MODEL PROFILES: GINTA LAPINA

Born in Latvia on the 30th June 1989, Ginta Lapina started her modelling career in 2005, signing with MC2 Management in New York. She secured her first editorial with Teen Vogue in December ’05, working with legendary photographer Arthur Elgort.

Ginta made her runway debut in 2007, walking for the Spring / Summer 2008 show for designer Benjamin Cho. After only 1 runway appearance, www.models.com featured Lapina as their model of the week. Usually models have to work much longer to get noticed, but Ginta proved to be exceptional right from the start.

Signing on with Women Management in 2008, Ginta’s runway credits got a major boost in 2009. Her quirky features made her an automatic stand-out, and in February she booked appearances for Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu, Proenza Schouler, Sportmax and YSL. In September, that number increased to include Alberta Ferretti, Balenciaga, Cacharel, Derek Lam, Donna Karan, Jason Wu, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Rodarte, Valentino and Versace. Lapina’s unusual looks – not quite full glamour, too delicate to be just quirky – made her an ideal choice for these labels. She suited the girlish quality of Alberta Ferretti and Cacharel, handling the Parisian high-fashion chic of Lanvin and the super-glamour of Versace. Her hard-to-define looks gave her an automatic advantage in runway, and this versatility had a snowball effect on the rest of Ginta’s career.

She scored an editorial with Italian Flair in November and a Numero spread with photographer Greg Kadel in December. The accolades kept coming, including a feature in America’s Marie Claire magazine, with Lapina being photographed alongside Donatella Versace. Fashion’s new favourite also started to reel in the big-money campaigns with Lapina becoming the new face for the label of the moment, Derek Lam.

Ginta got her first international Vogue credit in January 2010, with an editorial for Russian Vogue and in February enjoyed a stellar RTW season. In one year, she had almost doubled her bookings – designers were hooked on the Ginta effect, included Balmain, Isabel Marant, Jean Paul Gaultier, Moschino, Prada and Roberto Cavalli.

In March, Ginta was booked for a beauty editorial with Italian Vogue. Photographed by Solve Sundsbo, the brief was ultra modern punk pastels. Lapina slotted into this type of editorial remarkably easily. Some high-fashion shoots can risk looking flat and remote, but Ginta’s complex, layered performance was ideal for Italian Vogue, a magazine that prides itself on taking a uniquely cerebral approach to fashion.

Ginta was soon able to add another campaign to her CV, when it was announced that she would be appearing in the A/W advert for MaxMara diffusion label, Sportmax. In a season where simplicity ruled, this ad was defiantly complex. Ginta’s bleached hair and pale skin almost melt into the background, making the clothes the centre of attention. Styled to the nth degree, this ad stood out for taking a very different approach when measured against what was happening in the fashion world.

Sometimes choosing to go right when everyone else is heading left can leave you feeling a little exposed, but fashion lives for those out-of-step moments, the ones that end up propelling the industry forward in a way it never saw coming. In a season where classics dominated the fashion agenda, Sportmax’s campaign felt bold and fresh. The campaign’s success took Sportmax’s reputation from supporting act to a label in its own right.

Ginta’s campaign trail continued with a signing for the A/W Miu Miu ad. Becoming a Miu Miu girl alongside Lindsey Wixson and Siri Tollerod, was an excellent match for Ginta’s skillset. Ginta made a terrific Miu Miu model, absorbing the label’s 60’s-inspired look but keeping it contemporary, not costume. Miu Miu’s idiosyncratic brand identity has been ultra successful in wooing young Hollywood away from the traditional glitz and glamour, and a solid campaign goes a long way in that seduction. Labels are still willing to spend big on getting the right result from a campaign, and Ginta paired with Lindsey and Siri was an example of perfect casting.

Ginta’s runway career continued to blossom through 2010, with opening honours from Sportmax, Rue du Mail and Versace. Already a favourite with Donatella, Ginta’s role was to set the tone for the entire show and that’s no small ask. Versace is a deceptive label: playing the Versace vixen looks like simplicity itself – you strut, you pout. But keeping Versace on the right side of sexy is notoriously difficult. Get it wrong, and Versace goes from sexy to sleazy in a heart-beat. Ginta’s wealth of campaign experience gave her an automatic advantage in the importance of staying on-message, and nowhere is this more crucial than on the runway. The shots taken from the bottom of the runway last forever: strike a flat note and it’s preserved for years to come.

