MODEL PROFILES: FRIDA GUSTAVSSON

Born 6th June 1993, Swedish-born Frida Gustavsson has, in the space of two years, become one of fashion’s most wanted.

Frida began modelling at the age of 15, moving to Japan the same year to pursue a career. Signing with IMG in 2009, Frida began her runway career in earnest, booking spots with Elie Saab and being picked to open the Valentino Couture show – an extraordinary honour for a newcomer.

Her connection with Valentino resurfaced in September, when Frida did her first editorial with Italian Vogue. Photographed in head-to-toe couture, Frida’s debut on the international fashion stage singled her out immediately as no run-of-the-mill model.

The impact of the editorial was confirmed when Frida secured ready-to-wear bookings with Carolina Herrera, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta, Rodarte and Lanvin. Her super-stellar arrival, including closing spots for Just Cavalli and Gareth Pugh, put Frida firmly in the fashion spotlight. Both www.style.com and www.models.com subsequently featured Gustavsson as a Top 10 Newcomer.

January 2010 began with another couture season, with appearances for Valentino, plus Armani Prive, Elie Saab, Dior and Chanel, with additional editorial work for W and Italian Vogue. But Frida’s next RTW season would prove to be a monster hit.

Opening shows for Sophia Kokosalaki and Costume National, Frida’s mega season featured over 70 appearances ranging from Phillip Lim, Burberry and Chanel to Louis Vuitton, Rag & Bone, Thakoon and Versace.

Frida was in every show of note in a season filled with hit after hit, becoming an indispensable feature of Fashion Week, from Burberry’s aviator chic to Louis Vuitton’s glamorous retake on Fifties style. Frida’s astonishing run of success continued to grow, with her first international cover in May. Appearing for German Vogue and shot by Greg Kadel, the end result was both glamorous and enigmatic. With half her face obscured, Frida’s performance was pure modern retro. Referencing models from the 1940’s and 50’s, the cover could almost be from the archives, but it managed to be both classically appealing and absolutely contemporary. It’s hard to handle retro shoots as the aim is to evoke vintage, rather than directly copy it, but the tone struck by Gustavsson and Kadel was note-perfect.

Frida also made her debut in American Vogue in May, and in July, covered couture season, walking for Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Armani Prive and, again, Valentino. Gustavsson’s reliability on the runway had eventually translated into some lucrative campaign work, with Frida impressively landing a spot as the face of Marc Jacobs’s fragrance, Daisy.

Her next bookings for runway (Spring / Summer 2011), included prestigious opening spots for Anna Sui, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Lanvin. Also scoring a finale spot with new designer Prabal Gurung, Frida’s bookings included appearances for every major design house. Frida rounded out the year with editorials for French, American and British Vogue, and as couture season begins again in January, Gustavsson’s career trajectory is set to transform this fashion favourite into a force to be reckoned with.

The glory may be heaped on the campaign girls, but success in runway should never be underestimated. Frida’s success hasn’t rested on face-time with the public. It’s unlikely that anyone outside the fashion world (or not an avid follower), would be able to identify her with any degree of success. But fashion’s multi-discipline arena allows to models to find and develop their own strengths. While undoubtedly talented at editorial, and with cover and campaign work beginning to rack up, Frida’s true strength has been to master the very core of modelling: runway.

It is easy to forget, but runway remains for designers the most important aspect of their career. Twice a year designers submit their ready-to-wear collections to be scrutinised by the fashion world. Runway, more than any campaign, is a calling-card, telling us where the designer wants to take their vision not just now or for the next six months; it is a projection of their game plan; the designer they ultimately want to become.

A ‘good’ collection becomes part of the fashion experience, drip-feeding hem lengths and colour combinations down to the high-street, but a ‘great’ collection forms its own style language. Prada made us fall in love with the humble bowling bag; Karl Lagerfeld’s modernising of the Chanel tweed jacket made it a wardrobe essential and Marc Jacobs gave grunge a glamour makeover, transforming it into the urban uniform worn across the world.

A runway collection that has true impact does more than raise a designer’s profile: getting it right – and that includes hiring the best models – can make the difference between a designer being moderately successful and becoming a legend. When your name and your label become interchangeable, you’re definitely doing something right.

Frida is part of a select group of models that hold a unique influence. Fashion may love star power, but it loves consistency more. Frida’s face may not have the immediacy of a Lindsey Wixson or a Jessica Stam, but she – and models like her – form the backbone of the fashion business.

Frida’s runway CV features some of the most hotly-tipped talents to emerge in a decade. Designers like Prabal Gurung and Mary Katrantzou hire Frida because she is an established name that comes without the baggage normally associated with a star turn. She can fully commit to any vision, any sartorial point of view, and make it believable. For a new designer, wanting to make their mark, it’s an easy sell.

Frida’s power as a top runway model is made even clearer when it comes to couture. Standing at just over 5’9”, Gustavsson is nearly two inches shorter than the industry standard for couture, where models normally peak at 5’11”.

It is highly unusual for a model under 5’10” to get any couture bookings, simply because the often complex and dramatic designs demand height. The fact that Frida routinely appears on some of the best couture runways in the world, points to her ability to understand high-fashion. Models at this level aren’t just glorified clothes-hangers; they’re interpreters.

Translating a designer’s vision into something beautiful and, crucially, covetable is a task that falls to the model who is required to take something that could in the wrong hands become costume, and instead take it to a level where clothes become poetry. Runway modelling, at its best, works when the model truly knows and appreciates high-fashion.

Her appearance in the final collection by Alexander McQueen earlier this year, shows how much a part of the community she is; the collection was left incomplete by McQueen’s death in February, with only 16 completed looks to showcase, only 7 models were required. Frida was selected to form part of this group, along with Iris Strubegger, Tanya Dziahileva, Polina Kasina and Karlie Kloss.

With all eyes on this final tribute to the designer, Frida was part of a history-making moment, and in fashion, those tend to be few and far between. When everything is focused on the here and now, those rare moments, where fashion steps back and takes a breath, leave a mark that is indelible.

Girls like Frida are the life-blood of high fashion. Strip away the hype and the glamour, and what’s left is a core group of models who are there because they respect high-fashion. Frida has created a space for herself in the fashion world by virtue of her genuine love for fashion, because fashion evolves not just on ideas but relationships too. A model that gets it, the lure of designer fashion, not as a status symbol, but for its own intrinsic worth, is a model who will always be in favour. It’s as simple as that.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: CATHERINE MCNEIL

Born 20th March 1989, Catherine McNeil is an Australian model who has made retro beauty a must-have for contemporary fashion.

Catherine’s career started in 2003 when she won a local modelling contest. The contest, a collaboration between the Australian magazine ‘Girlfriend’, and the world-famous Cover Girl cosmetics brand, was launched in 1992, and has proved considerably successful: in addition to finding Catherine McNeil, top models Abbey Lee Kershaw and Alyssa Sutherland can also attribute their first big break to winning the competition.

Catherine’s modelling career started small, with two years spent in Australia working on ad campaigns and magazine shoots, and it wasn’t until 2006 that McNeil went to New York to have a meeting with agency NEXT.

Immediately impressed, NEXT signed McNeil and sent her to Paris to meet photographer Mario Testino. The photographer liked Catherine so much that he signed to her an exclusive 6-month contract, photographing her for French and British Vogue.

McNeil’s career began in earnest when she undertook her debut show season in February 2007. Having Testino’s seal of approval, she had a home-field advantage, and McNeil made an equally lasting impression on designers, snagging shows for Balmain, Dior, Costume National, Fendi, Stella McCartney and Viktor & Rolf. In addition to this, McNeil was asked to headline for Alexander McQueen, Missoni, Givenchy and Alessandro Dell’Acqua.

