A FACE TO WATCH: HEDVIG PALM

Born in Sweden, Hedvig Palm was discovered in 2010 at the age of 15, whilst eating at a local restaurant. Signing with Next Models the same year, Hedvig kicked off her modelling career in January 2011.

RUNWAY

January 2011: Valentino Haute Couture

September 2011: Alexander Wang, Celine, Jil Sander, Jonathan Saunders and Valentino 

February 2012: Balenciaga, Cacharel, Chanel, House of Holland, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry and Topshop Unique.

September 2012: Miu Miu, Roland Mouret, Giambattista Valli, Alexander McQueen, Vanessa Bruno, Givenchy and Prada.

January 2013: Valentino Haute Couture

EDITORIALS / CAMPAIGNS

March 2012: Love S/S issue. ‘A Chorus Line’, photographed by Solve Sundsbo, this exquisitely choreographed editorial (based on 1930’s Hollywood musicals), also featured other new models including Caitlin Lomax, Ajak Deng, Lida Fox and Josephine Skriver.

June 2012: Prada Resort look book.

July 2012: Italian Vogue. ‘Collections’, photographed by Steven Meisel, featured groups of models wearing the headline-making pieces from the A/W collections, including Prada’s printed trouser-suits and Jil Sander’s cocoon coats. 

January 2013: Look books for Christopher Kane (Pre-Fall 2012) and COS (Spring / Summer 2013).

Traditionally used as a means of allowing wealthy clients to view haute couture collections, the look book’s purpose is being extended far beyond its high-society origins, and is now being deployed by high street titans.

The look book is joining the digital revolution, transforming into a smartly-produced video. The COS look book sits somewhere between catalogue and campaign, pausing on details in the clothing, showing both how the clothes move and sit on the body.

Campaigns have already made the leap to video, with the video acting as a companion piece to the more traditional print ad, and the concept brings together one of fashion’s oldest means of self-promotion and the latest technology to make a look book that’s about functionality and purpose. 

Hedvig enters the fashion industry at a tipping point heralding enormous change: how we buy and how we wear fashion has changed radically in the past five years and fashion has adapted accordingly. 

Even in a climate of change, there are still constants and faces like Hedvig are destined to thrive because they are an ‘easy sell’. Proving equally productive modelling haute couture as the best of the high street, Hedvig’s appeal puts her ahead of the pack.

The easy sell is becoming increasingly important, but selling a product in the first place has created a unique set of challenges especially for online fashion retailers. Selling fashion is rarely about combinations of fabric and fastenings, but selling an idea. For retailers, this means hiring models who are not only good all-rounders, but confident communicators, as they need to convey, in a matter of seconds, not only how an outfit looks but how it can make you feel.

The models then have to apply those skills across disciplines. A walk that would normally be employed for runway is now needed for a webpage (eg: ASOS, Net a Porter who both use moving images to show a garment). Editorial skills are no longer the preserve of high fashion: they are readily used for high street campaigns. Production values have increased because our raised expectations demand more. There are still easy sells, but they are hard won. Everyone has had to raise their game.

The good news for Hedvig is that she is already meeting the new requirements of the fashion industry. Strong in individual skills, she is already able to draw from runway and editorial experience and translate that into something that works on the screen as well as the page. It is the equivalent of a theatre actor learning how to act on film. Details become larger on the screen, movement seems more exaggerated. Making the performance more nuanced, but not making it smaller, is now part and parcel of the model’s job. The performance still has to have impact, and Hedvig’s role in the COS look book convinces. It is in the tiniest choices of movement that Hedvig communicates the feel of the collection. 

As the presentation of fashion becomes an increasingly virtual experience, making that emotional ‘must-have-it’ connection becomes ever more important. Access to fashion may be at an all-time high but seeing a dress on a screen will never be the same as walking into a shop, and seeing the dress in real time and real life. Technology can only give us so much information - the rest is inferred. To decide how we feel about the garment, and how it feels to wear it, only works on a non-virtual level. Therefore, the model becomes the intermediary. Communicating how the garment feels on the body, in both a physical and psychological way, has become the most crucial aspect of a model’s armoury. 

