MODEL PROFILES: ANAIS POULIOT

Born in Canada on May 7^th 1991, Anais Pouliot is set to make the transition from catwalk to campaign this year, emerging with the potential to become one of the most striking beauty faces to hit the industry in years.

Discovered at the age of 14, Pouliot signed with Trump Models in 2007. Later that year, Anais scored her first campaign, working for See by Chloe.

Pouliot didn’t make her runway debut until February 2010, walking for John Rocha, Betty Jackson, Lacoste, Miu Miu, Peter Jensen, Twenty8Twelve and William Tempest. Working with some of the most talked-about young designers in the business, Anais made a great first impression, walking in Paris for Miu Miu as an exclusive.

In June 2010, Anais modelled for the resort presentations for both Miu Miu and Prada in New York. Resort shows are fast becoming more than appetisers to the main Spring / Summer and Autumn / Winter events. The fashion industry is beginning to realise that the four seasons are not as clearly defined as they once were. Trans-seasonal clothes that bridge summer to autumn, winter to spring, are selling incredibly well. The provenance of the layering trend can be traced back to the need for fashion that can accommodate rapidly-changing temperatures. It’s paved the way for a looser feel when it comes to trends, explaining why airy, translucent white is being featured in the A/W 2011 collection for YSL, and how lightweight tweed jackets inspired by Isabel Marant are selling all year round. As our weather gets more extreme, fashion’s adapting by being freer with its once hard-and-fast rules.

Anais’ breakthrough season occurred in September 2010. Working in 36 shows, she walked for established names such as Chanel, D&G, Marni, Prada and YSL, plus newer labels such as Christopher Kane, Holly Fulton, Mark Fast, Mary Katrantzou, Peter Som and Versace’s newly-revamped diffusion line, Versus.

Pouliot’s striking appearances on the runway circuit got her noticed by magazines, and in November Pouliot had her first major editorial, appearing in W. Photographed by Paolo Roversi, the editorial named ‘Family Circus’, was an epic winter fantasy starring Lindsey Wixson, Arizona Muse and Britt Maren. Ethereal and downright gorgeous, it was a perfect starting point for Anais.

In February 2011, Pouliot’s editorial career went international, with a spread in Japanese Vogue. Appearing almost bare-faced, Pouliot’s confidence is unflinching. Anais’ gift for taking a great beauty shot pegged her as a potential face for big-money campaigns. Also featuring on the S/S 11 cover of French Revue de Modes, Pouliot pulled another trick out of the hat, appearing in avant-garde florals. Anais was compelling the industry to think of her not only as a potential beauty headliner, but someone who can handle new design.

In April, Pouliot appeared in Russian Vogue, photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth. Featured in electrifying Armani Prive, the shoot called for a high-glamour affinity with couture, but with an element of fun. Pouliot captured the essence of ‘girl on the town’ brilliantly: flirty, sexy but definitely chic.

The following month, Anais appeared in German Vogue. The editorial, ‘Uber-Sinnlich’ (which roughly translates as ‘supernatural’), featured Anais in an exquisite beauty shot. With her beauty literally shining through a heavily-jewelled veil, the photo is a masterstroke, revealing Pouliot’s ability to command your attention.

This month, Anais appears in Russian Vogue and turns her hand to working the smoulder. Working sex-appeal in editorials requires razor-sharp instincts. You need to convey seduction, but the wrong angle or the overplaying of a facial expression can turn seduction into parody all too easily. The line between silly and sexy is wafer-thin, and remarkably quick to cross.

Anais’ confident handling of the shoot, in Gucci’s S/S 11 collection whose heady Seventies glamour has become one of the summer’s most popular looks, points to a model who is not easily phased. A model with a poker player’s nerve is a model tipped for greatness.

Sure enough, Anais’ work on the runway and for some of the world’s most respected magazines has culminated in a booking with serious star-making potential. Earlier this month, pictures of the A/W 11 campaign for Louis Vuitton were previewed by WWD. Photographed by Steven Meisel, Anais works with Daphne Groenveld, Zuzanna Bijoch and new British modelling hopeful, Nyasha Matanhodze. The theme is military glamour, playing allure against discipline.

The signing with Vuitton marks a massive rise in status for Pouliot. The French label, now steered by Marc Jacobs, has a well-won reputation for producing some of the most striking images each season. Just these few teaser images are enough to give you an indication of what to expect this autumn. Neutrals working side by side with block-brights, bring the best of last winter and this summer to make what has the potential to be an incredible season.

The rise of Anais through the modelling industry charts how glamour and beauty are making a comeback. The latest beauty ads to emerge: Arizona Muse for YSL, Lara Stone for Tom Ford and Jac Jagaciak for Chanel all have one thing in common. The images may waiver between wholesome and wanton, but they all chronicle beauty that’s recognisable and readable, not just to the fashion industry, but to us as well.