McNeil’s affiliation with Mario Testino continued throughout the year, with Catherine landing the cover of French Vogue (shot by Testino) and a slew of campaign work for D&G, Hugo Boss and Donna Karan, again all photographed by Testino.

Her runway season that September was equally dazzling, including show opener duty for Zac Posen, Carolina Herrera, Thakoon and Preen, with appearances for Chanel, Derek Lam, Gucci, Isabel Marant, Miu Miu, Rag & Bone, Rodarte and Versace. If McNeil was the hottest model-of-the-moment, her CV certainly proved it: she was working with some of the greatest design talent fashion had to offer.

In December, Catherine did an editorial for French Vogue (photographed by Mario Sorrenti), and in early 2008 Catherine worked with him again, this time for the French Vogue calendar. She also appeared in the 2008 Pirelli Calendar, shot by Patrick Demarchelier. Shooting a calendar for a tyre company may seem a surprising choice for a model of McNeil’s calibre, but the decision is not so left-field as you might think. Pirelli has worked hard in recent years to revitalise itself with a serious image overhaul. By hiring some of the top names in fashion, the concept of the Pirelli calendar has been remarketed for a new generation. Still sexy, but with a touch of high-fashion cool, it used the same technique as Victoria’s Secret, and with the same knockout effect.

To prove the point that she could do it all, Catherine went on to have a highly successful couture season, including Chanel, Dior, Lacroix and Givenchy. No model gets to the heady heights of couture without laying the groundwork first, and Catherine’s prep work had now been done. She was not just a fashion girl; she was a model on the rise.

In February 2008, Catherine did editorials for French and American Vogue, plus a cover for Numero magazine. Her influence in show season continued, with McNeil being asked to close shows for Belstaff, Hermes and MaxMara, with additional appearances for designers such as Alexander Wang, Bill Blass, Dries Van Noten, Halston, Herve Leger, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Valentino.

April was a particularly busy month with McNeil shooting her second cover of Numero, and scoring her first cover for Australian Vogue. Fitting in a tremendous amount of editorial and runway work for the remainder of the year, 2008 ended well when Catherine landed another cover of Australian Vogue in November. In December she then worked again with Mario Testino to create an editorial for American Vogue where she featured in a retro-styled shoot alongside ‘Mad Men’ actor Jon Hamm. The 50’s influence played to McNeil’s strengths perfectly, allowing her to channel old-school glamour with contemporary fashion.

However comfortable McNeil appeared in doing retro shoots, she was still very much fashion’s latest it-girl, becoming the face of the Louis Vuitton Cruise campaign in 2009, plus appearing alongside Claudia Schiffer for a Dolce & Gabbana Resort ad, photographed by Steven Klein.
Catherine also landed a significant campaign when she was exclusively signed to represent the new fragrance by Narciso Rodriguez. Already known for his mastery of minimalism, Rodriguez had experienced earlier success with his self-named fragrance and his second try, ‘Essence’, became a worldwide hit shortly after its release in early 2009. A deliberate play on Rodriguez’s fashion philosophy; the clean, modern feel to the campaign was tempered by Catherine’s sensuality, making the perfume, the designer and the model a winning combination.

2009 also brought a considerable amount of editorial work, with Catherine doing fashion spreads for Harper’s Bazaar, V, American and French Vogue in March; Numero, V and i-D in May; German Vogue in August; Australian Vogue in September and finally, Italian Vogue in October.
Catherine’s star continues to rise in 2010, with an already stacked season under her belt, walking for Blumarine, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Stella McCartney and Prada. Catherine’s appearance in the noteworthy A/W 2010 Prada show especially got the press talking. This season’s Prada show was awash with not only new modelling talent (Barbara Palvin, Samantha Gradoville) but had a few surprises in store. Joining Catherine on the catwalk were Victoria’s Secret favourites Miranda Kerr, Doutzen Kroes and Alessandra Ambrosio.

Sporting retro beehives and pinafore dresses, the look was a million miles away from the uber-glamour of Victoria’s Secret, but this collusion of curves with high fashion was no token gesture. Catherine McNeil’s vintage beauty was ideally situated to the Prada show. Walking the line between the Victoria’s Secret girls and the new model talent, she bridged high-fashion with romance, and if there’s one thing the fashion crowd love more than novelty, its romance.

We often tend to think of high-fashion as having a singular template of beauty, but when made a closer study, the fashion world is more accommodating than we think – as well as Catherine McNeil, there’s room for the ultra-edgy look of Kasia Struss; the glossy girl-next-door (a speciality of Miranda Kerr & Doutzen Kroes); the quirky, youthful appeal of Karlie Kloss and Caroline Trentini, while blondes get represented by models like Hannah Holman and Anja Rubik.

Despite having that retro sensibility that works so well in themed shoots and runways, Catherine McNeil is still very much a contemporary face. The new feminine, as celebrated by Prada, is something more than a passing trend – it is marking a new way forward. Just taking a brief look at some of the runway hits over the past season points to the fact that no matter where you look, fashion’s embracing its feminine side.

This season’s Prada girl wears 50’s Riviera prints that are so authentic it is easy to imagine them being worn by Grace Kelly whilst engaging Cary Grant in a filmic game of cat and mouse. Florals are given the 5-star treatment by Erdem and for this autumn, style-leader Marc Jacobs has given us a collection of keeper-classics that will make it to the top of any stylish girl’s wish-list.

In times of deep uncertainty, it doesn’t take much to figure out that something comforting and familiar is always going to be a sales-winner. The go-to references of modern retro: strong, classic shapes with soft colours and prints piece together a look that’s as timeless as it is fashion-forward.

By going back to fashion’s past, the industry is securing its future, but more than being a cynical money-making exercise, this new venture into fashion’s back catalogue is an attempt to reconnect with the (considerable) group of style consumers who won’t be doing tribal or sports-luxe this season. Prada’s highly vocal celebration of femininity proves that trends don’t just end with hemlines. With the best will in the world, having a must-have trend on your hands doesn’t necessarily mean victory at the tills. Selling a trend takes more than buzz: personal connection still counts and classic beauty connects across the board.

This new look appeals to the girl whose fashion icons are not just Grace Kelly or Bettie Page, she also rates Paloma Faith and SJP in her softer red-carpet moments. Its feminine made modern: flounces are tempered with a chunky heel; a summer coat is off-set with a low-slung messy ponytail. This fresh take on old-fashioned glamour is what makes Catherine McNeil such a hot ticket.

By appealing to a whole new demographic, fashion is doing more than trying to claw its way out of recession. Recovery is about confidence as much as the balance sheet and this array of heaven-sent fashion has shown that the industry is finally getting its mojo back. Having faces like Catherine McNeil for inspiration is convincing designers that style doesn’t have to be an either / or situation between modern and retro: it can, like Catherine, be a beautiful blend of both. By making retro-fashion relevant, the fashion world is finally letting its inner beauty show, and it really is the start of something new.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: NATASHA POLY

Natasha Poly is modelling’s newest superstar. In an age where the word ‘supermodel’ is strictly off limits, Natasha is raising the bar for a whole new generation of modelling talent.

Born in Russia on July 12 1985, Natasha’s success was far from overnight. She began modelling in 2000, but it wasn’t until February 2004 that she experienced a breakthrough.

Working across Europe, Poly got booked for the Autumn / Winter show season. Signing up for 54 shows, Poly’s big moment included appearances for Balenciaga, Chloe, Gucci, Peter Som, Sonia Rykiel and Vera Wang. Her strongly-defined features wowed the industry: Natalia Vodianova and Daria Werbowy were already making waves, and Poly would soon find herself joined by Sasha Pivovarova. The fashion world couldn’t get enough of what Eastern-Europe had to offer.

