Björk’s Daughter Isadora Bjarkardóttir Barney Enters the Spotlight as a Miu Miu Model

You may want to start learning how to pronounce Isadora Bjarkardóttir Barney. If the past few months are any indication, the 19-year-old is only going to be known as simply “Björk’s daughter” for so long. Miuccia Prada certainly seems to think so: The designer cast Barney alongside familiar names like Sydney Sweeney, Emily Ratajkowski, Emma Corrin, and Demi Singleton in the latest Miu Miu campaign. Whereas the rest are representing its fall 2022 collection more generally, Barney is the only one to showcase the season’s jewelry (which was made in collaboration with the artists Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg). From the sound of it, this is just the beginning of her relationship with the label. “This introduces Isadora Bjarkardóttir Barney to the Miu Miu universe,” reads the accompanying press release. “She follows in a long line of emergent cross-disciplinary Miu Miu muses, united in their difference—in their passionately individual stance.” To Barney, who shared the ads on Instagram, the partnership is “a dream [come] true.”

The news comes on the heels of another milestone for Barney: her big-screen debut, made opposite Anya Taylor-Joy, Alexander Skårsgard, and her mom in Robert Eggers’s The Northman. Maybe it’s because she acts under the name Doa Barney, but unlike her Miu Miu campaign, the role barely registered with the public. For someone who’s the daughter of Björk and the artist Matthew Barney, the up-and-comer is remarkably low-key. In fact, she’s currently studying at Pitzer College, a liberal arts university in Claremont, California, and was even working at a record store in her mother’s hometown of Reykjavík earlier this year.

According to Barney, flying under the radar hasn’t been hard. “I think I really escaped [most of that],” she said of dealing with media attention as a kid in a rare interview with The Face. “Luckily, they’re pretty niche when it comes to their audience! Fellow 12-year-olds weren’t really listening to Björk or looking at Matthew Barney’s art! So it wasn’t like my peers were conscious of it, which is what my parents were worried about.” Now, she’s entering the public eye on her own terms: More acting gigs—and, apparently, Miu Miu campaigns—are on the way. In the meantime, you can listen to the music she’s made since Joanna Newsom inspired her to learn the harp.