Beauty ads are all about the face – seems an obvious point to make, but with little else to showcase, every ounce of meaning has to count. Although Pouliot is a fashion girl, it’s clear that her strength is being able to take a great close-up. It is this ability to grab our attention that makes Anais a fairly safe bet when it comes to figuring out which faces will become fashion’s next big-hitters. Pouliot’s traditional type of beauty is a surprisingly good fit with high-fashion. Going from haute-couture glamour to edgy florals, Anais never looks out of place – no mean accomplishment for a model endowed with a face that looks like it came from another century. Pouliot’s old-world, painterly type of look makes her curiously modern. In an industry filled with models that run from tomboy to sexpot, there’s not many names that can step and fill that niche for prettiness.

The idea of a model that’s objectively ‘pretty’ does seem at odds with everything we’ve learned about the fashion industry. But this swing from quirky and cool to gently feminine is symptomatic of a wider move. Whether you chalk it up to the Middleton effect, or bigger economic influences, the rising mood of the moment is ‘real-girl’ fashion. Knee-high boots, petite florals and white cigarette jeans are all flying out of the shops, but they are noticeably missing from this season’s runway.

We’ve been happily delving into trends for the past decade – harem pants, asymmetry, platform heels – we’ve worn the lot, experimenting with shapes and colour to our hearts’ content. But there’s been a tide change, with tastes visibly moving towards the conservative. Simpler silhouettes and lower hemlines have returned – they are a reaction to fashion’s desire to shock, but not from the direction you might expect.

The literal opposite of neon and tribal print jumpsuits would be full-on minimalism. But instead beauty is making a power-play for control of our wardrobes because it offers a viable alternative to fashion’s wilder, experimental side. For the past few years, fashion has been devoted to challenging us to wear new shapes, textures and colours. While this is fashion at its purest, encouraging us to be braver and bolder, it has left a gap in the market for the days when you just want to look good and feel good with minimal effort required. Even the urban uniform that has evolved from designers such as Rick Owens, The Row or Zadig & Voltaire, requires an awareness of how to layer different fabrics and what boots work best with leather leggings. It certainly looks good when done right, but it can’t beat jeans and a t-shirt for ease of use.

What’s developing is a movement aimed at catering to people who want a look in three moves or less. But this emerging trend isn’t about indulgence, but something that’s grounded in a real fashion literacy that’s all about the detail. Those white cigarette jeans may not be ultra high-fashion, but look closer and they will be from a brand such as MiH or Citizens of Humanity. No-one likes to be left of the loop and this new trend for prettiness is fashion by stealth. The ingredients are all there – they’ve just been mixed a little differently.

Anais’ growing career is part and parcel of this very movement – her height allows her to do runway, but her face is her unique selling point. Fitting fashion’s interpretation of ‘pretty’ is a rare gift. Too much ‘girl next door’ and you’re better off finding work in the lingerie / Sports Illustrated mould. Too left-field and you risk your looks not translating in big-brand cosmetic campaigns.

The beauty that Pouliot represents is an able translator because it works with high-fashion, not against it. Now that fashion’s relaxed the rules, it’s a whole different game. Playing with a portfolio that’s anything but simple, Anais demands you take a closer look.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: ELISA SEDNAOUI

Born in Italy to an Egyptian family, Elisa Sednaoui has become this season’s hot ticket. A muse to Karl Lagerfeld, god-daughter to Christian Louboutin – Elisa’s career is anything but tokenism.

With her parents’ divorce in 1994, Sednaoui moved to France and began modelling in 2006 at the age of 19. In April that year, she made the move to New York to actively pursue a full-time career in modelling.
The move proved worthwhile with a campaign for H&M in 2007, a campaign for Victoria’s Secret and a part in film ‘Neither Before Nor After’, working with director Sharunas Bartas.

In 2008, Elisa signed a fragrance contract with Diesel to become the face of their prolific ‘Fuel for Life’ campaign, photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth. In August she got the cover of French ‘L’Officiel’, and walked in shows in September for designers Diane Von Furstenberg, Tuleh, Betsey Johnson and Costume National.

2009 saw Elisa’s career step up a gear with a signing for John Frieda haircare, and an early runway season walking for Catherine Malandrino, Tuleh and Diane Von Furstenberg.

In April and May, she scored back-to-back editorials with Italian Marie Claire, Italian Flair and German Vogue. Elisa became the face of the Diesel label in 2010, also modelling for the S/S Hogan campaign.

Her first big break, however, came in March when she appeared in an editorial for Numero, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld. Named ‘Dangerous Couture’, the spread was a fetish-themed shoot, with Elisa’s trademark locks swept into a 20’s-style bob.

