“How she is laying there and how she is looking with such confidence about her pretty ones - and the belt she put on, the shirt she is wearing and the hair - yeah she is already on her way” (Joseph Rodriguez)
23 years later after Joseph Rodriguez’s first trip to Mauritius during which he met the Rountree family, we know what become of the then 7 year old Alicia Rountree: a Top Fashion Model. Born and raised in Mauritius, Alicia’s sparkling eyes and glamorous smile have brought a glow to catwalks and adverts around the world, including Victoria’s Secret and Chanel. Already at a very young age, Alicia felt at home in front of the camera. Filled with dreams of the catwalk and the big screen, she gleefully remembers dressing up in costumes from the dress-up chest and prancing around in her mother’s high heels in their Mauritian paradise-like home. It was in these early and formative years that she posed for our own Joseph Rodriguez.
National Geographic Caption “For families with exotic taste, tortoises make amusing pets. Alicia Rountree finds riding in the paddock more fun than a lunch-in hosted by her mother at the Bel Air Sugar Estate.”Even then - when Alicia is in front of the camera - she effortlessly takes control: In the ease and comfort she radiates posing on the tortoises and the confidence in her gaze as her hands rest nonchalantly on her hips we already see the glimmer of the Fashion Icon she will one day be. In the shoot with her Barbie dolls, she dressed herself, arranged the dolls, prepared the room took on the role of a little director. “Joseph remembers I walked into this room of hers, that was laced with dolls and linen and beautiful light and it was just really a beautiful space in a beautiful home. Being a father of two girls, so Barbie dolls were something normal to deal with for me. I had fun with her that day, I played with her in her room and it was fantastic it really was.”
In 1991 Joseph was given an assignment by National Geographic to photograph for the story titled: ‘Mauritius: Island of quiet success’ (in print April 1993 p.118). “My idea was to look at the various cultures on the island and to focus on families. I met the Rountree family as one of the groups of people I wanted to cover” Joseph explains while looking through the prints of the Rountree family he had taken that year. “Their family was beautiful, very warm and open and since they were so cultured and educated they felt a sense of importance to be publish in the magazine.” Joseph remembers “I had spent a fair amount of time with each of them in their homes and on their Sugar Cane Estate.”
Coming from Irish and French decent, Alicia Rountree is the daughter of the fourth generation of Sugar Cane planters living in Mauritius. The family owned several houses across the Island, and Sugar Cane farm and even a backyard full of tortoises on which Alicia loved to ride around. Alicia “was just like any other young little girl. She had lots of fantasy and loved to play with her Barbie dolls” Joseph recalls. Beautiful and with a sense of style, it is no surprise Alicia became a sought-after world-acclaimed fashion star.