In May 2004, Poly landed the cover of French Vogue and another in June. In December, she scored her third Vogue cover of the year, this time doing cover-try duty for Australian Vogue. Poly may have been the epitome of Slavic chic, but her blonde-with-attitude beauty had no problem translating to other continents. 2004 was a whirlwind of a year, but there was no doubt about it - Natasha was a hit.

In 2005, Poly featured alongside other Eastern-European models for a Vanity Fair spread called ‘Slavs of Fashion: The New Beauties’. The overwhelming popularity of girls like Poly represented a new modelling phenomenon, mixing the familiar (tall, blonde and gorgeous) with a hint of old-world exoticism.

November brought Poly another cover of French Vogue and her first appearance in the Victoria’s Secret show. At this point, Natasha was very much a high-fashion lynchpin, but her Slavic look easily crossed over into the more commercial arena of lingerie modelling. Poly’s ability to shift from couture to lingerie (even when it’s televised and broadcast to millions) marked her out as a fashion multi-tasker. Everyone loves a versatile model, but with Poly, the transition was seamless.

The New Year started off well for Natasha. Landing a campaign for Ralph Lauren with fellow Russian Valentina Zelyaeva, Poly had a brilliant S/S show season, doing runway for Balmain, Givenchy, Lanvin, Luella, Proenza Schouler, Valentino and Zac Posen. In March, she scored another cover of French Vogue and an editorial in Numero magazine, photographed by Camilla Akrans.

2007 presented Poly with another career high, when she signed a fragrance contract with Gucci. The fragrance, also called ‘Gucci’, had a TV advert directed by David Lynch. Poly, in a floor-length, gold lame gown, danced to the Blondie hit ‘Heart of Glass’. The advert was hedonistic charm at its best. The antithesis to the clean, minimalist fragrances flooding the market, ‘Gucci’ stood out and the shot of Poly curled up with an enormous bottle of the stuff made the perfume an international hit. Poly was not just fashion’s it-girl; she was connecting with the public too. Natasha’s iconic Gucci-girl image became a byword for modern glamour. Gucci agreed too, renewing her contract in 2008.

January 2008 began with news that Natasha would appear in the next Pirelli calendar, to be shot by Mario Sorrenti. Poly returned to her high-fashion roots in February, with a stellar season. She opened shows for designers such as Derek Lam, Belstaff, Gucci, Moschino and Isabel Marant, and closed shows for Herve Leger, Temperley, Balmain and Dries van Noten. The girl from Russia had gone well and truly global.

In April 2008, French Vogue paid homage to their favourite Russian by dubbing her a ‘top model’. Poly’s successes continued to pour in with a Russian Vogue in July dedicated entirely to her, and in August she scored a second consecutive cover of Russian Vogue, photographed by Terry Richardson.

In September, Russian Vogue also hailed her as a top model, and as if to prove this point, Natasha had one of her best show seasons. Walking in 54 shows, Poly headlined for Matthew Williamson, Preen, Blumarine, Roberto Cavalli and Stella McCartney. The year closed with the cover of i-D, photographed by Emma Summerton, and 2009 began with an Italian Vogue – Steven Meisel editorial with fellow model Sessilee Lopez.

2009 was a good campaign year for Poly, continuing her affiliation with Gucci, plus ads for Blumarine, Missoni and Calvin Klein Jeans. With a strong RTW and couture season behind her, Natasha did editorials for French and Russian Vogue in August. But her greatest moment came in September, when Muse magazine dedicated their entire issue to the Poly phenomenon.

With contributors such as Ricardo Tisci, Jeff Koons and Terry Richardson, it was a timely nod to Natasha’s extraordinary influence on the fashion industry. Doing everything from haute couture to beachwear, at a time where the term ‘supermodel’ seemed self-indulgent and outdated, Poly was reinventing it for the next generation.

In December ’09, Poly appeared with several other top models in a Twitter-inspired editorial photographed by Steven Meisel. A witty take on the growing role networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have in our day-to-day lives, it was the most literal indication yet of fashion’s emerging relationship with technology.

2010 marks ten years in the business for Poly, and as we move into a new decade, the career of someone as prolific as Natasha Poly serves as comment on how we see the term ‘supermodel’. If Poly had been working 20 years ago, she would have easily joined the ranks of Evangelista and Campbell. Her body of work, astonishing as it is, is still not enough to warrant that label today. It has not just fallen out of favour; the phrase has become a piece of fashion history, perhaps never to be revived. After all, if Poly can’t do it, it begs the question: who can?

Kate Moss is probably the last model who can legitimately refer to herself as a supermodel, and the birth of her career, the early 1990’s, is the last time we see models being treated as celebrities.

As the cult of celebrity accelerated during the Nineties, models were sidelined into runway and editorial work, while the pulling power of names like Aniston carried magazine sales. How did this happen? Well, if models could be celebrities, what was to stop celebrities becoming models? However noteworthy an up-and-coming model, she simply couldn’t compete with the star power of Hollywood’s A-list.

So the modelling industry had to get creative. They went to their strengths: editorial, editorial, editorial. The modelling world reminded designers and editors that when it comes to selling high-fashion, the tricky stuff, there are some assignments best left to the professionals.

As a result, the landscape of the modelling industry now looks very different. The faces can be just as familiar, but the names are not so easy to place. The basic terms of what constitutes a supermodel remain the same: high visibility, presence and punch. But that high-octane celebrity attached to names like Evangelista and Crawford has gone for good. What’s left is a raft of models like Poly, including Rocha, Rubik, Deyn and Kloss who are mastering the runways, campaigns and editorials.

Poly’s appearance in the famous ‘Twitter’ Italian Vogue editorial in December 2009 is a prime example of how we see models differently. A model’s contact with the public used to be a series of carefully-orchestrated, PR-driven appearances. This has now given way to round-the-clock Tweets on your laptop. We can now get glimpses of models – Jessica Stam and Chanel Iman are two particularly avid Twitterers – that are gloriously unedited and unsupervised. We feel that we ‘know’ today’s supermodels better, because that personal connection is more immediate: it feels more real.

It’s hard to see a future where fashion returns to the rarefied, exclusive realm it inhabited before the recession. The front row experience is no longer reserved for editors and celebrities and bloggers can freely comment on a runway show or red carpet as it happens. When everyone has a voice, it doesn’t always make for balanced debate, but this equality potentially means the most radical shake-up in decades, and the fashion world definitely seems to have got the memo that a more inclusive industry is a richer one, both aesthetically and economically.

So what we have lost is nothing to what we have gained. In losing the model-as-celebrity, we’ve now gained a generation of girls like Natasha Poly who are the faces of a fashion revolution. A new breed of top model that represents the latest – and bravest – fashion age: it’s fashion minus the ego, and it hasn’t come a moment too soon.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: CAROLINE TRENTINI

Born in Brazil on 6th July 1987, Caroline Trentini’s story did not begin happily. Raised in Panambi, Caroline’s father died when she was only one year old. Living with just her mother and two sisters, Caroline’s life changed dramatically in 2000.

Aged 13, she was scouted whilst walking with her family. The agent, whose previous successes included supermodel Gisele Bundchen, immediately recognised the potential in Caroline. Two years after doing local modelling assignments, Trentini now aged 15, and unable to speak English, moved to New York.

That enormous gamble, especially for such a young model, paid off. In 2003, she was hand-picked by Marc Jacobs to be the face of his diffusion line, Marc by Marc Jacobs. The label, aimed at a younger market than his main, high-prestige label, was pitched perfectly for 16-yr-old Trentini.

Photographed by Juergen Teller, Caroline aced the assignment. Her unusual blend of blonde hair, green eyes and smattering of freckles made her fashion’s newest find. Her quirky charm was perfect for the label, and Caroline’s career was on the up.

