Born in London in 1990, Jourdan Dunn was discovered at 16 while shopping in a Primark store in Hammersmith. She signed with Storm Model Management and debuted at London Fashion Week the following year. In February 2008, she became the first Black model to walk a Prada runway in over a decade, a milestone that announced her as one of the most important voices in the industry.

What followed was one of the most decorated careers of her generation. She won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in both 2008 and 2015, took Harper's Bazaar's Woman of the Year Award in 2013, was named an Icon by models.com in 2014, and won Glamour's Inspiration Award in 2015 and Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. Her campaigns span Burberry, Prada, Calvin Klein, H&M, and Yves Saint Laurent, and in 2014 she became a global ambassador for Maybelline. She also became the face of Rihanna's capsule collection for River Island in 2012 and walked the catwalk as part of the 2012 London Olympics celebrations.

Beyond the runway, Dunn has been a tireless advocate for sickle cell anaemia awareness, and has used her platform to push for greater diversity and representation across the industry. In recent years, she has taken a more selective approach to her career, landing the cover of Vogue Portugal in 2024 and a dual Prada-themed cover for Harper's Bazaar España in May 2025, proving that, nearly two decades in, her presence in fashion remains as commanding as ever.