Any association with Chanel tends to act as stardust on a new model’s career, and Karl’s nod of approval took Sednaoui’s profile to the next level. In April, her personal style was the subject of a profile in French Elle, and in the same month, Italian Vogue featured her as a rising star.
The following month, Italian Vogue put its statement into effect by booking Elisa for her first editorial with the major publication, photographed by her cousin, Stephane Sednaoui.

Elisa’s link with Chanel went one stage further in May when she appeared in a short film directed by Lagerfeld, advertising the Chanel Cruise collection for Autumn 2010. Also featuring Karolina Kurkova, Heidi Mount, Abbey Lee and Jake Davies, the short played to every one of Elisa’s strengths. In head-to-toe Chanel, Sednaoui looked every inch the cool, arty girl that Lagerfeld ultimately designs for. Every one of Lagerfeld’s muses has been a woman of substance: ice princesses need not apply.

In July, she got her first editorial with American fashion magazine W, photographed by Terry Richardson. Featuring among many new faces, ‘Lunch Break’ was a mix of bawdiness and couture sensibility – in other words, trademark Richardson. Elisa’s blend of high-fashion awareness and mainstream sex-appeal made her a perfect model for Richardson’s shoot.
The end of 2010 saw Elisa become one of the faces of the Diane Von Furstenberg label, and a second editorial for Italian Vogue. Photographed by Miles Aldridge, ‘Like a Movie’ was perfect subject matter for film-fan Elisa. Aldridge’s work verges on the cinematic, and this spread was no exception.

Exploiting make-up and wardrobe to their fullest potential, the series of images were constructed to look like film stills, both referencing old Hollywood (including Bette Davis in ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’) and the work of art-photographer Cindy Sherman.
Working since the 70’s, Sherman made her name with haunting black and white ‘stills’ using herself as the model. The photographs do not directly reference any one film, but steer you towards films you think you may have seen, but can’t quite pin down. It is this uneasiness that makes the work so potent even 30 years on. Sherman’s now-famous series of film stills are both familiar and uncomfortable viewing – exactly the tone Aldridge and Sednaoui aimed for, and got.
Sednaoui rounded out the year with editorials in Dazed & Confused and L’Officiel and a spread in Russian Vogue, photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth.

This year, the buzz on Elisa has reached fever pitch. Already profiled in the broadsheets as the name to watch, she has scooped an editorial with Chinese Vogue, the cover of Italian Elle and now the Giorgio Armani S/S 2011 campaign. It is a major booking for any model, but Elisa’s status as a fashion IT girl was cemented by this signing in one fell swoop. Not only that, any doubts that her growth in the industry was due to her connections were now dispelled: there’s no room in campaigns of this calibre for models that are second-rate, even if they are a ‘name’. Armani demands, and expects, perfection.

Elisa’s success is made all the more remarkable simply because of the current fashion climate. You’d be forgiven for assuming that the bombshell had exited fashion’s vocabulary altogether. Traditional sex-appeal has been off the books for some time, with off-beat beauties such as Freja Beha, Lindsey Wixson and Jamie Bochert scooping all the campaigns and glory. Even with top models such as Lara Stone, the body may be textbook bombshell, but the gap in her front teeth places her squarely at the heart of high-fashion.

Where fashion has done bombshell recently, it’s been by nuance. Hungarian model Eniko Mihalik has cornered the market in chic sensuality. Her series of editorials may be in danger of searing the page, but the heat’s always tempered by that fashion edge.

Why Elisa has made such an impact in such a short space of time is not hard to figure out. She is tipped to be the face of 2011 because she provides that nostalgic hit of sexuality once part of the high-fashion experience of the Eighties and Nineties. Elisa does particularly well in editorial and campaign work. Her spread with Miles Aldridge for Italian Vogue is perhaps the most perfect summary of her talent so far: bold, complex and filmic. It’s no accident that Sednaoui has branched out into films: her movie-star face almost craves a bigger canvas.

Elisa’s leanings towards cinema are not the far-reach you might imagine. Many models have made that leap – some more successfully than others – but the reason they still feel compelled to do so is simple: modelling at its high-fashion core is all about story-telling. Any campaign, no matter how well styled or shot, needs a performance from the model to make it work. Most of the big labels have their own shorthand: Gucci = smouldering, conspicuous consumption. Marc Jacobs = razor-sharp intelligence applied to fashion’s back-catalogue. Recognising a brand’s identity is the easy part, but translating that label’s vision for the season? It requires a set of skills that are not dissimilar to the actor: for that moment you have to believe you are the carefree teenager in nothing but H&M, or the Cavalli glamour-puss with money to burn.

Without that commitment, the campaign loses its sparkle: even the most outrageous, creatively avant-garde ad needs an emotional charge to make the connection between campaign and consumer. Wanting to look like the model in the ad isn’t really the point: imagining yourself clutching that Versace bag is the all-important step towards buying. A model has to put herself in the label’s shoes but we have to put ourselves in her Manolos in order to complete the purchase chain. Fashion’s all about want: the most primal - and sometimes irresistible – urge there is. Factor sex into the equation and you’ve got yourself a monster hit of a campaign.

