How Model Marland Backus Became a Celeb

By Hannah Jackson

In Vogue’s series, “The Secret Lives of Models,” we’re talking to models about their off-duty careers in medicine, the arts, and beyond.

The first time Marland Backus was scouted, she was a 12-year-old kid skating in Brooklyn, chaperoned by her mother. Though she didn't start taking jobs until she was in her early 20s, Backus was soon on billboards for Celine, ditching class for Gucci shows in Milan, and interning for Phoebe Philo.

Backus always had a soft spot for design, which she studied at the Pratt Institute. With dreams of being a furniture designer, she pivoted to jewelry, which was a much more practical hobby to occupy her during her long workdays and travels. Though she initially only made jewelry for friends, in no time she began selling to major brands and retailers.

Nowadays, Backus considers herself a jewelry designer first and foremost. Though she moved to Tokyo for modeling, the city became the beating heart of her jewelry design career during the pandemic. “Once COVID happened, I didn't have any modeling jobs, so I was making tons of stuff,” she says. “That's kind of when it switched from modeling being the main thing to jewelry being the main thing.” In Tokyo, Backus the jewelry designer is ironically much more recognizable than Backus the model. “People haven’t stopped me in the street like, ‘Oh, are you that Celine model?’ But I’ve had people stop me in the street like, ‘You’re Marland Backus, I have like five of your necklaces. Can I take a picture?’”

Below, Backus tells Vogue about her most memorable modeling moments, her career as a jewelry designer, and how the two paths intertwine.

When did you start modeling?

I started kind of late compared to other models because I was going to Pratt for industrial design. My last semester in college is when I started and it was super hectic. I missed a bunch of classes because I went to Milan and Paris. I grew up in New York City, and there's a lot of modeling agencies, a lot of scouts. I'd been scouted a couple times and my parents weren’t into it. My mom modeled back in the ’70s and I think she was bit traumatized from it. So she really didn't want me to do it. I respected that and I waited until after college. I started when I was like 20, 21.

How were you discovered?

I think the first time I was skateboarding Prospect Park with my mom. I was not one of the cool skate kids. I think I was 12. My mom was like, “No way.” The same scout came back to me when I was maybe 19. I did one editorial shoot in New York and then my first real job was the Gucci men’s runway show, which is a really crazy way to start a career. It was Alessandro Michele’s first show. I went in knowing nothing, just got flown out to Milan and thrown into it. That was while I was in university. I almost missed my own graduation because I was doing the Celine campaign. I flew back that day and went straight from the airport to my graduation.

What do people recognize you from?

I guess probably the more recent Celine campaign. I've done Celine with Phoebe Philo and with Hedi [Slimane]. Maybe three, four years ago I did a Celine campaign that was the one that was on billboards and bus stops. In Japan I did have some people ask for autographs in magazines with the picture. The Celine store in Tokyo had the pictures up and the train stations had all the posters.

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One of the biggest things I did was a Gucci campaign. But I have a wig on—it’s an orange buzzcut—and I don’t think anyone knew it was me. It was a week-long shoot where we did the campaign and a whole movie.

How did you get into jewelry design?

In college I was focusing on furniture and tableware. I was working with a lot of concrete and non-conventional materials. While I was working on my senior project, I was playing around in my free time making jewelry out of concrete and silicone. I’ve always been into fashion, I've always been into art, and I love to wear my art. It was just a way of expressing myself at that time. I was just making them for friends and then people were approaching me and asking to buy them or sell them in their local shops in Brooklyn.

After graduation I continued doing furniture design, but jewelry is a lot easier to deal with. I was also traveling for modeling. I could just put a bag of beads and materials in my bag and do that anywhere in the world. It was something I did backstage for shows and in hotel rooms, and then it snowballed.

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What has been a standout moment in your second career?

The excitement you get when you book the big campaign, now I get that when a big campaign asked to use my jewelry in the shoot. Olivia Rodrigo wore my necklace onstage at a concert, and I was like, “Wow, that's really cool.” It’s almost even a more satisfying feeling because modeling is a complicated industry. Your self-worth gets so connected to your physical appearance. Switching to design, you reevaluate your self-worth as your talent, your creativity. Not that there isn’t that in modeling as well.

How did you start selling on SSENSE?

I’m not sure, they just contacted me. They saw it on Instagram. That was definitely a big moment. That was like my first one, because I mostly sell in small boutiques. That was next level.

How has having a contract with a large retailer changed your process?

I currently can’t work because my tendonitis is so bad, so there was a moment where I had to switch from doing it all myself in a little corner of my apartment to being like: Okay, we need to move to a bigger house, I need to have my own studio, I need to hire people, I need to outsource. I still do a lot of it on my own—I run the business side and the creative side. But I can’t be doing that and also be the production line. So I’ve had to hire people to fill these big orders that are way beyond what I ever had before.

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How did being a model help or hinder your career as a jewelry designer?

At first I think it helped. The first lookbook I made, I sent it to some contacts. One of these contacts was for Opening Ceremony. I had never even sold to a store before, and they replied. I’m pretty sure it’s because I modeled for them before and they probably saw my name. Maybe if I had a different name, if I were a different person, they might have not even opened that email. And I did wind up selling there, so that was my first big retail moment. It definitely helps. But maybe it hinders? I think about the kind of image I want to have as a designer, and maybe being a model distracts from that. Sometimes it’s hard to be taken seriously…Maybe I’m getting too philosophical about transitioning from modeling to designing. But I think, for the most part, it helped.

Even when I was doing the Celine campaign with Phoebe Philo and I told them that I was studying design, they asked, “Oh, do you want to intern with us?” And I wound up interning for Celine for summer after I graduated. My closest friends from college were in the fashion department and they didn’t have that opportunity. I didn’t even study fashion and they just threw me in there and had me designing clothing. I think maybe they were half joking when they said that, but I was not joking. I was like, “This is my email address.”

Do you have a favorite piece that you’ve made?

I really liked Hairy Fairy pearl necklace. I don't think it's super wearable. Not super sellable. But I think that's why I like it. I love stuff like that pushes the boundaries. If you look at the comments on my Instagram, some people are really grossed out by it. But I like to be a little bit controversial and push the boundaries: What's jewelry? What's fashion? What's wearable?

How has your modeling career informed your career at jewelry designer, and vice versa?

Being around fashion and high-end clothing and jewelry is super inspiring. You don't always get a chance to see that kind of jewelry up close. I've done shoots where we had to have guards on set because the jewelry was so expensive—guys with briefcases handcuffed to the wrist sort of thing. If you're starting out, you're not gonna have the opportunity to handle that kind of stuff, let alone wear it. Just to be backstage and see the creative process of big companies and small companies and see how they work? That's really informative.