MODEL PROFILES - AVA SMITH

Born on November 4^th 1988, Chicago native Ava Smith signed with Elite New York in 2005 aged 17. Boasting a family history with connections to Ireland, France, Germany, England and Lithuania, Ava’s career got off to a suitably global start with an editorial for Russian Vogue. Following that with a British Vogue editorial in February 2006, and a Benetton campaign in 2007, Ava had an auspicious beginning to her modelling career. But within a few years, the bookings began to taper off, and in 2009 Ava decided to take a break from modelling, returning to education. 

Two years later, Ava returned to modelling in late 2011, with Smith signing with Wilhelmina, a top American agency.  Now aged 23, Smith’s career hit the reset button. 

Viewed by clients as a ‘new girl’, even though she had previous editorial and campaign experience, Smith played the new-girl card with great skill. Wowing designers hiring for Fashion Week, Ava returned to the runway in September 2011, with appearances for David Koma, DKNY, Erdem, Helmut Lang, Holly Fulton, Hussein Chalayan, Mary Katrantzou, Ohne Titel, Peter Pilotto and Thierry Mugler. It was a nice mix of big brands and niche designers, with Ava appearing in several notable shows including Mary Katrantzou’s knockout show at London Fashion Week. 

Ava filled the next few months with editorial work, including a spread for ‘Black Book’, focusing on work-wear. But in February 2012, Ava returned to the Fashion Week circuit, this time making an incredible impact.

Appearing in 55 shows, Smith walked for Balmain, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Celine, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries Van Noten, Elie Saab, Fendi, Giambattista Valli, Givenchy, Gucci, Hermes, Isabel Marant, Issa, Marchesa, Missoni, Nina Ricci, Preen, Rochas, Thakoon, Valentino and YSL. A runway call sheet of this standard would be a striking achievement for any model, but the triumph is made all the more extraordinary by Ava’s years out of the spotlight. Smith may have been a returning face, rather than a new one, but her youthful, feminine looks made her highly covetable for a huge range of shows – and the fashion world just couldn’t get enough.

In Spring 2012, Ava returned to campaign work with a lookbook for H&M’s Autumn / Winter collection and a spread for www.amazon.com – a shoot photographed by Matthew Rolston, a photographer who will be familiar to viewers of ‘America’s Next Top Model’. 

In June, Ava booked another high-fashion editorial, this time with magazine ‘Dazed & Confused’. Photographed by Daniel Jackson, and working with new models Codie Young and Madison Headrick, ‘Through a Scanner Darkly’, saw Ava channel her inner maverick in black and white face-paints. It is the sort of booking that challenges newer models: these shoots demand work that colours outside the lines, and there are no comforting frames of reference here: just bold strokes of creativity. Ava’s early successes clearly gave her a confidence to tackle these shoots: her performance here is cool, calm and directional. 

Ava got another opportunity to test her runway skills in July, appearing for Couture Week. Walking for Armani Prive, Atelier Versace, Giambattista Valli and Valentino, Ava returned to her high-fashion roots, proving why she was picked to appear in Russian and British Vogue so early on in her career. Defying every industry prediction, haute couture has only expanded over the past four years, and with this, comes further opportunities for models to work at the highest levels in fashion. If you can handle couture, you can handle anything.

Smith’s affiliation with couture paid serious dividends with her first appearance in Italian Vogue. Appearing in the August issue, Ava modelled with Kate King and Jasmine Tookes. With all three models retro-styled in beehives and mauve lipstick, the spread is a fun vibrant look at all the forthcoming trends. With Ava also appearing in a behind-the-scenes video accompanying the shoot, this was a great debut with the Italian heavyweight; setting the standard for Ava’s future bookings.

With August spent working the Resort 2013 collections, Ava is now becoming a major player for the Autumn / Winter season. Appearing in this month’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar, in an editorial photographed by Sebastian Kim, she works this season’s bold androgyny. Smith is transformed in trouser-suits and slicked-back hair. Trouser-suits have been languishing in fashion’s back catalogue for a few years, but their resurgence this season sees them take on a more colourful form. With geometric prints from Prada and Louis Vuitton, the wildness of the print is tempered by the severity of the cut. Fashion loves a dichotomy, and this year’s trouser-suits may look joyfully decadent – but underneath, they’re all business.