Elisa’s multi-page ad for the S/S 11 Giorgio Armani campaign is the perfect illustration of how fashion sells sex. Sophisticated but definitely smouldering, the images take the label to a relatively unexplored part of its identity. The well-documented friendly rivalry between label-founder Gianni Versace and Giorgio Armani saw the former label take on high-fashion’s ultimate challenge: how to make clothes sexy but still make them trend-relevant. Dressing sexy before Versace meant cheap fabrics and a sense of the obvious. What Gianni, and now Donatella, have done is made ‘sexy’ fashionable. The formula is simple: good-quality fabrics, unexpected colour choices and a revealing of the body that’s tasteful, not tacky.

The divide was drawn between Armani and Versace when Armani took a decidedly different route to glamour and sex appeal. Armani has consistently produced achingly-glamorous silhouettes and given us some killer red-carpet moments thanks to his couture line, but where Versace chooses to reveal, Armani plays the modesty card. Between them, Armani and Versace have sent Italian fashion values through the roof and made Milan an international fashion capital, but there’s never been any danger of confusing the two labels.

What this latest campaign does is introduce us to the more overtly-sexy side of Armani. It’s still in the best possible taste, but by choosing Elisa as the girl to represent the season; it’s a darker, steamier side of Armani: refreshing as it is surprising. That’s what a good model can do – their own personal currency can seep into a campaign, giving the images an added layer of depth: in Elisa’s case, the quintessential Italian model for the quintessential Italian brand.

Already courting press attention with her appearance in the 2011 Pirelli calendar, Elisa has also experienced a breakthrough season on the A/W 2011 runways this year. Doing both calendars and catwalks is no longer unusual, but to be able to play up to your looks and still get taken seriously by the fashion crowd takes considerable skill. It used to be a feat reserved for the supermodels of the 80’s and 90’s: household names that still opened and closed major catwalk shows without having to compromise their ‘look’.

What Elisa does that’s different is to go to fashion’s extremes: the places where styling and make-up physically transform you, but can only take you so far: you do the rest. Her fetish-themed editorial for Numero and the role-swapping shoot for December’s Russian Vogue required models to go beyond their own image, even their own gender, to get an editorial that’s both thought-provoking and convincing. Again like acting, it doesn’t matter if all the technical elements are in place: without emotion, without heart, it just won’t work.

Elisa’s career choices haven’t always been what you would expect, and that’s exactly why the fashion world finds Elisa so intriguing. Never the same woman twice, Elisa Sednaoui is the ultimate 21st century bombshell.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: SIGRID AGREN

Born in Martinique on April 24th 1991, Sigrid Agren is the model who became the Chanel girl for a whole new generation.

Agren started her career in 2004 when she won the local Elite Model Look contest. Winning the semi-finals in 2005, she subsequently signed with the Elite agency. An early-starter even by modelling standards, Sigrid took the decision to put her career on the back-burner in 2007 to concentrate on school, and returned to modelling in 2008, signing with New York Model Management.

In June 2008, she appeared in her first major editorial, for Teen Vogue. Just days later, http://www.models.com/ named Agren a future industry star. In September, she made her debut at Fashion Week. Despite having only a clutch of editorials behind her, Agren’s runway booking sheet was filled with the best of international design talent. Walking for Calvin Klein, Rodarte, Donna Karan and Ralph Lauren, she also opened shows for Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld, Sonia Rykiel and YSL. Closing shows for Prada and Louis Vuitton, Sigrid’s look had struck a chord with the industry. With such an incredible start to her international career, it was no surprise when http://www.style.com/ named Agren one of their Top 10 Newcomers.

Her career as one of fashion’s favourite runway girls gave way to editorial and campaign work. In early 2009 she became one of the faces of Prada, appearing alongside Anna Jagodzinska and Katrin Thormann.

January saw Sigrid walk her first couture runway season, appearing for Chanel, Dior and Givenchy and opening the show for Valentino. Sigrid continued to rack up opening and closing spots as Fashion Week arrived a month later. She opened shows in New York, Paris and Milan, walking for designers such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Alberta Ferretti, Valentino and Chloe. In addition to also closing the Chloe show, she also scooped closing honours for Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Nina Ricci and Roland Mouret.

After appearing on the Autumn / Winter couture runways, Agren’s delicate looks made her a select choice for campaign work. She signed a contract with YSL Cosmetics, replaced Kate Moss as the face of Stella McCartney and became the face for powerhouse-brands Calvin Klein and Chloe. Sigrid’s easy-to-market look made her a fail-safe when it came to securing campaign work, but her next editorial booking made sure that the fashion world knew she wasn’t a one-note wonder.

