Anh Duong was warned against calling herself an artist. She was a renowned model, appearing in campaigns for Saint Laurent and couture shows for Christian Lacroix, but when she painted her first self-portrait, she knew she had unlocked a new part of herself. Today, it’s common for models to transition to other careers, but when Duong was working in the early ’90s, moving from fashion to high-end art was nearly unheard of, particularly for someone unwilling to change her look in order to blend in. Decades later, Duong’s paintings have now appeared in museums, galleries, and collections—and she hasn’t had to give up fashion. This year, she appeared in her first major beauty campaign with M.A.C, and she will be part of the upcoming sixth season of Emily in Paris.
Duong was a young ballerina when she met photographer David Seidner and was cast in a Saint Laurent ad. Raised in France, the daughter of a Spanish mother and a Vietnamese father, she quickly fell into fashion, posing for photographers like Herb Ritts, Peter Lindbergh, and Steven Meisel, and designers like Lacroix, who called her his muse. She was a celebrated model when she began painting, which did her no favors with art industry power brokers. “In the ’90s, the art world was mostly men. An ex-model doing it, it was almost like, ‘Oh my God, how dare you,’” she recalls. “Of course, I was dressed in Lacroix couture. I’m talking about a time where people said, ‘How dare you wear designers—you should wear a white T-shirt and jeans, be covered with paint, and not even look like a woman.’”
Duong on the Christian Lacroix runway in 1988.
Duong continued painting, though, focusing on portraits of herself and then others, and her work soon appeared in shows at galleries like Sperone Westwater and Tony Shafrazi. Her paintings have a distinctive abstraction and use skills she developed in both ballet and fashion—how the body moves, how it expresses itself, and how a face can communicate. “I know what it’s like to be in front of the camera, because I did pose myself. I’ve been the muse of so many artists and photographers. When I paint someone, I’m on the other side,” she says. “[Portraiture] is extremely intimate. In life, words are used to stop being too close, but if you spend time staring at someone with no words, the silence is very intimate.” Duong currently has paintings on display at the Villa du Temps retrouvé in Cabourg, France, and in the traveling exhibition “From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana.”
Art has flipped the lens for Duong, and given her a voice that she couldn’t find in modeling. “In the ’90s, beauty was not enough for me,” she says. Being an artist enabled her to move into a new space as a model. In 1991, she appeared in a Gap ad shot by Ritts. “Anh Duong, artist,” the copy read. “That was a big turning point,” she says. “An artist who was modeling—that shifted the view of beauty and brains, beauty and talent.” A model wasn’t just a face. “Being a ballerina, being a model, being a muse for other artists, being an actress, I was always at the service of other creators. Which was great; it was perfectly fine. But what I realized when I was painting myself is that because it’s so intimate, I was able to go deeper inside. I was me, and me looking at me,” she says.
A self-portrait done by Duong.
She has never fit neatly into a fashion category. The M.A.C ads are her first cosmetic campaign. “I did perfume, I did a lot of fashion, but in my 20s, I never even thought that was possible. Being mixed race, it was a challenge to be part of a cosmetic campaign, because at the time when I was modeling, you had to be blonde and fit the norm,” the 66-year-old says. “I pinch myself when I think about how now, at my age, really exciting brands are asking me [to work with them]. That’s something that I never even dreamed of when I was in my 20s.” Duong has also appeared in recent ads for Thom Browne and walked in Carolina Herrera’s fall 2026 runway show, alongside fellow artists like Amy Sherald and Rachel Feinstein.
In her studio, a dozen paintings have been completed and are waiting for her next show. Portraiture continues to enthrall her. “When you paint, it’s always astonishing how nature creates someone’s face. It’s often like an accident,” she says. “Nothing is regular, everything is asymmetrical, and that’s what makes beauty.”
This story appears in the November 2026 issue of ELLE.