Also scoring a campaign with Burberry Black Label, Ava models the collection with Benjamin Eidem. Wearing classic, highly wearable pieces, it’s clear that the big message of the season is the return of femininity.  With ornate, beautiful pieces getting all the limelight, if the fabrics don’t seduce you, the styling will. Even urban-chic staples such as leather leggings have got a feminine upgrade, with Michael Kors showing a muted version of the urban classic, perfect for teaming up with knitwear or printed blouses.

Feminine may be back, but it has edge: we saw an explosion of girlishness in the S/S collections, but six months on, the initial idea has been refined. If you couldn’t swallow the sugary-sweetness of Louis Vuitton’s broderie anglaise dresses, going the feminine route this autumn is all about creating a decadent, sensual experience. You really should look as good as you feel.

Ava’s next campaign hiring comes courtesy of Topshop. The store, when selecting models for its campaigns, usually hires up-and-comers. This year, Ava joins Laura Kampman (fresh from her campaign triumph with Balenciaga); Melissa Stasiuk and Moa Aberg. Despite having at least five years on most new models, Ava’s look reads as youthful, vibrant and current. In other words, perfect for Topshop. 

With fashion turning its attention from done-and-dusted Autumn, and onto Spring 2013, Ava has already begun racking up the catwalk credits at New York Fashion Week. With over 20 appearances including Jason Wu, Peter Som, Rag & Bone, Tommy Hilfiger, Alexander Wang, Prabal Gurung, Victoria Beckham, Donna Karan,  Tory Burch, Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors and Calvin Klein, this catwalk season is already shaping up to be one of Ava’s best. With appearances yet to come in London, Paris and Milan, Smith looks set to beat her own record.

Ava’s continuing success is testament to the virtue of waiting it out, playing the long game. First signed at the age of 17, Smith’s early career gave every indication that she would work solidly through the rest of her teens and into her twenties.

It is not altogether clear why Smith’s look failed to resonate with other clients after her bookings with Russian and British Vogue. It’s a sobering thought, but even if you have all the right qualities to be a top model, your look may not be right for the time, and there is no magic fix for that problem. But tastes change, and fashion is by its nature, always changing. Ava did the smart thing by taking a break from the modelling world and then trying her luck again two years later. Those years made a huge difference: Ava hadn’t dramatically changed – but the industry had.

In 2009, the industry was still reeling from the economic meltdown of 2008. Simply put, the industry had not yet devised a successful strategy to cope and fashion houses went to their default positions. Easily relatable, recognisable faces were in demand. Quirky, new, unfamiliar faces – not so much.

By 2011, the dust had settled and the coping strategy that was revealed to be most effective was not to go with the familiar, that sartorial safety blanket, but to create fashion that was creatively and commercially high-risk. Instead of sticking to comfort-classics, fashion branched out. Whether it was experimentation with print, colour or shape, fashion once more prided itself on its glorious failures as much as its sure-fire hits. It turns out that we didn’t need familiar clothes to reassure us: we wanted choice, talent and great design. We wanted to be inspired.

It is this new era that Ava now belongs to, and it explains why she is again at the top of every designer’s wish list. She is a model who can work right at the heart of high-fashion because her look corresponds so beautifully with what is being created. A perfect blend of editorial femininity, Smith has had to be patient for her big moment, but it’s been well worth the wait.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: JOSEPHINE SKRIVER

Born in Denmark on April 14^th 1993, Josephine Skriver was discovered in 2008 and at the age of 15 began to model. In October 2008, Skriver was featured by www.models.com as a newcomer, signing with Marilyn agency in 2010.

Skriver made her ready-to-wear debut in February 2011, making an early impact as she was picked to close the Prada show. Also walking for Chanel, Chloe, DKNY, Gucci, Haider Ackerman, Lanvin, Nina Ricci, Valentino and YSL, even without the Prada closer, this would be safely classed as a debut of significance.