Shooting for Italian Vogue, Agren appeared in a couture layout with models Heidi Mount, Rose Cordero, Toni Garrn, Imogen Morris-Clarke, Jourdan Dunn and Constance Jablonski. Named ‘A Dream of a Dress’ and photographed by Paolo Roversi, the high-fashion shoot was dark, atmospheric and dripping with glamour. It was absolute proof that Sigrid could master fashion’s dark arts, not just the campaigns and covers.

In October, she undertook editorials for Numero and Russian Vogue, choosing to sit out the S/S 2010 runway season. It did her career no harm whatsoever, as she renewed her contract with YSL Cosmetics in early 2010, returning to the runway in January for the Prada Menswear show.
Sigrid also appeared in Italian Vogue again, this time photographed by the legendary Steven Meisel. Named ‘Runway’, the shoot was a massive project that included the best of new and established catwalk talent. Sigrid was joined by Lara Stone, Frida Gustavsson, Natasha Poly, Kendra Spears, Kasia Struss, Mirte Maas and Iselin Steiro to name just a few. The documentary-style, behind-the-scenes shoot was a huge success and real-life imitated art when Sigrid found herself undertaking the biggest runway season of her career.

Walking in 71 shows, Agren appeared for Jaegar, Matthew Williamson, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Prada, Lanvin and Gareth Pugh. Closing shows for Thakoon, Derek Lam and Calvin Klein, Agren’s fashion moment had finally arrived. Appearing in some of the biggest shows of the season, her profile soared.

In March, she undertook an editorial for W; April saw her being cited as a top model by Teen Vogue and May and June saw back-to-back fashion spreads for Numero and Japanese Vogue.

But her biggest moment was still yet to come. Already a fixture on beauty billboards for YSL, Sigrid landed the booking of a lifetime when she was chosen to represent Chanel’s new fragrance Chance. Launched back in 2002, Sigrid was to be the face of the fragrance’s latest incarnation, Eau Tendre. A soft, summery companion to the main perfume, it was a huge coup for Agren.

Shot by Jean Paul Goude, the campaign featured Sigrid sat clutching a huge bottle of the perfume and accessorised only with a garland of pink flowers. Pitched as sweetly romantic, the advert is deceptively simple in concept, but ultra-sophisticated in its execution. Aimed at younger consumers, Agren (still in her teens herself) was the perfect choice as the Chanel girl for a generation who have grown-up worshipping the brand.

After her seal of approval from Chanel, Agren became the go-to girl for this coming season’s campaigns. She will appear in the Prada Menswear ad with Angela Lindvall and the campaign for Celine with model Emma Balfour. Sigrid can also be seen in the new campaign for Italian designer Alberta Ferretti, appearing alongside top-model Jac. Shot in sepia tones, the campaign is a yin & yang concept with Jac dressed in black and Sigrid in white. Dreamy and sensuous, the calling-card of all Ferretti campaigns, Sigrid’s career has come full circle.

Agren is making a name for herself as a model that doesn’t have to choose between campaign and editorial work: she is someone who is equally at home on a beauty shoot as she is working on an editorial for Italian Vogue. For a model who doesn’t even reach her 20th birthday until 2011, Sigrid’s body of work already outranks the majority of her contemporaries.

Sigrid’s success is owed much to her ability to be adaptable, a quality that in today’s industry is as in-demand as being photogenic. Much has already been written about the impact of the economic recession on the modelling industry. For blonde models, however, it has been nothing but good news.

In times of crisis, clients tend to go with the familiar, and modern beauty (especially when its best face forward for covers and campaigns), is often equated with blonde models. Seen as approachable and sunny, blonde models like Agren have seen their workload increase significantly over the past year, because of their wide-ranging appeal.

Sigrid’s high-profile campaigns with YSL and Chanel have both utilised her ability to take a great beauty shot. She may be a natural at scooping cosmetic and fragrance campaigns, but Sigrid has smartly balanced this with high-fashion editorial and runway work. Appearing for designers such as Gareth Pugh, Thakoon and Lanvin has lifted Agren’s stock from safe-as-houses blonde to a model whose career is well-rounded and without a doubt, on the rise.

Even the briefest glance through this month’s fashion magazines will tell you that the tide is beginning to change. Gone are the disco shoes, the extravagance and glamour for glamour’s sake. Here to stay is a new mood: pared-back but not dumbed-down. With even Marc Jacobs revisiting and remodelling the camel coat, fashion’s new direction is about shape, texture and finish.

The good news for blue-chip models like Agren is that this is fashion with substance, and her appearance this February in some of the most talked-about show of the season (Burberry and Prada), is raising her value on the modelling market to make her one of the most coveted girls working today.