In January 2004, she opened the Ungaro show, also walking for Marc Jacobs, Rick Owens, Vera Wang, Roland Mouret and Nina Ricci. Caroline also experienced a stellar season in the autumn, but her greatest challenge came later that year.

Caroline was asked to participate in an editorial for American Vogue. The tone of the shoot was to be edgier than usual for the magazine. Shot by Steven Klein, Caroline would pose in an industrial meat-freezer. The shoot, which also required Trentini to be semi-nude, was nothing less than a feat of endurance.

Not only did Caroline have the usual issues that any model would have to think about on set, but she also had to deal with freezing temperatures and being surrounded by animal carcasses. For any model, this would be a tough ask. For a new model, it had the potential to be completely overwhelming.

Caroline persevered with the shoot, but the experience proved so traumatic she later reported it convinced her to become vegetarian. But Klein was so impressed with Trentini that he sent her flowers and a card thanking her for her professionalism on set.

February 2005 gave Caroline reassurance that her difficult shoot had been worth it. The A/W show season was Trentini’s moment – in demand, she walked in 90 shows, ranging from Alberta Ferretti, Burberry, Celine, Marc Jacobs, Missoni, Rochas, Valentino and Versace.

In November, Trentini became a Victoria’s Secret girl, walking in the televised fashion show. Her approachable demeanour paired with a body built for runway made her a popular choice for the lingerie brand. Appealing to men but not alienating women at the same time is a difficult balance to strike, but Trentini’s friendly face easily bridged the divide.

But Trentini’s heart belonged to high-fashion, and in 2006 she became the face of Gucci’s 85th anniversary ad campaign, photographed by Craig McDean. She also landed a campaign with Balenciaga, working with Hilary Rhoda and Hana Soukupova.

2007 was to be a crucial marker in Trentini’s career. She became the face of heritage label Oscar de la Renta and opened the A/W Oscar de la Renta show in February, plus appearances for Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Givenchy, Etro and Zac Posen.

Trentini’s stature within the industry was sealed when she took her place on the seminal May ’07 cover of US Vogue. Posing alongside models such as Jessica Stam and Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini was tipped as one of the world’s next top supermodels.

This directive was straight from the coal-face of fashion: US Vogue often pre-empts a style, a mood or a trend and singling out these girls as future superstars was a brave move. Naming them ‘supermodels’ was braver: many in the industry assumed that the big-name, big-bucks era had ended with the likes of Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell. Trentini may not have been a name like Crawford or Turlington, but plenty of people in the industry knew who she was, and that was more than enough to succeed.

2007 brought plenty of editorial work: Caroline appeared in an American Vogue spread called ‘Cloud Atlas’. Brilliantly inventive, the shoot styled by Grace Coddington hinted at Caroline’s ability to fill a frame with personality, not just beauty. Like acting, the key to being convincing on an editorial shoot is to embody a character. No-one’s going to believe your heart is breaking if you’re actually thinking about what to have for lunch.

Caroline’s gift for interpretation and movement was particularly well suited for a shoot in Vogue’s 2008 September issue. Photographed by Arthur Elgort, ‘Flights of Fancy’ showed Caroline suspended in mid-air, dressed in ballet-inspired couture dresses. Another physically demanding shoot, you would never know it from looking at the photos. Sumptuous, daring and dreamy, this was Trentini at her best.

Caroline’s commitment to every assignment explained her schedule for the next three years. After the famous Vogue cover shoot, Trentini’s career exploded. In 2007 she did campaigns for Mulberry and DSquared2; in September 07 she scored two editorials for Italian Vogue and in November, landed the cover of Spanish Vogue.

In 2008, she became the face of DKNY, walked in the A/W Dior couture show and appeared in no less than eight different editorials for American Vogue, being photographed by Irving Penn, Patrick Demarchelier, Steven Meisel and Annie Leibovitz.

In September 2009, Trentini walked S/S shows for YSL, Hermes, Oscar de la Renta and Dior and 2010 is already shaping up to be another good year, with covers for Brazilian Elle and Japanese Numero, plus a Sonia Rykiel for H&M campaign under her belt. From high-flying high fashion editorials to campaigns for Gap and Topshop, Trentini’s ascent to the top of her profession looks almost effortless, but in reality, it has been anything but.

With her elfish looks and trademark freckles, Caroline could have cornered the cute-but-quirky market and stayed in that box for the rest of her working life. With 20 Vogue covers to date, Trentini chose to specialise: in creating those magic moments for editorials, her seamless ascent through the ranks is the result of study and perseverance. Caroline possesses the ability to morph into any character or mood that is required, and whether that’s a magazine shoot, campaign or runway, the ability to get out of your own way in modelling is a truly vital asset. That ability and self-awareness is what makes Trentini such a valuable commodity.

Working with top photographers and stylists has enabled Trentini to be more than a Brazilian bombshell. Given her looks it would have been very easy to go down that route and always play second fiddle to Gisele. But, even more so than Raquel Zimmermann (Brazil’s other modelling star), Caroline has built a reputation on a body of work that truly proves that fashion is about more than just the clothes. Great fashion, paired with a great photographer, stylist and model creates great art.

American Vogue’s epoch-making editorials such as ‘Flights of Fancy’ and ‘Cloud Atlas’ are nothing short of art meets advert. The dress is the thing, but the efforts of the creative team (and a good model will always be a team player), can turn an everyday editorial into something spectacular.

Caroline’s intelligence and resilience is what makes her a great model. The legendary ‘meat freezer’ shoot would be enough to spook any model, but the fact that Caroline had only been working for two years, and was willing to push through her discomfort, showed that she was serious about having a career with depth and vitality. No-one wants to be a one-season wonder and being versatile isn’t just about personal growth: it can do your career a power of good too.
Caroline’s willingness to go the extra mile to get that one good photograph is what keeps her at the forefront of the industry. Character may not seem like one of the most important attributes a model can have, but working in difficult situations is all part and parcel of the modelling experience.

Some models get to the top by opportunity, others make it because their look makes them a talking-point, but models like Caroline make it by sheer hard graft. It’s an old-fashioned concept in a culture of instant gratification, but when required to excel under pressure not all models are created equal. When it comes to role models, the person who can work through any circumstance and deliver consistently high-calibre work is someone worth emulating. In adopting a philosophy to work by, you couldn’t choose better than Caroline Trentini.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: RAQUEL ZIMMERMANN

One of the best-known names in the fashion industry, Raquel Zimmermann has made a career out of being the ultimate ‘go-to’ girl.

Known in fashion circles as the body that can wear any trend, Raquel (born May 6th 1983) is another modelling success story straight from Brazil.

Discovered at age 14 in Porto Alegre, Zimmermann’s career took shape in February 2000 when she debuted in Paris at the Spring / Summer Chanel and Valentino shows.

An instant hit on the runway, Raquel’s striking presence lead to early success. Signing a contract with Dior cosmetics in 2001, Zimmermann appeared on the cover of Italian Vogue in November 2002, photographed by Steven Meisel. A whizz at spotting new model talent, Meisel took to Raquel, photographing her again for Escada in 2004.

In December 2002, Raquel landed her first spot walking for Victoria’s Secret. Still a relatively new face on the runway circuit, Raquel may have seemed a surprising choice, but it became clear to everyone watching that she had definite cross-over appeal. Standing at 5’10”, Zimmermann’s body was perfectly proportioned for anything fashion could throw at it.

Committing to a second Victoria’s Secret show in 2005, that same year also saw Zimmermann sign up for campaigns with Gucci and Hermes, ending the year with the cover of Japanese Harper’s Bazaar.

2006 saw Raquel’s third Victoria’s Secret appearance, plus runway duty for Viktor & Rolf. This affiliation with the design duo reaped major rewards when Raquel was announced as the face of Viktor & Rolf’s collaboration with H&M.