Applying these hard-won skills to editorial work, Ginta signed up for a multi-page layout with W, photographed by duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Called ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’, the shoot was vintage Americana, paying homage to the work of painter Edward Hopper. This was no ordinary editorial, and its success relied on the model’s ability to convey emotion and intent. Ginta delivered and the resulting images were fashion meets art, the moment where the photographs go beyond selling dresses. Normally a feat reserved for French, American or Italian Vogue, the editorial was a triumph for W, and a resounding counter to those who say fashion has nothing of substance or depth to offer.

This year has already started off well for Lapina. Her Sportmax contract has been renewed for another season; her success in taking Sportmax’s value through the roof means she has become a must-have for diffusion labels. Also signed to represent Marc by Marc Jacobs for Spring / Summer 2011, Lapina’s profile is set to go beyond the realms of high fashion, taking her into that select group of models – Beha, Stone, Wixson, Kloss, Kershaw – who are the closest approximation to supermodels the fashion industry has.

The reason for their success is that they are one step removed from being glossy perfection, and those imperfections are what have made them famous. Lara Stone’s bombshell looks are off-set by that gap in her teeth; Lindsey Wixson’s trademark pout almost threatens to overwhelm her face and Karlie Kloss’ girl-next-door persona should rule her out from doing more grown-up shoots, but she is the current face of Oscar de la Renta.

Today’s best models – and Ginta is among them – are girls who, in theory, shouldn’t be gracing the cover of Italian Vogue, or walking in couture shows for Chanel and Valentino, but they are doing all of these things and more because what’s ‘wrong’ is what makes them so 'right' for the industry.

Ginta’s look may seem challenging – almost a throwback to the alien-esque beauties of the mid-Nineties. Her shoot for Italian Vogue was high-fashion heaven; blue-sky, no-holds-barred styling and lashings of attitude. But look closer, and the shoot isn’t just about the power of a good blusher. Ginta humanises the shoot by telling a story with her facial expressions and body language. Beauty modelling can be incredibly tricky to master, because there’s nowhere to hide. But Lapina lets herself be vulnerable, and it takes the shoot to another level – it’s not just another beauty spread.

The days of absolute perfection are long gone. There’s always room for heady glamour and sophistication, but the best work of recent years - the most memorable editorials, campaigns and runway shows - have been where perfection takes a back-seat to creativity. Where fashion has shifted in the past two years is in its willingness to look at the positives. Exclusivity and ‘it’ pieces have fallen by the wayside in favour of inclusion, inspiration and great design. It’s not about what’s missing, but exploring what works, what feels right. Ginta’s appeal lies in that game-changing face. The face that shouldn’t work has become the avant-garde look that has no limits, accounting for a CV that includes bookings from Derek Lam to Topshop.

Ginta’s curious mix of soft femininity, streetwise cool and high-fashion haughtiness works perfectly in an industry where the top players are meeting expectations by defying them. Her bleached-out, stylised beauty has inspired across the board from Italian Vogue to copycat makeovers on ‘America’s Next Top Model’, but as she joins the next generation shaping the fashion industry, Lapina succeeds where others follow because she is a true original.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: KARMEN PEDARU

Born May 10th 1990, Karmen Pedaru’s career is testament to how paying your dues can really pay off.

Discovered in 2005 at a drama theatre in Tallinn, the Estonian-born model signed with NEXT Models the following year. Appearing for Teen Vogue in June 2006, Karmen debuted at Fashion Week that September, walking for Christopher Kane, Marni and Emporio Armani.

Skipping the February 2007 season, Pedaru returned to the runway in September 2007 opening the shows for Louise Gray and Biba. Also walking for Collette Dinnigan, Louis Vuitton and Stella McCartney, Karmen’s stock was on the rise.