Two years into her career, Hedvig is already shaping up to be one of the industry’s go-to girls. Equally adept at haute couture, ready-to-wear and the best of the high street, Palm’s multi-platform CV is the calling card of a 21^st-century model. Hedvig’s classic beauty and modern skills-set makes her one of 2013’s brightest prospects. She is a face to watch.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: MACKENZIE DRAZAN

Born in Woodside, California, on the 10^th August 1995, Mackenzie was discovered at the age of 14. A year later, she had been named a newcomer to watch by www.models.com ,  signing up with Elite Models. 

In July 2010, a month shy of her 15^th birthday, Drazan debuted at the Autumn / Winter show for Valentino Couture. Mackenzie then took a brief 6-month break from modelling, returning in February 2011. Drazan made her ready-to-wear debut, including appearances for Jil Sander, Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton.

Drazan’s early start at the very highest levels of catwalk modelling marked her out as a casting must-have.  Returning to the catwalk again that September, Mackenzie added Alexander McQueen, Celine and Balenciaga to her growing list of credits. Finishing the year with appearances in the pre-fall lookbook for Narciso Rodriguez and the pre-fall collection show for Calvin Klein, Drazan was already becoming a favourite with some of the world’s biggest labels. 

Her growing list of credits certainly got Mackenzie noticed, and in February 2012, she had her first blockbuster ready-to-wear season, walking in over 65 shows. The Autumn / Winter 2012 season saw bolder, more expressive designs making all the right moves, and the return of certain trends, such as outsize and head-to-toe print, seen at Jil Sander and Prada respectively, was tailor-made for a taller model like Drazan.  This season was an important one for the still-teenage model, and her stock soared as a result.

Mackenzie’s next assignment saw Drazan book an editorial for Italian Vogue. Photographed by Emma Summerton for the beauty supplement cover, Drazan worked the avant-garde look with total confidence. Italian Vogue’s enthusiasm for editorial make-up has become a micro-trend, with the looks that are accompanying this season’s fashion definitely moving into braver territory. The traditional smoky eye has been transformed into a multi-coloured, peacock eye, mimicking the explosion of colour that has been seen on the catwalks. Follow that with the incredible growth in nail art: not only in terms of colour but design and texture, and Italian Vogue’s take on beauty is right on the pulse. Avant-garde looks are no longer the preserve of magazine editorials, but real-life achievable.  As our fashion choices get a little riskier, make-up had no choice but to step up its game.

Drazan’s incredible run of catwalk success continued into the summer, with appearances at the resort shows including Alberta Ferretti, Bottega Veneta, Salvatore Ferragamo and Valentino. But Mackenzie’s biggest career moment was just around the corner. 

In July, Mackenzie made the cover of Italian Vogue. Photographed by Steven Meisel, this was the autumn / winter preview issue. Sharing the cover itself with Vanessa Axente, the fold-out, multi-model cover also featured Lida Fox, Elena Bartels, Julia Nobis and Erjona Ala. Channelling gothic glamour in the gowns from the Gucci collection, this was a new vision of how glamour should look for the upcoming season. Dark, moody but achingly covetable, this cover made everyone sit up and take notice.

Any appearance in Italian Vogue represents a huge turning point in a model’s career, as the magazine often champions new modelling talent, with fashion’s edgiest and most exciting faces often making their editorial debut within those pages. By getting onto the actual cover, Mackenzie had not only staked her claim to be one of those new, exciting faces, but to be one of the future leading faces in the modelling industry.

Drazan returned to catwalk duty again in July, this time heading to Paris for the couture shows. Walking in shows for Chanel, Elie Saab, Giambattista Valli and Valentino, Mackenzie also appeared in Raf Simons’ inaugural show for Dior. 