Locating the source of Skriver’s appeal isn't difficult: even in fashion, faces like Josephine’s don't come along that often. Like Sasha Pivovarova, Anais Pouliot and Anja Rubik, Skriver finds herself part of a small group of models who would be readily termed as ‘real-life pretty’ but still ‘high-fashion friendly’. It is, in terms of selling clothes, a tough combination to resist.

Skriver channelled that beauty in May 2011 with an editorial for German Vogue. Photographed by Greg Kadel, ‘Uber Sinnlich’ was a series of black and white beauty portraits. It was a challenge Skriver was tailor-made for.

In July, Josephine made her first appearance in Italian Vogue, photographed by Steven Meisel. ‘Pret a Porter’, featuring Emily Baker, Fei Fei Sun, Anais Pouliot and Juliane Gruner, covered some of the upcoming Autumn / Winter trends in a series of quirky, characterful portraits. Meisel, always a champion of new talent, makes light work of these portraits: getting the best out of each model, it is hard to believe that some of these models are only months into their career.

Also in July, Skriver appeared for the first time on the couture runways of Paris. Walking for Azzedine Alaia, Dior, Giambattista Valli, Valentino and Zuhair Murad, these were classic and newer labels specialising in glamour. Valli and Murad are fast catching up to the more established names (Dior, Valentino) in providing high-profile clients with memorable one-of-a-kind looks: Murad already counts Jennifer Lopez as a red-carpet regular.

The face of couture is changing: out-and-out creativity still rules, but the big statements of a decade ago are being steadily replaced by an interest in great craftsmanship and boundary pushing detail. There have been concerns that couture’s love-in with Hollywood’s A list could mean an end to bold, creative thinking, but this simply hasn’t happened. The series of space-age gowns from Armani Prive (Spring 2010), deemed only suitable for the catwalk, proved immensely wearable for Hollywood’s elite on Oscar night. Indeed, as Hollywood is becoming bolder in its sartorial choices, couture is proving uniquely able to meet the challenges in making one-of-a-kind, career-defining gowns.

The expectation that couture would die a quick death during the economic depression has been proved wrong. Haute couture is in better shape than it was ten years ago; the designs haven’t got softer – the designers have got tougher in pushing couture detail not as blue-sky dressing, but real alternatives to the classic shapes we all know and love. Designers are more aware than ever of whom they are designing for, and it is this tightening of focus that has saved couture. Applying the lessons learnt from selling RTW in a tough economy has meant couture is still creative, but it is creativity smartly applied.

Josephine’s popularity for catwalk hiring grew in September 2011 with a massive 68-show season. Opening shows for Jaegar and House of Holland, she also appeared for Balenciaga, Christopher Kane, Fendi, Jason Wu, Peter Som, Prabal Gurung, Rodarte and Versace.

Ending the year with editorials with German Vogue and Dazed & Confused, Josephine made her inaugural appearance in American Vogue in January 2012 in the seminal feature ‘A Man for All Seasons’.

Also in January, Josephine again proved a hit with couturiers, appearing for Armani Prive, Basil Soda, Elie Saab and Atelier Versace. Josephine’s universal type of beauty correlates particularly strongly with couture. Its experiments in creativity give the clothes a timeless quality beyond immediate trends. Couture has that space to think big and its resulting ideas can be predictors of trends to come, or just beautiful clothes that exist like satellites. Josephine’s face may be a rarity, but it is textbook for couture: not an extreme, not a distraction, but a perfect complement.

Skriver’s stronghold on runway bookings continued in February with another blockbuster RTW season, featuring Gucci, Erdem, Tom Ford, Peter Pilotto, Marc Jacobs, Prabal Gurung and Michael Kors. A noticeable favourite with American super-brands (Kors, Jacobs, Ford), Josephine also impressed newer designers including Peter Pilotto and Prabal Gurung. Prabal in particular is a savvy booking for Josephine at this point in her career, as Gurung moves into the big-time. His gold cut-away gown worn by Jennifer Lawrence at the premiere for ‘Hunger Games’ has sealed his reputation on red-carpet wear that’s absolutely on the fashion pulse. Gurung’s profile is soaring as he is set to join the ranks of Jacobs and Ford as a must-book designer.