In February 2008, Karmen’s growing confidence on the runway was rewarded with a stellar season, appearing for Donna Karan and Marc Jacobs in New York, in addition to being picked to open shows for Dries van Noten and YSL in Paris.

Her breakout season was noted by the fashion press, with both www.models.com and www.style.com dubbing Karmen a top newcomer. Karmen’s success on the runway translated into credible editorial work, with a spread in Numero photographed by Greg Kadel, and a layout for V, shot by Mario Testino.

In July, Karmen made her debut on the couture catwalks, walking for Chanel, Givenchy, Valentino and Dior. Getting to model couture is an integral part of building that envy-inducing CV. The requirements for haute couture are very specific, but once you’re in, you’re in. The ‘look’ of a couture label tends to be more fixed than its ready-to-wear counterpart. Couture forms the ‘essence’ of the brand, so some elements stay in place for nearly every collection, such as white for Chanel, and red for Valentino. Therefore the faces that wear these looks don’t have to be hired and dropped in such quick rotation. Couture doesn’t just build relationships with its clients; it builds lasting links with its models too. American model Karlie Kloss has been the face of Dior for the past two years because she is one of Galliano’s couture favourites. This has led to Karlie becoming one of the most in-demand models working today. Couture is very much a niche market: corner it, and the search for work becomes that little bit easier.

Karmen experienced this domino effect for herself in September 2008 when she was photographed for Numero magazine by Karl Lagerfeld, just a few months after her debut on the catwalk for Chanel Couture.

The couture connection continued with a shoot for Italian Vogue. Karmen, photographed by Miles Aldridge, appeared in Valentino Couture. A deceptively simple shoot, the heavily-worked couture demanded a focussed performance. It would be a tough ask for a more established model, but Karmen’s quietly assured performance showed the industry she was ready to take on more.

Her ready-to-wear season in September was another triumph, with opening show honours from DKNY, Jonathan Saunders and Rue du Mail. Closing the show for Nicole Farhi and Temperley in London, Pedaru also walked for Alberta Ferretti, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Isabel Marant, Proenza Schouler and Roberto Cavalli – a truly eclectic mix of blue-chip and cutting-edge labels that have come to form the basis of Pedaru’s career.

In early 2009 she was announced as the face of Missoni’s diffusion label and was photographed for the D&G spring campaign by Mario Testino. Following another couture season in January, it was announced that Karmen would become the first model to represent the Derek Lam label in a campaign, to be shot by Solve Sundsbo.

Pedaru walked again in the Autumn / Winter couture season in July, adding Armani Prive to her list of credits. Ending the year with a blockbuster RTW season, and the Autumn / Winter cover of French Revue de Modes, 2010 would manage to eclipse the extraordinary run of success Karmen found in 2009.

In February’s A/W 2010 season, Pedaru signed up for an incredible 55 shows. She opened shows for Tommy Hilfiger, Alberta Ferretti, Dries van Noten and Burberry. Karmen’s placing as the opener (and closer) of the Burberry show would prove to be a pivotal moment in her career. Christopher Bailey’s take on aviator chic proved to be the defining image of the season. Karmen’s photo cropped up time and again in the press, and as the season gathered accolades as one of the best for a decade, Pedaru’s photo became one of the important fashion images of the year.

Karmen’s profile unsurprisingly went through the roof, with editorials for French and Italian Vogue in April; the cover of Japanese Numero in June and the announcement in late summer that Pedaru would become the face of Emporio Armani and Salvatore Ferragamo.

Topping the year off with another 55 show season in September, Karmen got a chance to show what she’d learned in the past 12 months with an editorial for French Vogue called ‘Bal Masque’.
Featuring alongside Anja Rubik and Dree Hemingway, the themes were sensuality, opulence and Parisian glamour. Each concept is tricky enough in itself, but a sultry shoot is a notoriously difficult balance to strike. There’s an absolute (but subtle) line between making a statement and edging over into lads’ mag territory. The almost-mathematical precision in getting it right without sacrificing the mood of the editorial requires a level of skill you can only acquire through experience. The shoot worked perfectly in keeping the pages of French Vogue strictly high-fashion.

