Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model 2011: find out about judges Elle Macpherson, Grace Woodward, Julien Macdonald and Charley Speed!

StyleJacking was invited to the press launch of the new series of Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model. The seventh series of the show is due to start on Sky Living on Monday (July 4). Apart from the amazing goody bag filled with fantastic treats (including St Tropez tan, a free Company magazine and Revlon make-up) we also got an advance look at the show. We won’t spoil it for you but have given a brief introduction to the judges from the show and their biographies.

Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model – the format

The series is made up of 13 episodes which show the judges putting the girls through their paces to find Britain and Ireland’s top model. For the first time the judges go to six cities on road-shows to find contestants. The judges are led by Elle Mcpherson, a Supermodel with over 30 years experience in the industry. The rest of the panel is made up of Grace Woodward, Julien Macdonald and Charly Speed.

It is very obvious that Elle is the boss, they call her their headmistress!

All of the judges defer to her, she travels in different cars to and from auditions and is obviously the star of the show. It leaves you to wonder why the other judges are there at all!

Elle wore a strange Prada green and black dress to the launch.

It had stripes and a dragon design which would not normally go well together – and indeed did not go well together! There is no denying that this woman is stunning though. She towered over the rest of the judges and her arms are amazingly toned!

Grace Woodward

Grace Woodward is a stylist. She has worked with Florence Welch, Duffy and La Roux and her work has graced the pages of The Sunday Times, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Rolling Stone. Grace received the Stylist of the Year Award by The Clothes Show and the British Fashion Council she was also a stylist on last year’s X Factor.

Grace is quite witty although not as opinionated as Julien Macdonald.

She seems to like wacky fashions herself, obviously she is always advertising her own brand.

Grace wore a cute belted shirt dress for the press launch, although she removed a terrible fascinator just in time to prevent it ruining her whole outfit!

Julien Macdonald

Julien is the bitchy one. He and Grace seem to bicker all the time because they have quite different ideas of the fashion industry. Julien is a designer and works primarily on catwalks whereas Grace deals more closely with the press and the photographers – this can often lead to arguments!

The Welsh designer is known for being tough on the girls. He graduated from The Royal College of Art and was head of designer knitwear at Chanel, creative director for Givenchy and now has his own successful label along with a range for Debenhams.

Julien should be watched for his funny, bitchy asides and one-liners.

Julien explained how difficult it can be for a designer to pick models for his catwalk shows and how he bore that in mind during the process. When you have 200 models in front of you and you can only chose 20 there has to be something that sets that 20 apart. For Julien that might be a different jawline, hair etc, just something that makes a girl different.

Charley Speed

Charley is a male model who was signed by Models 1 at the age of 17. His most famous job was for Armani where he modelled with Kate Moss. We do not think he looks like a male model although he is attractive don’t get us wrong. He looks a bit normal really!

Obviously the industry does not agree, he was voted Male Model of the Year in VH1/Vogue fashion awards in New York in 1998.

Charley is quiet. To be honest we do not really know what else to say about him. At the Q&A he was inarticulate and dull really.