it's showtime. As the likes of Naomi Campbell, Dua Lipa and FKA Twigs look on from the star-studded front row, McNeil emerges onto the runway wearing a beige trench coat and sheer stockings that reveal her trademark tattoos, her brunette tresses bleached icy blonde. Now an industry veteran in her 16th year of modelling, the girl originally from Logan, Brisbane, carries herself with the poise of a seasoned professional. But on the inside, it's a different story. Privately, she feels like she's falling apart.
McNeil's years at the top of the fashion world have brought her fame and success, but the cycle of travel and endless parties has begun to take its toll on her mental health and deep down, she knows she needs to get sober. The Burberry show is her first of that season, but it will also be her last.
In the weeks that follow, McNeil would return to New York City to pack up her life. She would put her furniture out on the street, get off social media and book a one-way flight back to Australia. "I'd had enough," she says of