Karmen’s career zig-zagged again with another campaign signing, but this time she was asked to appear for the autumn / winter collection for Gap. The quintessentially American label chose to focus on one of its best selling points: denim.

Gap’s series of adverts marketed different cuts of jeans (eg: straight, modern flare, skinny) and used a clutch of top models to sell the goods. The campaign’s emphasis on easy fashion, added a stroke of genius when Gap put names to the model faces which included Alana Zimmer, Anja Rubik, Catherine McNeill and Lily Donaldson. Putting their names to each campaign image made the models immediately more appealing, taking it beyond the usual pairing of model with product, creating a campaign that was a slam-dunk for the iconic brand.

Gap’s light bulb moment worked because there is a certain satisfaction in being able to put a name to a face. The Cindys, Naomis and Christys – the models of the Eighties who were more celebrity than mannequin – are a thing of the past. It’s still possible for models acquire a certain level of fame (Lara Stone for example), but for most models, the trade-off is being known on sight, but not by name. In an age where we know everything about celebrities from their shoe size to their favourite snack, it’s a curious state of affairs.

But this is set to change as our interest in fashion continues to grow. Ten years ago, finding a member of the public who could name the editor of French Vogue would have been a tall order. Ten years on, Carine Roitfeld’s dramatic departure from the magazine in 2010 made headlines across the world.

The models emerging today are working in an industry where the rules are now a work in progress. A large part of that change has been thanks to the internet. Access to fashion – the very latest news, editorials and shows – is now just a click away. This proximity has created a generation who are as familiar with Gareth Pugh and Christopher Kane as they are with Topshop and Primark. It’s a generation who feel comfortable enough with the world of high-fashion to dissect the latest ideas, both with each other and the world at large. This willingness to engage in all things sartorial has turned the industry into something to be actively enjoyed, rather than regarded at a distance.

There are of course misgivings; when every opinion gets equal billing, figuring out what’s really worth your time can be difficult. But ultimately having too much information forces you to be selective. Being able to access everything gives you an immediate idea of what you like, what you don’t, and more importantly, why.

Making fashion a friendlier place to be has proved to be a touch of brilliance, because fashion is all about forming relationships. At the heart of this is the link between us, the consumer, and the model. If we don’t identify with the model, that dress, or that bag, won’t sell. The job of the model is to embody a designer’s ‘big idea’, whether that’s old-school sophistication or avant-garde sleekness, but in getting fashion’s finances back on track, the secret is to be relatable. The day of the uber-groomed supers has gone for a reason; we all want to indulge in that element of fantasy, but the post-recession fantasy is about the business of joy, not exclusion. Fashion’s getting back to the basics of why we buy what we buy: not just to feel part of a ‘club’, but to enjoy the act of choosing and wearing great clothes.

In light of this, the obvious choice would be to hire the money-maker faces. But the faces that are rising to the top aren’t just those starry one-in-a-million faces, but models that have got there through sheer hard work.

Karmen’s rise from ingénue to campaign girl is textbook when it comes to making the move from model to super; some are faces ‘of the moment’, slotting into a mood or look that gets everyone talking. Others make it by stealth, working for years and then suddenly making it big – Iselin Steiro is a perfect example of this. But Karmen falls into the third group: a solid but steady start, which blossoms into regular work on the world’s runway and editorial circuits.

Karmen’s transition from runway regular to the Spring 2011 face of Michael Kors and Gucci has been a process several years in the making, but Pedaru’s star power has lost none of its potency for it. There are some models that just have ‘it’ – that elusive modelling gene – but there’s something to be said for the grafters of the industry.

Karmen’s career will continue to flourish because her years of hard work have given her the skills of a supermodel, with the insight and intelligence needed to interpret fashion for a whole new generation.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: JOURDAN DUNN

Her career boasts one of the most famous ‘discovery’ stories in modern modelling history. Born 3 August 1990, Jourdan Dunn was found by a model scout whilst out shopping with her friend at the Hammersmith branch of Primark.