Mackenzie’s summer was filled with editorial commitments, starting with a spread for Dazed & Confused. Following that with an appearance in British Vogue, ‘Best in Show’ (photographed by Daniel Jackson), saw Mackenzie working the textured trouser-suit, and Mackenzie’s debut for W (‘Natural Selection’) saw her model the season’s texture theme with Laura Kampman, Ondria Hardin, Ophelie Rupp and Franzi Mueller.

Even with that heavy workload, Mackenzie continued to be in high demand, being booked for 55 shows in September. Including Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Givenchy, Versus, Dries Van Noten and Proenza Schouler, Mackenzie’s mix of blue-blood delicacy and ambiguous androgyny has made her a perfect runway model. The sheer range of design sensibilities that Drazan has modelled to date is dizzying: her portfolio takes us from the full-on sex appeal of Versus, to the cerebral chic of Dries Van Noten.

Following her success in the very best of editorial and runway, Drazan took her career to the next logical step this autumn with a campaign signing. However, as typical of the rest of her career, Mackenzie did not start small. She was booked for the Louis Vuitton Autumn / Winter campaign. An opinion divider, the Louis Vuitton campaign goes for broke with the amount of modelling talent on display. Working both in small teams and as part of a larger narrative, the models had their work cut out for them. The challenge was to perform as individuals but to impress as a collective. With something going on in every corner of the frame, each image created by campaign photographer Steven Meisel, is fascinating. Whether you liked the collection or not, the campaign demands you take a second look.

As Drazan moves in ever more impressive circles, her success is down to the fact that she is an American model with major cross-continent appeal. Her looks, old-school beauty with a touch of the modern, make her a natural ‘fit’ for most editorials, runways and covers. 

Drazan’s success is also down to timing: during the 1980’s, American models were historically locked into the commercial arena of the fashion industry. Blockbuster names like Cindy Crawford were as well known by the public as fashion insiders. The wide-ranging appeal of those faces hard-wired that look into our minds: to be American was to, by extension, be commercial. 

This continued long into the Nineties and it wasn’t until recently that we learned to appreciate a whole new kind of American beauty. Faces like Karlie Kloss, Charlotte Free, Chanel Iman and Lindsey Wixson have tackled, head-on, the perception that Americans can’t do hard-core editorial. Wixson, with her unusual features, has radically challenged the idea that American models are commercial by definition. Wixson, currently the face of Mulberry and Chanel, is spiky, bold and adaptable, covering cute and whimsical through to ultra high-fashion.

Where Mackenzie fits is somewhere between Wixson’s edginess and Karlie Kloss’ all-rounder appeal. Drazan’s success on the catwalk most closely aligns her with Kloss – a model that rose to the top by clocking up a serious amount of runway hours. Kloss succeeded by being visible, and this strategy appears to be working for Drazan too.

But whereas Kloss has re-defined the term ‘all-American’, Drazan differs by offering something more elusive. She may be a California girl, but looking at Mackenzie, you can imagine her being a native of almost anywhere.  Her lack of definability is what has propelled Mackenzie to the top of the industry at break-neck speed, explaining why she is as comfortable in Valentino Couture as Balenciaga’s ready-to-wear. There is a phrase that to be a jack of all trades is to be master of none, but this is certainly not true of modelling: a face that can lend itself to any look is one that will undoubtedly prosper. 

Already a favourite with fashion’s most influential designers, Mackenzie Drazan is set to become America’s most exciting modelling prospect in years. Once again challenging us to re-shape our ideas of what an American model looks like, Drazan is the next stage in America’s endeavour to become world-class at sourcing the best editorial talent. With Drazan already on the rise, this may be a case of mission accomplished.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: SARA BLOMQVIST

Discovered whilst attending a horse show in 2007, Swedish-born Sara Blomqvist has been one of fashion’s stealth stars.

Born April 8^th 1989, Sara signed with agency Viva in Paris the same year. Debuting on the international runway circuit that September, Sara appeared for Aquascutum, Christopher Kane, Dries van Noten, Jonathan Saunders and Vanessa Bruno. A hit in both Paris and London, Sara made an even bigger impact in Milan, agreeing to walk in the Prada show as an exclusive.

