gone gune
GLOBAL CITIZEN
Nicole Warne Shadbolt has circled the planet many times since becoming the world’s first digital influencer to sign with top modelling agency IMG’s talent division in 2013. But nothing makes her happier than arriving home to the NSW Central Coast.
It was a crisp but otherwise ordinary morning in March 2018 when Nicole Warne—as she was still known back then, nervously pressed the doorbell to her wedding dressmaker’s studio for a final fitting. Except this was no ordinary tailor, and the nondescript door in front of her led to the Valentino haute couture atelier in Paris. “Getting to know Pierpaolo Piccioli as a person, beyond just being a designer, was one of my life’s biggest pinch-me moments,” says Warne Shadbolt—her surname now—of the Italian label’s creative director, widely regarded as one of the most brilliant designers in the world. “He’s effortlessly cool. I hate using that word but he’s such a cool man.”
Likewise, Warne Shadbolt, 31, is equally charismatic buts 30 Under 30 list, and among Business of Fashion’s prestigious #BoF500 international hot list three years in a row. Today, she boasts more than 2 million digital followers across multiple platforms, is the global ambassador for Swiss watchmaker and fine jeweller Piaget, and has a weighty client list including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and, of course, Valentino. She’s the first to admit she’s come a long way since launching her now-defunct Gary Pepper Vintage eBay clothing store, for which she began posting photos of herself on a then-start-up social platform called Instagram to help sell the clothes.