She was approached by an agent from top agency Storm, the same agency that is also responsible for launching Kate Moss’ career, and Jourdan signed with them in 2006.

In February 2007, Jourdan made her runway debut at the Autumn / Winter shows for Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Salvatore Ferragamo in New York and Milan. In September, Vogue named her a ‘rising star’.

Jourdan’s success continued, with runway appearances for Alexander McQueen and Hermes in Paris, and in February 2008, Dunn got the attention of the mainstream press when she became the first black model to walk for Prada in over ten years. The last black model to do so was Naomi Campbell.

The year continued to bring new honours, including accompanying designer Peter Som to the Costume Institute Gala in May, scoring her first Italian Vogue cover in July and also undertaking an ad campaign with British high-street giant, Topshop.

The cool, street-wise series of images, shot by Emma Summerton, launched Jourdan into the big-time: every fashion-conscious teenager now knew her name and face.

The lucrative professional relationship between Dunn and Summerton continued with editorials in Italian Vogue, and in November, a cover of British Vogue, with Dunn appearing alongside Eden Clark and Rosie Huntington.

In November 2008, Jourdan was nominated for and won ‘Model of the Year’, as voted for by the British Fashion Council. She topped the year off with a cover of French Elle. In February 2009, she opened the Autumn / Winter collection for Jason Wu, plus appearing in shows for Oscar de la Renta and Vivienne Westwood. She also had the honour of closing shows for Betty Jackson, Issa, Thakoon and Twenty8Twelve.

This brief summary of Jourdan’s career to date (temporarily on hiatus due to a pregnancy announced in July this year, with the baby due in December), shows that designers are definitely willing to hire (and re-hire) a black model.

Race in fashion is a contentious issue – even more so than weight. It has been said with alarming regularity that fashion, as a whole, is racist – deep down to its very core. It is true that even a cursory glance over a variety of fashion publications that the editorial balance is skewed in favour of white models, both in terms of editorial content and ad campaigns.

But the astonishing rate, at which Jourdan’s career blossomed, belies this idea. How can fashion be racist and still rave over beauties like Dunn? Jourdan herself was interviewed by iD magazine and refuted the notion that the industry will only hire a small number of black models at any one time. A brief scan of Jourdan’s friends within the industry also questions this commonly-accepted idea: Emanuela de Paula (Brazil-born), Sessilee Lopez (America), Honorine Uwera (Rwanda) and Arlenis Sosa (Dominican Republic). This is not a roll-call of an industry only interested in promoting a blonde, blue-eyed template of beauty.

These names are not necessarily well-known outside the immediate fashion industry, but Jourdan has certainly not been alone on her rise through the fashion ranks. Chanel Iman has also scored much press coverage as well. The fashion industry thrives on finding new faces – and ethnicity doesn’t seem to be the primary decider in whether a model gets signed by an agency.
By choosing to focus on Iman and Dunn almost exclusively, the press have been omitting other girls who are making a name for themselves. Models like Emma Pei and Toni Garr may not be household names, but they are well-respected and making a handsome living.

So Jourdan is right to challenge the idea of only a few black models working at any one time – we have ample evidence to the contrary. What is more puzzling, and perhaps more unsettling, is the question of why these girls aren’t better known? Is there a cap on success in the fashion industry if you are not white?

We all know that modelling is basically a sales pitch in heels. Whatever is being modelled, sells not just the thing itself, but an aspiration, an idea attached to it that if you buy this dress / bag / tube of lipstick, you will become more beautiful by association.

A quick glance of Jourdan’s CV throws up something troubling. She has had plenty of success on the runways and in landing high-profile editorials and covers, but aside from affiliations with high-street stores Benetton and Topshop, Dunn has no other campaigns to her name. True, Jourdan hasn’t been working that long, but if you compare her CV to that of peer Karlie Kloss , who has already landed a coveted fragrance contract with Marc Jacobs, you can’t help but think that something else is going on here.

We consider ourselves to be living in a multi-cultural society, but the facts do not compare well when we look a little closer at the wider fashion world, beyond the runways and the editorials of high-fashion. If fashion truly does reflect what is going on in society today, then why was Jourdan the first black model to walk for Prada in over a decade?