First hired as the winsome, delicate blonde, Sigrid is rapidly winning herself a reputation as a model of endurance. Far from being fashion’s soft option, girls like Agren are the true backbone of this industry. With a 71-show season under her belt already this year, only three more words are needed: watch and learn.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: LARA STONE

Born December 20th 1983, Dutch native Lara Stone is one of fashion’s hottest exports. Taken straight from Hollywood’s template of the femme fatale, Lara Stone is the very definition of a 21st century supermodel: bombshell meets mannequin.

She was first discovered in 1995, aged 12, whilst riding on the Paris Metro. But Stone’s career didn’t take off until she entered the Elite Model Look contest in 1999. She didn’t win, but Elite was so impressed with the 16-year-old that they signed her anyway.
Lara switched to agency IMG in 2006, and that January she debuted at the Autumn / Winter Givenchy couture show. She also made her ready-to-wear debut, walking for designers Cacharel, Miu Miu and Veronique Branquinho.

Lara also scored her first major campaign in 2006, managing to scoop an ad for Sisley. Photographed by Terry Richardson, it was the perfect match of photographer and model. If anyone knew how to photograph Lara’s curves and keep it centered in a sense of fashion, it would be Richardson.

The impact was immediate. Stone got the cover of French Elle in May, and was dubbed a favourite of French Vogue. Editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld remarked that ‘sometimes a girl just touches you’. In an overcrowded industry, even a little ‘x factor’ goes a long way. It would soon become self-evident that Lara had star quality to spare.

October 2006 saw Lara’s busiest runway season to date, with appearances for Burberry, Chloe, Jil Sander, Lanvin and Prada. Her appearance at the S/S 2007 Karl Lagerfeld show also attracted press attention when she tripped on the runway. Even that glitch didn’t stop Lara’s progress: http://www.style.com/ named her (trip or not) their rising star of the season.

In 2007, Lara’s career went into overdrive. She became the face of Givenchy with Hilary Rhoda, signed a cosmetics contract with Calvin Klein and even replaced Kate Moss as the face of Calvin Klein Jeans. She also had the best RTW season of her career, with 62 bookings for the A/W 2007 season. Her appearances included Alberta Ferretti, Balmain, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Derek Lam, Givenchy, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Roberto Cavalli and Stella McCartney. It was a resounding stamp of approval.

Lara’s aplomb on the runway sparked editorial fever, with magazines vying for her time. In March, she channelled Sixties icon Brigitte Bardot for a French Vogue editorial. In April, she shot their cover. May saw an editorial for British Vogue (photographed by Mario Testino) and July saw Lara’s first fashion shoot for Italian Vogue. In October, she did two editorials for Italian Vogue and finished off an incredible year with the December cover of Italian Vogue, photographed by Steven Meisel.

In 2008 Lara renewed her contracts with Givenchy and Calvin Klein Beauty, plus signing on to become the face of Just Cavalli. March saw Lara hit the cover of French Vogue again. Her status as French Vogue’s favourite was cemented by an extraordinary run of success, including being cited by them as a top model, along with four editorials; two in the May issue and two more in June.

In July, Lara scored the cover of W magazine, along with Vogue, the most influential fashion magazine in America. Taking on cover duty with Kate Moss and Daria Werbowy, the shoot dubbed ‘Summer Camp’ took the best new design talent (including Gareth Pugh and Rodarte) to Miami, shooting their designs to create an incredible 36-page layout. For Lara, this shoot by Bruce Weber was a career-making moment.

The noteworthy appearance for W landed Stone two more campaign slots: Hugo Boss Orange and Jil Sander. The combination of a face made for editorial and a body built for (sartorial) sin was proving to be an irresistible lure.

Her starring role in many of the top runway shows later that year confirmed her status, including opening honours for the Isabel Marant, Giles Deacon and Christopher Kane shows. Also walking for Balmain, Celine, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Zac Posen, Lara’s ability to morph from a fashion girl, to sex-bomb, and back again, charmed the industry. Taking adaptability to a whole new level, Stone undertook editorials for Japanese and French Vogue in October, and a month later, walked in her very first show for lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. Fusing a high-fashion aesthetic with mainstream glamour? All in a day’s work.

Lara was rapidly becoming fashion’s newest superstar. To prove the point, French Vogue dedicated an entire issue to the Lara phenomenon in February 2009, with editorials shot by Steven Klein, Hedi Slimane, Peter Lindbergh and Patrick Demarchelier. The other recent example of this happening is with Natasha Poly’s multi-page homage in Russian Vogue.
Natasha and Lara make similar studies; viewed from a distance they should be one-trick ponies, asked to do nothing more taxing than smoulder and pout. But get closer and you see versatile, thoroughly capable editorial models that bring something extra to every assignment.

February was a good month for Stone as show season rolled around. She made a headline-grabbing appearance for Balmain. Rewriting the fashion rule that body-con tends to look its best on the super-slim; Lara appeared on the Balmain runway in a dazzling blue sequinned mini-dress.