The success continued in 2007 when Raquel replaced Angela Lindvall as the face of Fendi. She also became a Chloe girl, fronting campaigns with Trish Goff and Anja Rubik.

May 2007 was a very good month for Raquel when the latest edition of US Vogue hit the newsstands. Steven Meisel’s now-iconic cover named Raquel as one of the world’s next top supermodels. A transformative experience for everyone involved, the impact of that cover turned editorial girls like Coco Rocha and Agyness Deyn into fashion superstars. It didn’t harm Zimmermann’s career either. 2007 ended with a major fragrance contract with Gucci and a campaign for Italian label DSquared2. The Gucci fragrance commercial was shot by ‘Blue Velvet’ director David Lynch, and Raquel’s connection with the super-brand continued into show season, closing the Spring / Summer Gucci show along with appearances for Rodarte, Proenza Schouler and Alexander McQueen.

In December 2007, Raquel had her ‘can-wear-anything’ mantra put to the test, when she was photographed for W magazine, wearing a rat-infested coat designed by Gareth Pugh. The image, captured by Craig McDean, proved once and for all that Zimmermann was the ultimate clothes-horse.

Accolades followed in 2008, as modelling website http://www.models.com/ named Raquel their no. 1 model, overtaking established name Gemma Ward. Raquel’s unique blend of sexuality and fashion know-how was becoming something everyone in the fashion industry wanted a piece of.

Her 2008 runway schedule showed just how far Zimmermann had come. In February she opened the Stella McCartney show and closed the Oscar de la Renta and Chanel shows. In September, she opened shows for Zac Posen and Alexander Wang, closing shows for PHI, Christopher Kane and Stella McCartney. It is a roll-call of the best and brightest of modern design talent. After years of strictly-editorial girls ruling the runways, fashion had fallen back in love with the sex-bomb.

The following year, as the fashion world endeavoured to respond to consumers’ desire for wearable luxury, Raquel’s popularity began to soar with the more traditional labels, walking for Hermes, Loewe and Valentino in February 2009. As the credit crunch began to bite, Raquel’s ability to switch from sex-bomb to sophisticate worked in her favour.

Becoming the face of Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta, Raquel landed four Vogue covers in the space of a year. The final cover was for Brazilian Vogue, a fitting conclusion to the decade for a girl who had conquered the fashion world.

Zimmermann’s enduring appeal is representative of a new breed of model that has redefined how fashion interprets sexuality. Never choosing the obvious route, even the most daring of Zimmermann’s work is underpinned with knowledge of fashion’s past and present.

This is what separates fashion from the world of men’s magazines. Even looking at a GQ shoot, the difference between that and a Vogue lingerie shoot can be subtle, but you know instantly which is which, and that’s all down to how the model tells the story. Modelling, in its finest moments, is all a matter of interpretation.

Zimmermann’s take on sensuality has meant that she can do editorial work, including couture, and then shift to flat-out sex appeal for a Gucci campaign and never look uncomfortable or out of place. This technique owes a great debt to models like Elle McPherson and Janice Dickinson. Teaming a fashion-friendly body with a face capable of registering any emotion, McPherson and Dickinson, no matter how heady the mix of sex and fashion got, never forgot that to create a successful photograph, there couldn’t be a disconnect between the face and the body. To get it right, both had to work in perfect harmony.

Like McPherson, Zimmermann has successfully transferred her look across every aspect of the fashion business. No-one wants a model that is a one-note wonder, and Zimmermann continues to enthral the fashion industry because she can offer absolute versatility. That is why Raquel has continued to excel long after most models retire: quite simply she is one of the best multi-taskers in the business.

Raquel possesses the couture sensibility necessary to carry off fashion’s grandest designs, but she is not cornered in that high-fashion world. Putting aside the fads for quirky, off-centre looks, what repeatedly scores in fashion is a body that can wear anything: no trend is too big or overwhelming. Raquel’s perfect frame, capped off with the couture-perfect height, means that for her, there are no limits.

Raquel’s look is sex appeal tailor-made for the 21st century. A world away from the plastic-fantastic era of Botox and acrylic nails, Zimmermann’s strength is all about what lies underneath. Her genetic good fortune may have got her foot in the door, but staying at the top required Zimmermann to learn how to manage her sensuality: it shines through every picture, whether it is a French Baroque couture shoot or a fun, graffiti editorial with Mario Testino. It enhances the picture, but never gets in the way.

Raquel’s success, particularly in haute couture, has defined her career from fellow Brazilian, Gisele Bundchen. Trying to follow the toughest act in modelling history was always going to be a non-starter for any new model. Zimmermann did the smart thing and played up her couture-ready body and the fashion world eagerly took the bait.

The hard work done by models like Elle McPherson and Cindy Crawford has meant that fashion consequently reads ‘sex-bomb’ in a much more sophisticated way. Raquel’s appearances for brands like Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana are all about the grown-up bombshell. This modern interpretation of what is ‘sexy’ has redefined who can sell what. By blurring the boundaries, Zimmermann can work for designers who aren’t normally known for their love of va-va-voom. This change of pace, something that has really taken off during the recession, means that sex appeal in the fashion industry has become something quieter, more controlled – but undeniably powerful.

As fashion edges into a new decade, it has made a decision to rethink the big ideas. Models like Raquel Zimmermann are changing pre-conceptions about what a model can do, and there is no longer a set idea about how a brand might represent ‘sexy’ or ‘editorial’. Raquel’s sex appeal always tells a story, and like Crawford, McPherson and Dickinson, Zimmermann has mastered the art of making sexy cool.

A tour de force at breathing personality into couture, Zimmermann may be under the public’s radar, but in fashion, nobody does it better.

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

MODEL PROFILES: ERIN O'CONNOR

Described by Karl Lagerfeld as ‘one of the best models in the world’, Erin O’Connor brought a very English sensibility to the Parisian world of haute couture.

Born in Walsall on the 9th of February 1978, Erin O’Connor was born into an ordinary, working-class family and growing up, had her sights set on becoming a school teacher.

This all changed when Erin and her classmates were taken on a school trip to Clothes Show Live in Birmingham. Taking its lead from the iconic 80’s television show, the live event is a yearly trade show with top names from fashion, hair and beauty coming together to exhibit and promote their latest products. The event is also routinely attended by scouts from the top modelling agencies, hoping to find someone who has modelling potential.

This is exactly what happened to Erin: already grazing 6ft tall (without heels), the 17-yr-old stood head and shoulders above the crowd. Scouting agent Fiona Ellis from Models 1 spotted Erin immediately and knew she had found something special. She approached Erin, and with a little persuasion, she was signed up and began the business of becoming a model.

Erin had all the raw materials – angular, androgynous features, phenomenal height and a body built to showcase fashion. But it wasn’t until a photo-shoot in Brazil when Erin had her hair chopped off by master-stylist Guido (often seen working on contestants on ‘America’s Next Top Model’), that things began to happen – and happen rather quickly. Erin’s new, super-cool look grabbed attention from Paris, the home of haute couture.

Where Erin found her home was with Chanel. Walking the ready-to-wear runway for the label in early 1997, and then progressing to Chanel Couture in July the same year, O’Connor had found her niche. That editorial awkwardness, with the help of a confidence boost from booking shows with Fendi and Gucci, transformed into insouciant glamour that was perfect for couture.

Catapulted from her discovery at Clothes Show Live to the very top of the fashion industry, her strong features and faultless posture made haute couture the natural choice for O’Connor.
Possessing an unusual face, Erin lacked the poster girl prettiness of Niki Taylor or Kate Moss, herself just hitting the big time. Erin’s high-fashion, aristocratic bearing whispered of sophisticated, Wallis Simpson-style glamour. Erin had more in common with the Dior couture models of the 1950’s than her own peers: she wasn’t able to rely on perfectly-set features, but for couture this wasn’t necessary. However, a cast-iron self belief would prove essential.