Many fashion insiders are reluctant to get drawn into the racism debate, not necessarily because they have something to hide, but because with this issue, there are no easy answers.

Casting agents for the big cosmetic firms hire faces on one key component: sell-ability. The controversial, but indisputable fact, when unit sales are directly compared, is that a white / non-ethnic model will sell more tubes of mascara than a black model. This then creates a vicious circle: cosmetic companies may want to go with someone more ethnically-diverse like Jourdan or Chanel, but if a white model sells more products, they have to make a decision based on economics, not aesthetics. By not using a black model, the cosmetic company are then continuing the self-fulfilling prophecy that a white model sells more units, and are then even less likely to use a black model for their next campaign. Consumers then only see white faces in beauty campaigns, and subconsciously make the semantic leap that a paler face is to be interpreted as inherently beautiful. They then respond by buying the tube of mascara, again fulfilling the prophecy that in terms of sales, a white model is a more profitable signing.

This leads back to one question. Why are cosmetic companies using white models so much in the first place? Is it because the public can’t see a black model as being beautiful, and by implication, aspirational? Does the problem lie with the cosmetic companies, or with us, the consumers? Are they in fact only following the agenda that we have set out for them? Who really decides what is beautiful? The problem appears to lie not with reality, but with perception.

For centuries, the template of beauty was not predominantly, but exclusively, white. Beauty was built around European features: big, child-like eyes, small noses and chins. The differing facial proportions on faces outside Europe – Africa, India and Asia – were not considered beautiful because they did not match the European ideal.

The preference for petite features is of course grounded in issues not just of race, but of power and inequality. Those who had the lion’s share of the power set the terms of what was considered beautiful. If you did not match the ideal, you were not beautiful – even if in reality you were actually better looking than your European counterparts: reality and perception – very different things.

The uncomfortable truth is this template has been clearly internalised by all of us. Why else would sales of a magazine cover featuring a black model perform so badly in comparison to those featuring a white model? Even now, it appears the struggle for equal and comparative pegging in the modelling industry is lagging behind the times. If lighter skin and features that lean towards European proportions are still seen as preferable, is there any hope for the industry at all?

The fact that the race issue is being discussed so openly means that there has been a revival of interest on diverse kinds of beauty within the modelling industry. Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, Devon Aoki, Alek Wek, Arlenis Sosa and Emma Pei are proof that the fashion industry is more than willing to employ ethnically-diverse models – not as a gimmick, but because these models are extremely good at what they do.

While this is a debate that will continue to spark discussion, what is good news for models entering the industry today, is that the fashion world itself has no qualms about hiring new faces from around the world.

Part of this has to do with new designers such as Peter Som, Derek Lam and Thakoon coming from diverse backgrounds themselves. Their own history and personal understanding of the race issue makes them in turn more aware – and awareness is the key to breaking down barriers.

American designer Jason Wu used an array of black models for his recent Autumn / Winter and Spring / Summer runways to prove this point. To say that fashion does not regard ethnically –diverse models as being beautiful is simply not true. The problem is with perception: and that problem is centred squarely on consumers’ shoulders. We are the ones not buying it; we still prefer a magazine with a white model on the cover and vote with our cash accordingly. Cosmetic companies choose primarily European models not because of some hidden agenda, but because it is what sells. If we really are serious about wanting to see a more even representation of models out there, on the catwalk, in magazines and campaigns, a conscious effort is required to make it happen.

This changing of attitudes will take time, but there is definitely cause for optimism. The flourishing success of Jourdan Dunn’s career shows how high-fashion is willing to embrace new talent. There is no easy solution to the race issue, but while designers and editors continue to explore the wealth of diverse modelling talent available, there is hope that perception will eventually follow reality. The whole point of beauty is that it is beyond definition.

Fashion likes to think of itself as cosmopolitan and part of that attitude is its openness to new kinds of beauty from around the world. But it will take the continued efforts of high fliers such as Jourdan Dunn to keep reminding us that fairness and equality are always in fashion.

HELEN TOPE