The Prada connection was enough to get Sara started: booking a Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti campaign for early 2008 got her noticed by the fashion press, with www.hintmag.com featuring her as a rising star.

In February 2008, Sara took to the runway again, this time opening shows for both Christopher Kane and Armand Basi. Website www.models.com featured Sara as a Top 10 Newcomer. A regular fixture of fashion weeks, making the list is as much a rite of passage as a cover of Vogue.

The internet has seen an explosion of interest in models, as runway clips and campaign shoots routinely get commented on and dissected. The freedom of expression brings fashion to a whole new audience, who can without censorship, discuss the hottest new face or that controversial cover choice. The influence of the internet is such that names can be made virtually overnight, with even the briefest of nods from the right website. Now an institution, www.models.com definitely falls into that category.

Sandwiching in some editorial work for Numero and Amica, Sara had her first booking with Interview magazine in September 2008. Working with Freja Beha Erichsen, and photographed by Mikael Jansson, it was a smart choice for Blomqvist.

Magazines like Interview, V and Numero have worked hard to separate themselves from the bigger names of Elle, Marie Claire and Vogue. Just as fashion needs diversity to grow and thrive, the publications it appears in need to be equally wide-ranging. The fact that there is such an appetite for alternative views on fashion puts magazines – and the models they choose to showcase – at a very strong advantage.

Blomqvist’s hold on fashion’s directional design houses was rapidly becoming a given, but Sara was still capable of surprising everyone. In 2009, she was announced as the new face of Armani Jeans. Photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Armani was already starting to think outside the box when it came to hiring models. Their experiment in using an edgy face to sell a blockbuster brand was a bold, game-changing strategy. Currently represented by Milou van Groesen, Armani has proved itself way ahead of its competitors, hiring Sara a whole two years before Versace booked face-of-the-moment, Saskia de Brauw.

September 2009 saw Blomqvist step up in terms of her runway hits, including several opening and closing spots with Jonathan Saunders, Missoni, Christopher Kane, Sportmax and Miu Miu. Her other credits included Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Jaegar, Lanvin, Mark Fast, Mulberry, Paul Smith, Prada, Richard Nicoll, Rue du Mail, Valentino and YSL. It was a curious mix of heritage labels plus early collections from Kane, Fast and Nicoll – the new names on the circuit that would become major industry players.

The high esteem in which Sara was held translated into further editorial bookings, including Russian Vogue in April, Japanese Numero and French Vogue in May and her first Italian Vogue shoot in June. Photographed by Steven Meisel, ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ was a heady, stylised vision of Euro nightlife featuring Meghan Collison, Anna de Rijk and Nimue Smit. Sara was rapidly becoming an international commodity.

In February 2010, Sara had her biggest ready-to-wear season to date with over 64 appearances. The A/W collections were an important marker in fashion’s recent history, with Marc Jacobs producing his ‘back to neutral’ show; Burberry piloting aviator jackets and Prada and Louis Vuitton exploring the best of the 1950’s. It was a season that sold us on new winter textures and the beauty of retro shapes. Blomqvist appeared in some of the big shows of that season including Burberry, Prada and Louis Vuitton. If Blomqvist ever needed reassurance that she had made it, this was the season that proved her worth.

The mammoth RTW season in February saw Sara switch to Paris in July for her very first couture season. Walking for Valentino and Chanel, you simply could not wish for a better initiation in the world of haute couture.

Blomqvist expanded on her couture experience in January 2011 with further appearances for Chanel and Valentino, plus Elie Saab. Sara’s career also came full circle in Spring 2011 with an appearance in the Prada Fantasy lookbook. Sara found herself working with Prada alumni Mariacarla Boscono, plus Jessica Stam, Lindsey Wixson, Ginta Lapina and Jourdan Dunn.