Her curves were clearly visible, but she looked incredible. The trend that had up until this point stayed on the sidelines had now become fashion’s latest crush. The press lauded Stone for making the Balmain glamourpuss look finally achievable, and the high street dutifully picked up the thread, making copies of the Balmain / Lara look and sent the body-con trend into the stratosphere.

The show season didn’t end there either. Lara was chosen to close the Marc Jacobs show. Simply as good as it gets in terms of runway prestige; Lara put an end to the claims that her presence was a token gesture, a pacifier for those who questioned whether fashion had really got a grip on the body image issue. Lara wasn’t picked because of the potential for headlines, but like her appearance for Balmain, Lara was chosen because of her ability to enhance clothes without being a distraction.

Lara’s triumph on the runway was followed by yet more editorial scoops, including the cover of Japanese Vogue, spreads for W and French Vogue, and finally in May 2009, she got the cover of American Vogue. Shot by Steven Meisel, it was another modelling milestone done and dusted.
In August, the fashion bible W paid tribute to her in their issue, dubbing her ‘Fashion’s new IT Girl’, if there was anyone left who doubted it. The end of 2009 culminated with not one, but two, magazine covers. The first was another for Italian Vogue, and the second was for British Vogue.

The British December issue was named ‘The Girl of the Year’. Shot by Mario Testino, it was Lara in full fantasy mode. The cover shot was soft, dreamy and uber-feminine. It wasn’t just a celebration of Lara’s achievements, the cover was signposting the year (and decade) ahead. True to its word, fashion has got in touch with its softer side and Lara couldn’t be better placed to take advantage of this shift in fashion semantics.

If 2009 saw Lara as the girl of the year, this coming decade surely belongs to her as well. To date, she has appeared in S/S campaigns for Jaeger, Louis Vuitton, Prada Infusion D’Iris fragrance and H&M swimwear. Couple this with an upcoming A/W campaign for Giorgio Armani Cosmetics, and Lara’s run of success shows no sign of losing momentum.

Being curvier than her peers hasn’t left Lara out in the cold, especially in terms of those all-important, lucrative campaigns. Stone is, just in terms of numbers, way ahead of the pack. The calibre of those campaigns (including Chloe, Jil Sander and Prada) are indicative of her ability to appeal to a wider demographic.

When casting campaigns, design houses don’t only look to the names that are populating the world’s runways or filling the pages of Vogue. That certainly helps, but a great campaign model needs something extra. If it’s a sunny advert for swimwear, coming across as likeable is essential. If it’s selling a bottle of perfume, the model needs to have an allure that’s appealing, not off-putting.

Lara’s brand of sex appeal is aimed squarely at the grown-ups: its Brigitte Bardot meets Veronica Lake, with a dose of worldly-wise Jane Russell thrown in for good measure. Lara’s pitch-perfect ability to charm men and women into buying that perfume explains why she’s in such high demand.

The company you keep in the fashion world says a lot about you. Lara isn’t booking campaigns or features with marginal figures in the industry. Chanel, Givenchy, Prada, Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani – these names are not exactly obscure references. Lara has worked with the greatest designers, editors and photographers in the business. She may not be the most prolific runway girl, but it’s quality over quantity.

What makes Lara different is that she has tailored her career to her strengths. Her personal stamp – a postmodern Bardot – has worked simply because there is no-one else quite like her. Some come close: the trio of Brazilian supers (Bundchen, Trentini and Zimmermann) all have the market cornered in doing campaigns that call for plenty of sizzle. But Stone is cut a little differently from the standard sex-bomb mould.

Lara is part of a small group of models who can do the blend of coy sophistication peculiar to brands like Prada. It’s a tough ask, and Lara’s strategy of being (and staying) true to herself has paid off. Prada loves different, hence why she is their campaign girl.

Lara deftly translates intelligent sensuality into something fashionable and covetable. She works so well as a marketing ploy because of her high-fashion connotations. There’s little chance of mistaking the Prada girl for an off-the-peg glamour queen.

As influential as she is now, in ten years’ time, expect to see Lara’s legacy throughout the modelling industry. The soft-sell approach to campaigns that clamour for sex-appeal will eventually reconfigure what we think of as ‘sexy’. Think smart, challenging and a little hard-to-read. A unique presence in contemporary fashion, Lara is undoubtedly a model of substance.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: ANJA RUBIK

Born 11th June 1985, Anja Rubik’s success stems from fashion’s ability to turn a classic beauty into a very modern commodity.

Anja, born in Poland, took an active interest in modelling from early childhood. At the age of 15, she decided to pursue the goal of becoming a model and took part in a local modelling contest. This would prove to be a pivotal decision: there Anja was spotted by a Parisian agency that immediately recognised her potential.

Anja’s debut into the fashion world marked her from the outset as someone to be reckoned with. She debuted at the A/W shows in Paris, walking for Givenchy, Rochas and Nina Ricci. A hit with Paris, Rubik moved to New York two years later to pursue modelling full-time.

