brinkley was discovered in 1973 by american photographer errol sawyer in a post office in paris. he took her first modeling pictures and introduced her to john casablancas of elite model management agency in paris. brinkley stated later: "i was basically a surfer girl from california. i never looked like a model." after being introduced to elite, where brinkley met the fashion photographers patrick demarchelier and mike reinhardt who called eileen ford and told her about brinkley, she returned to california, and by the end of a lunch meeting with nina blanchard (eileen ford affiliate in los angeles) she had been booked for three national ad campaigns.