This was the ‘swirls and stripes’ collection – in theory, a ‘hard-sell’ collection, Prada smartly traded on its quirkiness. In its decision not to shy away from the collection’s complexity, Prada made difficult fashion feel fresh, modern and totally of the moment. It became the defining image of Spring / Summer 2011: playful, exuberant and full of natural energy. Enthusiasm can never be faked with any degree of success – the lookbook joins the accompanying campaign and video in being genuinely excited about new ways of wearing print. The stripes and swirls worn side by side were Prada’s nod to our growing confidence in trying new ways of wearing old favourites. Stripes are as perennial a Spring / Summer favourite as it’s possible to get, but paired with baroque swirls, they look anything but old hat.

Sara continued to be a great draw for both cutting-edge and more mainstream labels in September with a 57-show season, and then in Autumn, she made her campaign debut for Valentino.

Working with Ruby Aldridge, Kim Dall Arni and Caroline Brasch Nielsen, this collection sees Valentino return to its vintage roots, with high collars and long sleeves. Valentino’s career was kick-started when his early designs were picked up by a recently-widowed Jacqueline Kennedy, and it’s not hard to trace the lineage of this Italian luxury label to its recent collections: glamour with a sophisticated leading edge.

In December, Sara booked a special campaign with H&M, celebrating the release of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. The recent influence film has had on fashion has ranged from more casual attire (Bella, ‘Twilight’) to extreme body jewellery getting a mainstream boost. Rooney Mara in her role as Lisbeth Salander seems an unlikely style icon, but her uncompromising role has sparked a huge surge of interest in fashion’s darker persona. Body jewellery that was usually reserved for specialist shops can now be bought in the most prolific high-street stores. It seems that when it comes to our fashion choices, we’re not only getting braver, we’re getting a little darker too.

Sara finished the year with yet more runway work, this time appearing in the Pre-Fall show for Chanel. The resort / pre-fall collections are gaining in importance: as fashion moves ever faster, two main collections per year just aren’t enough to satisfy our appetite for newer, bolder designs. As well as being a pre-cursor, nudging us towards the upcoming trends, these smaller collections allow designers the space to explore their ideas on a different scale.

Jason Wu’s 2012 pre-fall collection, for example, was a wonderful extension of his previous ideas: his love for florals became an altogether different species when hung against the backdrop of sharp, gothic lines. Highly successful in its own right, Wu’s bold new vision was already claiming red-carpet space months before his A/W line was unveiled.

Sara began 2012 itself with another strong RTW season, perhaps her most eclectic season to date, with bohemian labels like Kenzo and Dries van Noten rubbing shoulders with the high-glamour vision of Dolce & Gabbana.

Also featuring in prolific editorials for Love and American Vogue, Blomqvist stretched herself even further with a beauty spread for ‘Another’ magazine. ‘Pastels and Metallics’ takes a look at the pastel super-trend, but in coming at it from the beauty perspective, tricky shades of lilac and peach become wearable, with delicate washes of colour on the eye, muted lips and brighter statements on the nails. Editorials like this show how a fashion trend can be put within everyone’s reach.

The most recent editorial appearance made by Sara proves to be the most enlightening. Another niche publication, ‘The Last Magazine’, features Blomqvist in an article featuring behind-the-scenes photographs from New York Fashion Week. The twist is that Sara is the photographer, taking snaps of her fellow models including Kate King and Othila Simon. Sara, a keen photographer in her down-time, takes photos from rehearsals and backstage, adding comments, which neatly tell the story of the real experience of being a model at Fashion Week. It is a scenario that Blomqvist herself is extremely familiar with: lots of waiting around and crowded, frantic preparations.

Her interest in photography isn’t surprising: a good model needs to be a sharp-eyed observer; taking in detail and nuance for runway shows and complicated editorials. The fact that many models have gone behind the lens (famously including Helena Christensen and Tyra Banks) draws parallels between being observed and also the need to observe. Five years into what has been an incredible career, Blomqvist must also be thinking of her next move, and photography seems like the logical step for someone who has made her name on being both deeply intuitive and fiercely intelligent. Modern in both style and approach, Sara represents fashion’s next chapter: bravery, diversity and innovation.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: AYMELINE VALADE

Born in France in 1985, Aymeline Valade signed with Women Management in February 2009, aged 24.

