Lay won the television modelling competition Revlon Face of the Eighties, and worked as a model in New York for much of that decade, represented by elite agency Ford Models.<\/p>\n
She was later an owner of the Exposure Model Agency.<\/p>\n
Kirsty Lay during the Face of the 80s competition. Image \/ YouTube<\/p>\n
Known in business circles as Kirsty Smith, she co-owned Skydive Queenstown Limited Group \u2013 operating as NZONE Skydive Queenstown and Skydive Paradise \u2013 with her former husband, Steve, and another couple. <\/p>\n
The group sold the business to an Australian company in 2016 for $17 million. <\/p>\n
In a five-part documentary series titled The Model Diaries, directed by photographer Neil Gussey, Lay was interviewed about her career in fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I won The Face of the 80s I was totally surprised \u2026 it was kind of strange because I felt like a fish out of water, and when they said you are the Face of the 80s, my mouth fell [open]… I lost the plot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there was an advantage that I hadn\u2019t modelled because there was a slight naivety that was there \u2026 an innocence \u2026 and that probably helped me along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirsty Lay in the 2017 documentary series. Image \/ YouTube<\/p>\n
She said during her time modelling she was \u201cexcited\u201d but \u201cscared\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were things I was scared of \u2013 but took everything in my stride,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you had to \u2026 had a chance and I either took it or I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could go back and do it again, I would absolutely do it \u2013 I mean, it was just like the best experience I\u2019ve had in my life \u2026 it was so much fun, it was so good, it was so thought-provoking and so developmental for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lay speaking about her modelling experience when she was younger. Image \/ YouTube<\/p>\n
Lay had advice for other aspiring models. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got the guts to take it on, the world\u2019s your oyster,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Details of Lay\u2019s funeral have not yet been published. <\/p>\n
Tributes have been posted online for the former model.<\/p>\n
\u201cKirsty will be remembered for the warmth, kindness and special presence she brought into the lives of those around her,\u201d said a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer passing has come as a terrible shock, and she will be deeply missed by her family, friends and all those who had the privilege of knowing her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another friend said Lay had a \u201cmovie star smile\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour light, kindness and love will live on in our hearts forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers Christchurch issues and national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for more than 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence and homicides. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lay won the television modelling competition Revlon Face of the Eighties, and worked as a model in New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[57586,18919,6179,7126,156,1019,114190,33450,121820,5289,3025,435,117,111,139,69,1118,5270,96013,2737,14907,2963],"class_list":["post-617844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-57586","tag-aged","tag-died","tag-dies","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-kirsty","tag-known","tag-lay","tag-models","tag-most","tag-movie","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-one","tag-smile","tag-star","tag-successful","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}