A woman who looks so much like Kate Moss she tricked half of Manchester into believing the supermodel was shopping in the Ancoats Aldi has gone on to actual fashion stardom.
The stunner has just this week made a surprise appearance on the runway at Paris Fashion Week, walking for French designer Marine Serre.
And it’s not the first time she’s hit headlines – although the first time, it was a case of mistaken identity.
Denise Ohnona, from Ormskirk, who is a complete doppelganger for supermodel Kate Moss, was booked by Aldi for a very clever publicity stunt when Manchester was in the grips of Chanel fever.
Wearing dark sunglasses, a long leather coat and heeled boots, she managed to trick the public and several press outlets (not us though, we hasten to add) into believing fashion royalty was having a brew outside a Northern Quarter coffee shop.
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Which was obviously not the case.
Denise said people have often told her she looks like Kate Moss but didn’t think much of it until she was approached by a lookalike agency.
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She said: “It’s one thing to be hired as a ‘Lookalike’ to attend a store opening or red carpet event, where everyone knows it’s not actually the celebrity, it’s just for a bit of fun, but it’s another thing when a company like Aldi comes to you with a PR stunt, where they want to fool not only the public, but the press.
“These sort of jobs always come with slight anxiety, because you think to yourself, will people know who I’m supposed to be? Will people really believe it’s Kate Moss?
“Well thankfully they did and Aldi caused quite the controversy, with all the major papers running the story.
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“I guess I should thank my Mum and Dad for these cheek bones. And although I’m a stay at home mum, who’s life is anything but glamorous, it’s always nice to put on some heels and shades for a day and put a smile on people’s faces”
And now Denise has struck fame once again after her appearance at Paris Fashion Week.
The 43-year-old appeared on This Morning yesterday to discuss her whirlwind journey.
She said that she’s naturally a shy person and when her agent initially asked her about a job in Paris she said no.
But after being persuaded by a friend, she was suddenly on the catwalk at the world’s most famous fashion event.
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Denise said: “I didn’t release how big it was. The models and the whole production and everything. I was like a little girl who got to play dress up for the day and be one of the catwalk models. So it was fun but scary.
“I’m so glad I did it. ‘If it scares you do it anyway,’ that’s what I tell my kids. “
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.
Trailer released for new Harlan Coben thriller series Lazarus filmed in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
The trailer for Harlan Coben’s newest thriller series filmed in Manchester has been released ahead of airing later this month.
You may remember that, back in January of last year, Netflix confirmed it would be creating two more new Harlan Coben shows, following the smash-hit success of Fool Me Once starring Manchester’s-own Michelle Keegan – titled Missing You and Run Away.
Missing You went on to air on New Year’s Day this year, and it was announced in late January that Run Awaywas set to begin filming, again in Manchester, very soon.
But it turns out it’s not only Netflix that Harlan Coben fans need to be keeping their eye on, as Amazon Prime Video is now getting in on the action too.
First look images have been shared ahead of the release of Harlan Coben’s new thriller series filmed in Manchester / Credit: Ben Blackall (via Prime Video)
Prime Video has now released the official trailer for the highly-anticipated new thriller series Lazarus, which is based on an original story idea and written by the New York Times best-selling author, Harlan Coben, alongside his regular writing collaborator, BAFTA-winner Danny Brocklehurst.
Coben has worked with the critically-acclaimed Hyde-born screenwriter – who is most-famous for being the creator and writer of Sky One’s Brassic – for the creation of Lazarus, and it’s expected to be around the sixth time the pair have collaborated, with their previous successful works including Safe, The Stranger, and Stay Close.
Lazarus is set to follow title character Joel Lazarus who returns home after his father Dr Jonathan Lazarus dies by suicide, and begins to have disturbing experiences that can’t be explained.
He quickly becomes entangled in a series of cold-case murders as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death and his sister’s murder 25 years ago.
The six-part thriller series stars big names like Sam Claflin as Joel Lazarus, and Bill Nighy as his father Dr Jonathan – with supporting performances coming from Alexandra Roach, David Fynn, Karla Crome and Kate Ashfield, to name just a few.
The show will be executive produced by Harlan Coben and Danny Brocklehurst, alongside star Sam Claflin, BAFTA-winner Nicola Shindler and Richard Fee for Quay Street Productions – which is part of ITV Studios.
All six episodes of Lazarus are set to be exclusively released Prime Video on Wednesday 22 October in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.