Her industry breakthrough came in October 2010, when she walked in the Spring / Summer show for Balenciaga. Also booking two editorials with Wonderland magazine, Aymeline’s early connections with fashion were strictly left-field.

In January 2011, Aymeline scored her first magazine cover, with an appearance for Turkish Vogue. Featured in a gold mini-dress, mirroring Turkey’s taste for opulent fashion, Valade was making an impact on an international stage.

Also modelling for the Pre-Fall shows (Alexander Wang and Balenciaga), she became the fact of the S/S Alexander Wang campaign in early 2011. A new-world, spirited take on street fashion, the dynamic shapes that Aymeline effortlessly pulls in front of the camera neatly matches the free-flow of Alexander's designs. It was one of those big win-or-lose moments: defying her level of experience, Aymeline’s performance in the campaign was that of a much more seasoned model.

Valade’s confident showing for the Alexander Wang advert led to a massive RTW season in February with appearances in over 30 shows. Not only that, Aymeline made a big splash with several opening and closing spots including Louis Vuitton, Rick Owens, Loewe and Chloe. Also walking for Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs and Versace, this was a well-rounded season with Aymeline there for all the big moments of the February 2011 catwalk, including Gucci’s 70’s glam-fest and Marc Jacobs’ new obsession: polka-dots. This was a good season to become fashion's latest IT girl.

Aymeline followed this success with editorials for W, Numero and German Vogue. Her appearance in the May issue of German Vogue was for the beauty editorial ‘Uber Sinnlich’. An avant-garde beauty shoot featuring Anais Pouliot and Julia Saner, Aymeline channelled Bardot, dishevelled glamour.

Valade’s editorial career went even further overseas with late-summer appearances for Chinese and American Vogue. The editorial for Chinese Vogue saw Aymeline wear classic, big-name labels such as Chanel, YSL and Celine – all with bags of Parisian heritage, and worn by a Parisian model. It made for a very easy sell to the Chinese fashion market.

All of this feverish activity led up to a September that saw Aymeline hit everyone’s radar. Firstly, she appeared on the cover of RUSSH, followed by a massive spread in US Harper’s Bazaar. Photographed by Karl Lagerfeld, the Downton Abbey / Brideshead Revisited theme of the editorial was sharply narrative – exactly the type of photography Lagerfeld excels at. He tells stories with his collections, and his photography is no different. It certainly explains Karl’s eagerness to embrace the concept of campaign videos. A making-of video accompanying Chanel’s latest print campaign with Saskia de Brauw and Joan Smalls has already reached 80,000 hits on YouTube.

Following this editorial, Aymeline also made her debut in September’s Italian Vogue, featuring in a spread photographed by Steven Klein. ‘A Point of View’ (featuring Crystal Renn, Catherine McNeil and Jamie Bochert) was shot from a deliberately low angle, inverting every principle of fashion photography. Awkward angles and obscured views make for a challenging take on how we view high-fashion. Even from this angle, the clothes still look good.

Aymeline then took to the catwalk, with an amazing 57-show season. Opening shows for Diane Von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera and Lanvin, this was Aymeline’s rain-maker season.

The good fortune continued with Valade securing 3 major campaigns: Kenzo, Just Cavalli and Etro. Kenzo had a particularly strong season, with the campaign featuring Aymeline styled in homage to the artist Frida Kahlo. With tons of ornate print and Spanish detailing, Aymeline was clearly adept at translating her look to other fashion cultures.

October saw Aymeline take to the pages of Japanese Vogue, and a month later, she was appearing in a major couture editorial for V. Named ‘Couture 2011’, the spread was a full review of the A/W haute couture season including Givenchy, Armani Prive and Valentino. Aymeline took on her couture dues, modelling alongside Zuzanna Bijoch and Emily Baker.

