Amongst the supermodels and glamour at Paris Fashion Week, a 43-year-old mum from Liverpool was the one attracting the paparazzi.
Denise Ohnona has been the subject of international media attention for her striking appearance resembling supermodel Kate Moss.
Liverpool Lass
Now based in Ormskirk, Denise grew up on Penny Lane in Liverpool.
And her similarities with the Beatles don’t end there, having attended the same school as John Lennon, Calderstones (formerly Quarry Bank) and discovering a love for music.
“We didn’t have a lot of money when I was younger but I got a little keyboard and I used to love learning how to play.
“My music teacher, Mr Christian, told my mum ‘you need to get her on the piano, she can play by ear’.
“We couldn’t afford proper lessons but if I could go back I would have loved to learn to play the piano fully.”
Denise left school early and worked a number of jobs in the city, including retail positions at Next and Iceland for £2.25 an hour.
Not long afterwards, Denise was involved in a car accident, leaving her with serious injuries and facial scarring.
But the jetsetting lookalike believes a silver lining came out of her traumatic experience: “I believe things happen for a reason and I feel like positive things came out of it as well.”
Glamorous Career
Denise was hired for her first Kate Moss job for C4 Lookalikes at the age of 37.
“I did an absolutely awful job of it.
“They put a camera in my face and I think I was supposed to speak but I just sat there and said nothing.”
But the supportive side of the biz immediately showed itself, with David Brent tapping her shoulder with an assuring: “You’ll get the hang of it”.
The TV offers didn’t end there, the infamous Channel 4 show Naked Attraction, a dating show where contestants bare all, was also in touch.
“I didn’t even know what the show was.
“When I found out it was a definite ‘no’!”
Shortly afterwards, photographer and long-time collaborator Doddy Wood got in touch to hire Denise for a James Bond-style shoot which gained massive online attention.
Things snowballed and it wasn’t long before the European fashion scene gained a Scouse star.
“It blew up at Vetements in Paris in 2019. And just as things really took off, lockdown happened.”
Home Life
Lockdown brought with it an unlikely new hobby, swapping the catwalk for her Lancashire garden, dubbing her plants as her “second children”.
“We got it [the garden] renovated and I worked with the landscaper eight hours a day.
“I learned to level the ground, I was in the digger, wheelbarrowing stones and pulling down trees.”
However, the balance between catwalk and courgettes is proving difficult to get right: “How am I going to grow my food? I’m so busy at the moment!
“But I’m going to make it work. I’m not not growing food.”
Denise lives at home with her partner, an international DJ and music producer, and their two children.
With the pair often travelling to far-flung places for work, finding the balance between family and work can prove difficult.
“It’s hard but we make it work.
“I definitely try to find that balance so I don’t take every job.”
After weeks of travelling at a time, her favourite thing to do when she gets home is to tend her garden and spend time with her children.
And whilst Denise takes care of herself at the gym, that doesn’t mean that the odd trip for junk food with the kids is off the cards.
Liverpool Hangouts
The self-professedly quiet Instagram star doesn’t drink, so generally prefers a more reserved venue of an evening, such as The Municipal Hotel.
“I really love the Municipal. I’ve been there a couple of times. It’s out of the way and quiet.”
“I also love going to the Hilton, they’ve looked after me a few times.”
When it comes to clothes shops, it’s Zara and Primark: “You’ve got to brace yourself for Primark, I call it the Primark challenge when I go in to Liverpool.
“Make sure you’re fed, watered and ready to pick up a basket and dig in.”
But for her ultimate shopping experience, she swaps Chanel for charity shops: “I think the charity shops in Liverpool are great because the things you find are so much more unusual.
“I’d rather shop in charity shops all day long, you never know what you might find.”
Trolling
With all of the online attention she receives, the sad inevitability of online ‘trolls’ is never far away: “You could be a saint and you will still get people who want to literally destroy you.
“My concern is that there’s a lot of vulnerable people out there, especially young people, and someone could say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time.”
“If I was online when I was a kid, it would have completely destroyed me.”
Emboldened by the experience of being subject to online hate, she offered a call to action: “I think something needs to be put in place to minimise online abuse and hate.”
But even in the dark world of online bullying, Scouse sensibilities offer a glimmer of light for the 43-year-old.
“A lot of the really kind messages come from Liverpool, I’ve had so much support from Liverpudlians.”
Longing for Home
When she’s spotted in public and the inevitable happens, the Scouse accent is usually the first indicator that all may not be as it seems.
“Kate’s got this really sexy voice but when I speak I go really high and speak so quickly.
“I did learn to tone my accent down because Scousers speak really fast and when I lived in America for four years, no one could understand me.”
But no matter where in the world work takes her, Denise’s heart longs for Merseyside: “I could live by the beach in a lovely house in the loveliest place but nothing felt like home.
“As Scousers we almost have our own language. I’ll go to Aldi and start chatting to a stranger and be there for half an hour, that doesn’t happen anywhere else.
“It’s the only place in the world that I can walk into a toilet and make a friend for life.”