Couture is the most difficult branch of fashion modelling to master, simply because the clothing demands so much of the model. Avant-garde and theatrical, couture demands a powerful performance on the runway: even a hint of self-doubt will show on a model’s face and the illusion is lost. Couture requires nothing less than 100% self-confidence, or it will overpower the model wearing it. Ideally the outfit and the model should work together to create a dream-like state of beauty and elegance which is what sells couture to its tiny but wildly affluent customer-base. They want to see the clothes at their most powerful, persuasive and most seductive, and only a good couture model can deliver that.

O’Connor’s unconventional, swan-like quality made her the ideal candidate for selling a $50,000 gown. In an interview with The Telegraph, Erin admitted that she never saw herself as the type of model who excels at modelling lingerie or swimwear. She was more of a specialist look, and had to tailor her career aspirations accordingly. Not being that classic all-rounder did her no harm whatsoever. By leaning on her strengths, O’Connor made her name by recognising her limits. She would never be anyone’s idea of a lingerie model, and that was just fine with her.

Her career, after the early triumphs of Paris, went on to even greater heights. She won ‘Model of the Year’ at the 1999 Elle Style Awards, and the year after that, signed a fragrance contract with Jean Paul Gaultier. The perfume, ‘Fragile’ played up to Erin’s image as the face of high fashion and even scored her a guest role on sitcom ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ in 2001.

Erin continued, for the next five years, to walk ready-to-wear and couture runway shows, even opening the Valentino Couture show in 2005, and closing the Christian Dior Couture show the same year. Erin’s affiliation with the world of couture was firmly set.

Britain doesn’t have a strong track record of producing great couture models, and Erin was not only a working-class heroine to aspiring models, but a tall, proud vision of what Britain had to offer the fashion industry. During the Nineties, the British fashion scene was not on such firm ground as it is now. A few standout names commanded respect, but otherwise it played second fiddle to New York, Paris and Milan. Good, but not quite good enough.

The arrival on the scene of not just a passable couture model, but a truly great one, could have not been more fortuitous. Erin O’Connor showed the fashion world that Brits were not just about avant-garde: they could do sophistication too. Ten years on from her discovery at Clothes Show Live, Erin was still an active presence in haute couture: opening and closing shows not as a ‘former name’, but as a working and bookable model.

With the recent celebrations surrounding London Fashion Week’s 25th anniversary, it is clear how far British fashion has come, and how differently it is regarded by the world’s fashion press. Names such as Christopher Kane, Richard Nicoll and Gareth Pugh are at the fore-front of modern fashion. London will always have an avant-garde flavour, but what has happened over the past five years is that it has acquired a level of polish that simply wasn’t there ten years ago.

If Erin’s career finished here, there would be plenty to be proud of. But Erin’s career took an unexpected turn in 2006, when she was invited to take part in a televised ad campaign for British high-street favourite, Marks and Spencer. A hallmark brand, M&S has been a highly visible presence on the high street for 125 years. But with sales falling dramatically, its image needed a drastic overhaul.

Using the best of British modelling talent, the campaign featured Erin alongside Twiggy and Laura Bailey. Loosely based on a ‘James Bond’ theme, the tongue-in-cheek approach won over customers immediately. Glamorous but fun, there was Twiggy flying the flag for the over-50’s, Laura Bailey’s chocolate-box prettiness and Erin’s unique brand of high-fashion, off-centre beauty. The intention was self-evident: the more people M&S could appeal to, the better.
Known chiefly for selling reliable, dependable basics, M&S had no option but to modernise itself and its stock. People’s expectations of fashion stores were evolving rapidly and in order to keep up, M&S had to give the people what they wanted: clothes that were fashion-relevant, fun and good value for money.

The public responded to the advert with immediate effect. Erin’s profile went through the roof. From the rarefied world of Parisian couture, to one of the most recognisable names on the high street, Erin had now done it all. Modelling the revamped high street designs, Erin applied that same couture sensibility to a £99 coat, giving the merchandise a high-fashion gloss that reintroduced the brand to women under 35, a demographic that had previously turned its back on the store. With Erin’s couture cache, M&S made major bank. It was the marketing strategy that saved the store from extinction.

It did Erin’s career no harm either. Applying everything she had learned from haute couture to M&S was a smart move. It gave the store major fashion points for having the guts to hire her in the first place, and made Erin a star. She was no longer the ‘weird-looking’ fashion girl – she had proved that her unconventional look could also take her to the very heart of mainstream fashion. In itself, it was a staggering achievement, but furthermore, was evidence of how fashion had evolved.

Fashion was at last ready to think of modelling in lateral terms: if one of the most successful couture models could sell sweaters to middle-class England, then the idea of segregating models was surely just limiting their potential. The idea of a high-fashion model being unable to do more commercial projects is now a thing of the past.

In 2007, Erin’s career again took a different path. Never afraid to try new things, O’Connor signed on to be Vogue’s blogger. She would write about her own experiences, new projects and offer a true insider’s glimpse into the fashion world.

Two years on, a fashion blog is nothing new. But where Erin’s writing differs from the thousands of commentators out there is that she has lived and breathed the experience. Erin offers a unique viewpoint, and presents a real coup for the Vogue website. In a week where fashion editors have acknowledged that networking site Twitter provided the best running coverage of the Spring / Summer 2010 runway shows, the link between fashion and technology looks set to grow even closer. Those on the inside are well-placed to push fashion further into the digital age as it grapples with survival both now and beyond the recession.

Erin O’Connor’s career has taken her from high-rise to haute couture. Her chance encounter with model scout Fiona Ellis in 1995 took a working-class girl right to the heart of the modelling industry. Erin showed Paris that British girls could master the poise required for couture modelling, and that an aristocratic swagger was not necessarily reliant on a double-barrelled surname.

Defying expectations has been the business of Erin O’Connor’s life. By side-stepping convention, she built a career based on her strengths. Erin surpassed the limitations of her unusual look, and found a home working for the very best designers in contemporary fashion. Doing all this while keeping a cool head is no easy task, but Erin did it. Scour Google for past and present interviews, and time after time, journalists enthuse about a talent that hasn’t lost the will or ability to be nice.

Erin reached those giddy heights in her career precisely because she stayed grounded. By staying true to herself, inside and out, Erin wised up to the fact long ago that nice girls don’t always have to finish last – and just look at where it took her.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: CHRISTY TURLINGTON

In the world of modelling, there is perfection, and then there is Christy Turlington.

Born in 1969, Turlington turned 40 this year, and her career shows no signs of slowing down. Scoring new contracts for A/W 09 campaigns with Bally, Escada, YSL and cosmetic brand Maybelline, Turlington is living proof that there is mileage in good bones.

After being discovered whilst horseback riding with her sister, Christy began modelling aged 14. She graduated from high school a few years later, moved to New York and began modelling full-time.

One of the world’s most successful supermodels, with a career spanning two decades, Turlington is the embodiment of modern, classic beauty. Her perfectly proportioned face, with its equally balanced and symmetrical features, is unusual even for the modelling world, and this is what has kept her in demand.

Her face, as rare as a flawless diamond, is the reason Christy is so embedded in popular culture. Along with Kate Moss and Gisele Bundchen, Christy is part of that exclusive club of models who are known well beyond the perimeters of the modelling industry.

Christy’s look is clean-cut American, but her dark eyes and winning smile are from her mother, who was born in El Salvador. Turlington’s look is classic with traces of the exotic – a map of America itself.