Finishing the year with another editorial for Italian Vogue (‘Clean and Graphic’), this was a strongly androgynous shoot with Paolo Roversi behind the lens. Aymeline joined forces with Saskia de Brauw who has made a career on her ability to transform. Aymeline performs on a par with de Brauw in a sleek, stylish editorial.

Aymeline opened 2012 with another editorial, this time for American Vogue. ‘A Man for All Seasons’ was a tribute to the ongoing work of Marc Jacobs, and this big start to the year carried on for Valade as she took to her first couture runway in January. Opening the show for Armani Prive, and closing the Dior show, this was a particularly successful season, not least for Dior. Creative director Bill Gattyen went back through Dior’s back catalogue and pulled a confident, polished collection out of the bag. It was a modern interpretation of Dior’s ‘New Look’ and Aymeline could not have had a better introduction into the world of couture.

No longer operating on fashion’s sidelines, Aymeline is taking her time in the spotlight with another 3 campaigns this season, including a double-shoot for Lanvin. Working with models Aaron Vernon and Angus Low, Valade poses with real snakes, emphasising the sleek drapery of the Lanvin gowns. Adding another layer of fun in the campaign video with music from Maxine Ashley, Aymeline’s appearance for Lanvin is a career-changer with Valade poised to become another one of France’s style icons.

Every country has its icons, but where France excels is in the sheer diversity of the faces that have come to represent it: from Brigitte Bardot to Carla Bruni, to more recent faces such as Clemence Posey – French style has no one particular look – bombshell to beatnik all get a look in. Carla Bruni’s sophistication will inspire future First Ladies for many years to come, just as Brigitte Bardot’s heady combination of back-combed hair and eyeliner is still used today to communicate a rich, pouty sensuality. France is very good at creating images that have longevity.

The image of the groomed but worldly Parisian is just as timeless: Lanvin taps into that iconography in its latest campaign, knowing that we can join the dots ourselves. But what has been missing in recent years, however, is France’s stake on the modelling world. It’s clear that France understands and appreciates new faces – French Vogue famously championed Lara Stone and Isabeli Fontana, helping to propel both to fame. But after a brief peak in the 1990’s and early 2000’s with Audrey Marnay being on every designer’s wish-list, and Laetitia Casta taking her film-friendly looks to Hollywood, France’s contribution on the modelling front became noticeable by its absence.

However, it appears that a new generation of models are flying the Tricolour, ensuring that France is not just the epicentre of great design, but is now producing great faces to represent this key fashion heartland.

Aymeline joins faces such as Constance Jablonski, Charlotte di Calypso and newcomer Julia Frauche to build a new group of models that are proud to be different. Constance Jablonski, a regular with Estee Lauder, brings a fresh-faced, eager quality to the sometimes jaded world of high-fashion. Charlotte has been the face of Chanel’s Chance fragrance, and has translated her beauty on an international level, moving across the Atlantic to represent American super-label Ralph Lauren.

Aymeline, however, is France’s directional girl. Her first campaign was with Alexander Wang, and her latest work with Lanvin marries up her edgy qualities with the label’s distinct take on Parisian chic. Utterly at home on the runway, Valade brings with her an other-worldly quality, something that is always in high demand within the fashion industry. For a country that is so at home with producing ground-breaking, avant-garde design, France has found it difficult to come up with a model who, in quite literal terms, walks the walk. With Aymeline Valade, they have finally found their running mate – a model who makes light work of this country’s heritage.

A model could be forgiven for being daunted by France’s heavyweight standing in the fashion world – but Aymeline’s fearless, gutsy approach to not only runway, but campaigns, covers and editorials makes her the perfect icon for the country that has given us the tools to value and appreciate fashion, even at its most difficult. It may have taken a while for France to find its feet in the modelling world – but if Aymeline is any indication of what’s to come – it’s been worth the wait.

HELEN TOPE