THIS black and white picture looks as though it might have been shot by Horst or Beaton more than 60 years ago. In fact, despite a definite 1930s quality, the photograph is barely a month old. One of a series for the fashion house of Max Mara, the setting is Leixlip Castle and the model 20 year old Jasmine Guinness, here looking distinctly like her greatgrandmother, Diana Mitford.
Although she has been modelling since the age of 11 - "I got paid £50 cash a day and thought this has got to be the job for me" - Jasmine only decided to focus on a fulltime career in the field last autumn. She had joined London agency Models One while still at school here after which she went on to study history of art in Winchester. Her studies have now been abandoned, not least because she is in such demand on the fashion circuit.
Earlier this year, for example, she turned up on the catwalk of shows in London, Milan, Paris (where she modelled for both Karl Lagerfeld's own line and for Chanel) and New York. Her preference, however, is for photographic work, so she was happy to leave the last of these cities ahead of the end of the season to take part in a shoot for Paul Smith's autumn/winter campaign.
That set of pictures was taken by Mario Testino, just one of the top photographers with whom Jasmine has worked over the past six months. Michael Roberts shot her for next autumn/winter's Joseph collection, Barry Lategan used her for the next Asprey catalogue, Ellen Von Unsworth and Deborah Turbeville have both photographed her for Italian Vague while David La Chapelle included her in a spread for Vanity Fair. Last week, she was off to Milan for a twoday shoot having just worked on the publicity for Rowan Atkinson's forthcoming Mr Bear film.
She is based in Richmond, where she lives with her boyfriend Jesse Wood (son of the Rolling Stones's Ronnie Wood): contrary to recent press reports, she has no plans for the moment to move to the United States. Instead, she tries to get back to Ireland as often as possible. In addition to this recent Leixlip Castle shoot by Manuela Pavesi, in April she was also photographed in this country for Arnica and Grazia magazines. "It's great fun working at home," she says, "because I can get to see my family."
Although she says, "you've got to be tough in this business, there's no doubt about that," so far her own career has been exceptionally successful. Over the past six months Jasmine's name has become associated with a group of other well connected models such as Honor Fraser (sister of Lord Lovat), Stella Tennant (granddaughter of the Duke of Devonshire) and her cousin Iris Palmer, Victoria Hervey (sister of the Marquis of Bristol) and Jodie Kidd. She has only good words to say for them all, thereby dispelling any stereotype of cattiness in the modelling world.
She benefits from a natural enthusiasm for the work. "When Jasmine was a little girl," says her aunt Marina Guinness, "she used to have pictures of models on her walls instead of the usual ponies. But she knows a model's career tends only to last for a relatively small number of years. "Eventually I'd like to be a photographer," she says. "I know it sounds cliched, but at least it's not acting."