Her perfect features pitch her square-centre of the modelling industry. Sandwiched between the catalogue crowd and the edgy, editorial girls, Turlington’s classic appeal is anything but mediocre. Christy has consistently outperformed every passing whim the fashion industry has for the quirky and unusual. When the dust settles, and the mood passes, the fashion world once again wants that clean-cut modern face that can sell anything, without a preconceived image or media-fuelled reputation getting in the way.

Turlington’s brand of beauty remains covetable because it goes with any trend, any season and any designer. To prove it, Christy has a CV that is the envy of every working model. Her ready-to-wear and couture catwalk credits include Chanel, Prada, Balenciaga, Dior Haute Couture and Atelier Versace, plus a famously successful collaboration with godfather of American cool, Calvin Klein. Pairing Turlington with Klein’s sleek, minimalist designs proved massively profitable, not least of which was Christy’s series of iconic campaigns for the ‘Eternity’ fragrance.

Her success has been analysed in countless interviews and features, but essentially it can be boiled down to one simple point: Christy’s face (and image) represent the basic principle of modelling. Designers want a flawless base that presents, rather than competes with, their clothes.

In the best possible sense, Turlington is a blank canvas on which editors, stylists and designers can project their ideas. Turlington can turn her hand to anything in the fashion sphere, from high fashion editorials, to bringing out that warm, welcoming smile to persuade women to buy a tube of lipstick. With another American Vogue cover recently under her belt, it is clear that the fashion industry is by no means losing interest.

In modelling, experiencing a career ‘second act’ is rare, usually an honour reserved for models that have paid their dues. Turlington’s new phase coincides with fashion’s rekindled love affair with all things Eighties, including its models.

With contracts from Chanel to Escada, open any fashion magazine and it’s as if Christy never went away. Returning to modelling after a career break spent furthering her education at NYU and Columbia University, her resurgence is about more than a nostalgic fashion industry paying lip-service to a once-great career.

Christy’s gravity-defying bone structure has made her comeback totally credible. Advertisers wanting sell lipstick to consumers over 40 can use her, but she can still go toe-to-toe with the younger girls. Not aligning herself with any particular trend has meant that Turlington is able to slot back into modelling like she never left in the first place.

The term ‘classic’ often gets a bad rap in fashion circles (a little too safe), but when it comes to modelling, classic beauty lasts the course long after the fads have gone. When Yves Saint Laurent said that ‘fashions fade, but style is eternal’, he could have very easily been talking about Christy Turlington.

Once part of the modelling trinity (Turlington, Campbell and Evangelista), Turlington found the level of fame induced by her popularity a double-edged sword. It brought her work, and plenty of it, but she had no enthusiasm for the fame game itself, disliking intensely the tag ‘supermodel’ and everything it stood for. The expectation of acting like a diva sat uneasily with Christy, who preferred being ‘the nice girl’, even picking up after herself at runway shows and hanging clothes back on rails when she was done.

It is therefore not surprising that Christy chose to take a break at the very height of her career. Aged 25, Turlington took a sabbatical and went to New York University to study art history. The move baffled industry insiders, but to Christy, who had been modelling since her teens, it made perfect sense. She was on a search to find meaning and purpose in her life.

She found it. Inspired by the Russian and Islamic religious paintings she studied during art history classes, Turlington transferred to a Comparative Religion course. Exploring different types of spirituality showed Turlington, in her own words, ‘how we are all connected. It was an awakening for me on so many levels.’

Her search for meaning, as she returned to modelling after graduation, came full circle in 2005 when she was asked to become the ambassador for humanitarian organisation CARE. Now undertaking a Masters in Public Health at Columbia University, Christy’s enthusiasm for this cause is self-evident in every interview she gives.

On her return to modelling in her late thirties, it is striking to see how Christy’s newer photo shoots differ from her earlier work. Look closer, beneath the make-up and thousand-dollar clothes, and you will see a woman who is at the forefront of a new age where caring is no longer seen as the soft option.

Her photographs, while absolutely beautiful, have always been about something extra. It is not a chilly, aloof kind of beauty that keeps us looking at Christy. She has brought knowledge and experience with her which takes a fashion shoot beyond the pedestrian. The former art history student is now creating art herself.

Christy has always done things differently, and when she chose to return to modelling, she did so on her own terms. Christy has become her own woman in the intervening years, and as a result, has become a better model.

Not many careers enjoy second acts, but Christy found favour again because she is using what she has learnt to make fashion more meaningful. In a recession age, the pursuit of meaning beyond the dazzle of a brilliant career is longer seen as pretentious. It is becoming essential.

By not compromising who she is, Christy has become not only one of the world’s leading models, but a real life role-model - and there is nothing more beautiful than that.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: SASHA PIVOVAROVA

Four years may be a long time in politics, but in the world of fashion – it’s even longer.

From 2005 to 2009, the world has turned on a dime, and the fashion world has had little choice but to change and adapt to circumstance. Nowhere is this shift more evident than in the career of model Sasha Pivovarova.

Born in 1985, Sasha’s career in modelling began in 2005 when a photographer friend introduced her to IMG. Just a few months later, Pivovarova was making her debut at the Prada show in Milan.

Sasha, born and bred in Russia, built on her grand beginnings and steadily began the ascent to the top of the fashion world. Opening and closing shows for designers as varied as Preen, Balenciaga and Chloe, Pivovarova also worked with top photographers Steven Meisel and Patrick Demarchelier, shooting Vogue covers for France, Italy, Britain and Japan.

Her start in the modelling industry, with Prada, yielded results when the design house signed her up for an exclusive three-year contract. She also scored another first when she walked for Prada at six consecutive shows. Sasha modelled their ready-to-wear fashion along with eyewear and perfume. The relationship between model and brand set, Sasha was the face of Prada.

Sasha’s incredible success was not an isolated incident, but belonged to a wave of East-European and Russian models who invaded the fashion industry. Spear-headed by Daria Werbowy, the girls from the far side of Europe were (and continue to be) in huge demand.

Pivovarova, along with Natasha Poly and Natalia Vodianova, formed a charm offensive on the fashion industry. Their brand of beauty – aristocratic features paired with a definitive editorial edge – left the fashion world helpless to resist. Mastering both sides of the coin – having a strong, editorial look equally matched with conventional, knockout beauty – provided designers with the best of both worlds. These girls married a sense of the exotic with the familiar, and that Baltic beauty was what kept getting Sasha booked over and over again: it worked within designers’ comfort zones and produced a portfolio worthy of envy.

This glamour age in modelling coincided with our own ‘boom ‘era. It may have been short-lived, but high-end brands were doing well, and luxury brands were doing even better. No-one thought the worse of a celebrity for laying down serious cash for a must-have handbag. No-one had heard of the term ‘credit crunch’, simply because it hadn’t been invented yet. There was no need: everyone was doing just fine.

Fashion’s love affair with Russia was not just directed at the models it was producing. As the good times continued the number of affluent Russians ready to spend sky-rocketed. This meant a golden time for luxury and designer goods. Billionaires were buying designer goods in huge quantities, making Russia a key market for high-end fashion. For the first time, Russians were buying the fashion as well as starring in its runway shows and campaigns.

The celebration of decadence and luxury continued as Sasha scored a contract with Armani – another brand that translated particularly well in Moscow. Sasha’s career could not have been riding much higher: she was the model of choice for editorial shoots as well as raking in big bucks for big-name campaigns and endorsements. It was, in essence, the career models dream about when starting out in the industry.

But in 2008, the economic bubble burst. The property market collapsed, consumers lost confidence and the luxuries market seemed more than a little shaky.

An ordinary model might have quaked at the prospect of losing contracts. But Pivovarova was made of sterner stuff. With that quintessentially Russian toughness, Sasha held her nerve – and more crucially – kept her cool. She kept an open-mind too and found that the work did not disappear: it merely changed focus.