Success came quickly for Rubik. In February 2003, she appeared in the A/W shows for Burberry, Jil Sander and Stella McCartney: all names that can seriously boost a girl’s portfolio.

With http://www.style.com/ naming her the rising star of 2005, Rubik landed contracts with Emporio Armani and Emanuel Ungaro. In the autumn of 2005, she became the face of the Jimmy Choo brand and walked S/S runways for Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Proenza Schouler.

In 2006, Anja’s career went supernova when she signed a contract with cosmetics giant Estee Lauder. If Rubik needed proof that her career was moving in the right direction, this was the moment that did it. A long-established beauty brand, to sign up Anja (at that point still relatively unknown) was a gamble, but one they clearly felt justified in taking.

With a campaign shoot in Alaska for all-American label Tommy Hilfiger, Rubik capped off an amazing year with 50 runway appearances including couture shows for Dior, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino. Being selected for a couture show is the one of the highest accolades a model can receive, and with Anja’s popularity continuing to grow in Paris, the demand for the face that merged the best of commercial and editorial also showed few signs of letting-up.

With eight Vogue covers to date, Anja Rubik has become one of the top beauty faces working in fashion today. In addition to her numerous fragrance, beauty and eyewear contracts, Anja has walked runway for every notable designer, ranging from Dolce & Gabbana to Loewe, Vera Wang, Thakoon and Gareth Pugh.

Classic beauty, like the little black dress, never really goes out of fashion, and like the LBD, Anja’s look is one that will always be in style. Anja’s list of credits bear testament to the fact that there is always a place in fashion for beauty. Whatever fads come and go, classic beauty finds favour in the fashion industry because it is creates immediate style shorthand by utilising pop culture icons like Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly. The blue-eyed blonde continues to fascinate because the look is loved by designers, used over and over again by advertisers to sell virtually any product, and directors such as Hitchcock dedicated much of their careers to exploring our obsession with the blonde.

Nowhere is this ongoing obsession more evident than in Anja’s signing with Chloe. The signature fragrance for the French label, only launched in 2008, feels far more established, but the campaign, introduced to the fragrance industry in late 2007, featured Anja alongside actors Chloe Sevigny and Clemence Poesy. The trio, simply styled, represented a very fresh, modern slant on femininity. Deliberately underworked, Chloe’s brand of new femininity has been so successful that the fragrance can already claim modern classic status.

Luxurious and aspirational, but striking the crucial balance between cool and allure, the success of the perfume has proved that the reported demise of the print ad is somewhat premature. By adopting a clear-headed approach to marketing, its subdued glamour has made the fragrance a worldwide hit, ensuring that not just the fashion literate have heard of Chloe.

By hiring Rubik as the only model to front the brand, Chloe cleverly tapped into Anja’s accessible and easily identifiable beauty. No previous knowledge of fashion required: anyone can look at a Chloe advert and understand the connection between model and product. Anja is the perfect match for Chloe because she herself represents a modern femininity that has nothing to do with flounces or frills. It dials into a simpler aesthetic: something that is refreshing in an age where even reality TV contestants are groomed to within an inch of their lives.

Anja’s reputation rests on her ability to make elegance approachable. Ice-cool hauteur isn’t in vogue anymore: advertisers can’t afford to alienate consumers, and the models who are doing well right now are the ones who can tell a story in a single frame. Being relatable isn’t the same as being over-commercial or not high fashion. Making that link with the person buying the magazine or passing the billboard is a skill and one definitely worth cultivating.

High-fashion and beauty have not always been synonymous, but Anja, with her impressive CV of covers, editorials and runway credits, clearly operates within the realm of high-fashion, but is still recognisably beautiful in the contemporary sense of the word. Being ‘pretty’ used to be a distinct disadvantage if you wanted to get taken seriously, but not anymore. The respective successes of models like Lara Stone and Jessica Stam show that fashion has widened its own horizons to allow faces like Anja to not only work in the modelling industry, but to succeed and excel.

Faces like Anja get the attention that they do because they simply don’t come around that often. Finding that lucky mix of genetics that permits Anja to be equally convincing in couture as she is in a Gap commercial is a rarity even in the modelling world where outstanding beauty is par for the course.

Its rarity is what makes beauty so desirable. Everybody wants it; and those who do have it are the subject of intrigue, fascination and envy. It’s still, even in these times of shaky finances, the most potent form of currency we have. Anja’s extraordinary body of work shows that, whatever is on fashion’s agenda, beauty takes pride of place. It not only sells magazine covers and bottles of perfume, but it sells the promise of something better than we already have, and at the end of the day, that is what fashion is all about. A face that represents the ultimate in versatility, Anja Rubik is well on the way to becoming one of the most formidable forces in fashion history.




HELEN TOPE