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Rachel Hunter has embraced her iconic “Trumpet Girl” persona once more in a tongue-in-cheek nod to her earliest career move.
Hunter, 56, was just 15 when she landed her first modelling job with Tip Top, New Zealand’s largest ice cream company, adorning a now-famous Trumpet advertisement.
The North Shore nativebecame the unofficial face of the brand after starring in its commercials , earning her the “Trumpet Girl” moniker and instantly establishing her as a familiar face in New Zealand households.
In a video recently shared to Facebook, Hunter – who is home in New Zealand over summer – showed off a chocolate-dipped real fruit ice cream she’d purchased on the side of the road.
With her blonde curls untamed and with the caption, “Couldn’t help myself”, Hunter appeared to nod towards the original Trumpet poster that launched her career.
“Yes, I know my history with ice cream, but this is really good,” she said.
“I’m not going to take a bite while I’m on the video. Cheers.”
Hunter moved from Auckland to New York City at 17 in pursuit of greater modelling opportunities – eventually gracing the pages of American Vogue and Sports Illustrated – but her work with Tip Top remains one of her most enduring pop-culture moments in New Zealand to this day.
Upon returning home, Hunter shared a video sending a “big hug and a big kiss” to her teammates from the airport.
Rachel Hunter in her famous Tip Top Trumpet ad from 1985.
“It was a really unique experience to be in there with all those spiders, but also just to share all those experiences and feelings and conversations with all my teammates in there,” she said.
“Thank you, Australia. I mean, my hair ... it’s like an animal in itself to be honest with you.”
The New Zealand model was first thrust into the spotlight after being approached on Auckland’s Milford Beach as a teenager and encouraged to consider modelling.
After making the move to New York, Hunter met British musician Rod Stewart, whom she married in 1990.
The pair separated in January 1999 but share two children together, Renée and Liam.
“Rachel left me because she was too young – my sister said I should never have married her in the first place – but it tore me to shreds," he told the outlet.
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