The high-end brands concentrated less on ready-to-wear (because, let’s face it, the first thing that goes in any budget-trim is the £3,000 coat), and re-shifted their priorities to the fashion consumables: accessories, cosmetics and perfume.

Where Sasha had advertised Prada dresses, she now advertised its perfume, which went on to do rather well. Her selling savvy transferred effortlessly to the smaller items, because she understood that selling a product (regardless of its price) relies on a model’s ability to sell a dream. A pair of sunglasses isn’t just two lenses and a frame: they are a gateway into another world.

Sasha’s easy-to-read beauty played well to the cosmetics and fragrance market. Her flawless skin and perfectly-set features ensured that if someone couldn’t afford an Armani evening gown, they would definitely be tempted to purchase a lipstick. After all, no-one stops buying lipstick, no matter how bad things seem to get. This seismic shift in marketing luxury is what has saved many designer names from going under in the worst recession since the 1930’s. They go with what people can realistically afford, and sell them the aspiration of luxury in a way that doesn’t pander or patronise. Those who have used this strategy have made millions.

Sasha has profited from this about-turn in her career by going with new opportunities and making the most of them. She has since the downturn worked for mid-range brands such as Gap and Zara, and now has an exclusive contract with skincare brand, Biotherm. By using models of Pivovarova’s standard, these firms are showing that they understand how to sell a product to a cash-strapped public and still stay in business. They use the best faces available, because with them, they bring the memory of better and more affluent times. More than ever before, models are not selling a tube of lipstick or a bottle of perfume: they are selling the idea of hope.

Sasha’s career has gone on from strength to strength, not just because of her extraordinary beauty, but because she kept an open mind and adapted herself to new opportunities. Many models would consider going from Gucci to Gap a bit of a step-down, but Pivovarova has been smart about lending her modelling kudos to these brands and both model and company have succeeded where others have notably failed.

Almost five years into a phenomenal career, Sasha is looking to the future. Having maintained an interest in art, she is developing her talent and has already exhibited in New York and Paris, with some of her work even featuring in French Vogue.

Whether she chooses to continue with fashion, or concentrate on art, what is for certain is that she has conquered the fashion world completely. She has been the face of luxury and the selling point of populist brands and accomplished both with impeccable style. Whatever the future holds next for Sasha, like the best military general, she knows that whatever has been done, there is always more to accomplish: it is a smart philosophy to live by, both now and for the times to come.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: GISELE BUNDCHEN

Gisele Bundchen is a model who has made a fortune from bringing glamour back to the catwalk.

Born in Brazil in 1980, after being scouted at a shopping mall in 1994, Gisele made her high-fashion debut on the July 1999 edition of Vogue. The accompanying editorial spread dubbed her keynote appearance as ‘The Return of the Sexy Model.’

Up until that point, fashion had been greatly preoccupied with finding models who embodied the notion of ‘extreme beauty’: models who, in real life, would not necessarily be considered conventionally beautiful, but who possessed a quality of other-worldliness, something that worked particularly well alongside the extreme shapes and silhouettes that were popular within the world of couture fashion at the time.

The fashion world’s preoccupation with ‘oddness’ was in a part a reaction to the storm of controversy over the perceived ‘heroin chic’ trend. Very slim models were in favour, with Kate Moss’ Calvin Klein ads still in circulation. In the popular consciousness, models could not have been further away from the image of the girl-next-door.
Where fashion leads, modelling must follow, and agencies were struggling to find the next new face that would ignite the fashion world, and baffle the public. What was deemed fashionable, and what was considered to be beautiful, had never been further apart.

By the end of the Nineties, the models who worked the most were not conventionally beautiful, and completely unknown to anyone beyond the immediate perimeters of the fashion industry. The decade that had begun with a George Michael music video featuring supermodels Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista, had come full circle. Models were no longer celebrities: the era of the supermodel appeared to be at an end.

The discovery of Gisele quite literally prompted a new age in modelling. Her body type ran against everything that fashion was about, but it seemed that the fashion world (whether it realised it or not) was ready for a change.

Gisele was an instant hit, with repeat appearances on Vogue covers in November and December 1999 and January 2000. With such an emphatic seal of approval from the world’s leading fashion magazine, the fashion crowd leapt on the Bundchen bandwagon with abandon.
Gisele’s classically versatile look made her ideal for virtually every design house in the fashion industry. She walked every major runway in every Fashion Week around the globe, and completed ad campaigns for designers as diverse as Valentino, Missoni, Versace, Lanvin and Michael Kors.

The fashion world quickly came to realise that traditional beauty and sex appeal could be applied to any fashion equation. Previously seen as the modelling one-trick-pony, designers came round to the idea of beauty being versatile. You want smouldering sexuality? Done. Radiant, sunny charm to sell beachwear? Easy. Edgy, contemporary cool? Gisele’s brand of beauty worked here too.

Her huge popularity within the fashion world is easy enough to explain: she has everything a designer wants in a model. Tall, toned, curvy and oozing confidence, Bundchen is hugely successful because she is a (very) rare example of a model with no weak links. Many of the world’s most familiar faces have issues, whether it is a slightly prominent chin, a high forehead or being just that smidge too short. Everyone has something they like to hide from the camera’s discerning gaze.

The reason why Gisele took the industry by storm is her legendary physique – nothing is out of proportion, everything works in complete harmony. If symmetry is the golden standard by which all models are measured, Gisele’s classic feminine features suit any fashion viewpoint.
But it would be a mistake to assume that Gisele’s success is entirely down to those legs. Bundchen is the highest-earning supermodel in the world, with an estimated fortune of $150 million – and counting. However in demand you are, there are only so many catwalks you can walk down, and Vogue covers only appear once a month. Gisele has cleverly taken her popularity and multiplied it into cash by using her most valuable asset - her image.

Gisele has become the face of products well beyond the realm of the fashion industry. Her type of easy-to-read beauty translates to almost any product, and advertisers cannot get enough. Endorsements are what have secured Gisele her millions. Her long-standing contract with lingerie brand ‘Victoria’s Secret’ made her a small fortune, and the high profile of the brand helped Bundchen, in turn, become a household name. When most models are still only known by fashion insiders or media commentators, Bundchen (along with Kate Moss) has achieved a degree of celebrity: someone who has never picked up a fashion magazine in their life will be able to identify Gisele, or at the very least, recognise her face.

Gisele’s standing as the richest model on the planet has not only been boosted by her hefty portfolio, but has been assisted by her considerable business sense. She has developed a footwear line of flip-flops called ‘Ipanema – Gisele Bundchen’. Their success is such that they have even outsold the legendary brand ‘Havianas’ , making them the most popular range of flip-flops in the world. Gisele has taken her profile in the fashion world, and cannily applied some business know-how to make her fame work for her. Out of all the names currently working in the modelling industry, Bundchen understands most clearly the link between image and commerce. Her adaptability has made her extremely bankable, and it is this asset that Bundchen plays on best. If he were looking for the world’s most glamorous Apprentice, Sir Alan could do worse than give Gisele a call.

Gisele’s impact on the fashion world should not be under-estimated. Bundchen’s endlessly adaptable looks not only changed the modelling world, but the trajectory of modern fashion itself. By the end of the Nineties, it was time to leave grunge behind and side-step into something more glamorous and feminine. This sizeable shift is not entirely down to Gisele, but her arrival on the modelling scene could not have been better timed. Her launch onto the modelling scene cured fashion’s identity crisis – she inspired everyone on how to move forward.

Ten years on from her debut at Vogue, Gisele’s legacy is simply this: she has brought the power of beauty back to the core of the modelling industry. There is still a place for the unusual faces, but Bundchen’s timeless beauty reminds us that, if it is to succeed, fashion above all must engender desire. Beauty makes fashion glamorous, aspirational and fun, and in these tough times, that is exactly the approach fashion should be taking.

HELEN TOPE