For many celebrities and influencers, being seated anywhere but in the front row during Fashion Week is one of the most embarrassing things that could happen. But getting relegated to the ‘cheap seats’ didn’t faze Jessica Rowe in the slightest, when Australian Fashion Week kicked off in Sydney last week.
Despite being tucked away in the second row, it was still an exciting moment for Jess, as her 17-year-old daughter, Allegra Overton, was walking in the Rory William Docherty show.
When the runway presentation started, Jess was seen beaming from ear to ear as Allegra strutted her stuff. Amid the online debate about her assigned seat, Jess has clarified to New Idea that she was there as a chaperone, not a guest.
“I was backstage and at the last minute the organisers very kindly offered me a seat,” she tells us exclusively.
“I was chuffed, and not expecting it, and of course very proud of Allegra.”
Jess later said on Instagram the day was one she and her statuesque daughter will “never forget”.
“Bravo, our brave and determined Allegra,” Jess wrote alongside a photo of the teenager strutting down the catwalk. “Such a joy to see you making your dreams come true.”
The presenter and podcast host added, “And yes, I bawled happy tears afterwards.”
Jess and her newsreader husband, Peter Overton, have always been hugely supportive of Allegra, who made her catwalk debut last August. The couple are also parents to daughter Giselle, 15.
Jess has firsthand experience being a teen model. She did catalogue work for David Jones, as well as in Germany.
She now happily ferries Allegra to her various modelling jobs, and has likened herself to Kardashian ‘mumager’, Kris Jenner.
“We are both also into leopard print and daggy mum dance moves, and fiercely love our girls, so I figured I could borrow her title, too,” she once said.