Also hitting the cover of the S/S H&M magazine in February, March proved to be an epic editorial month with Josephine appearing in Dansk, Chinese Vogue and Mixte. Skriver’s campaign roster continued to build with campaign videos for Gucci Cruise and MaxMara Weekend plus an appearance in the multi-model campaign for Bulgari’s Omnia Coral fragrance.

Featuring alongside Taryn Davidson and Carola Remer, this is the perfect summer fragrance campaign, with Bulgari gems and exotic flowers providing the accents. With some of the best fragrance campaigns, the personality of the perfume is so clearly delineated that you can almost smell the scent: this advert tells you very clearly what to expect.

This month, Josephine hits the headlines featuring in an editorial for American Vogue. ‘Checking Out’, photographed by Tim Walker, is a multi-page showcase for veteran model Kate Moss. Posing in a Ritz Paris hotel suite, Moss proves she has lost none of her magic. Josephine joins Mirte Maas, Sigrid Agren and Patricia van der Vliet in Valentino Couture, posing as ‘ladies-in-waiting’.

The question of who will take over from Moss as modelling’s next big star is still very much up for grabs. Some (Lara Stone, Gisele) have come close to replicating that star power, but Moss remains at the top of her profession two decades after her discovery. No-one wants to be the following act that always pales in comparison, but it is looking more and more likely that Kate is an isolated case of all the right factors coming together. From her early work with Corrine Day; the career-changing contract with Calvin Klein to her unrivalled domination of covers, campaigns and editorials, Kate has had an almost unblemished career.

Her success is routinely traced back to her greatest asset: that face. At age 38, she photographs as well as she did for Corinne back in the early Nineties. Ever since Kate’s discovery, the search has been on for the next great face: versatile, universal and immensely photogenic.

This, in tangent with her style, is Moss’ greatest gift to the modelling industry. Instead of turning up one face of note, the search has resulted in a renewed appreciation of great faces. Body types come and go, but there is a quality about beauty that enables it to both transcend and embody a trend. The type of beauty that everyone understands is still an unusual find even in the modelling industry, and for some time, its power has been greatly underestimated.

The allure of a classic face is not simple, it is primal: we are programmed to respond to it, and in turn, it ticks every box. This is well illustrated in Josephine’s career to date, which spans credits from Bulgari to H&M. Her extraordinary popularity on the catwalk bears testament to just how adaptable this beauty can be.

For all fashion likes to talk up bold, edgy talent, it’s hard to ignore the robust quality of Josephine’s career. Fashion’s love for universal beauty is laid bare in cases like Josephine where credits stack up one after another. As this season fashion celebrates the feminine in all its forms, Skriver looks set to enjoy an even rosier phase of her career. Pretty may be back – but did it really ever go away?

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: ANNA DE RIJK

Born in the Netherlands in 1988, Anna de Rijk was first discovered at age 16 by a photographer who was attending her neighbour’s Xmas party.

Shooting her first international editorial in June 2006, Anna scored her first cover in October with Dutch Elle. Making her runway debut in October 2007 for Vivienne Westwood and Veronique Branquinho, Anna’s career was very much on a job-by-job basis. Working for two years, but somewhat under the radar, Anna’s initiation into full-time modelling didn’t start until February 2009 when she walked for Blumarine, Christopher Kane, Dries Van Noten, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton and Prada. Just a month after her comeback, after being in modelling for three years, www.style.com pegged Anna as a rising star.

In July, Anna booked slots in the couture shows for Chanel and Valentino – an unusual honour as Anna at 5’ 9”, is at least two inches shorter than most couture models. Her summer was peppered with editorial work for Dazed & Confused and British Vogue, but in the latter part of the season, Anna was announced as one of the faces of the new Autumn / Winter Prada campaign.

It is the sort of casting that dreams are made of. An appearance in a Prada campaign is nothing short of a career-maker. The eccentric ad, featuring the models in woollen separates and rubber boots, was an iconic piece of Prada whimsy. Miuccia Prada doesn’t do femininity head-on, but always from an angle. The saucepot librarian is in heavy tweeds to off-set the va-va-voom; the half-clad Amazon in snakeskin and 6” heels is channelling evolution rather than seduction. There is always present in Prada an element of the unexpected and that’s why it’s the most famous five-letter word in the fashion world today. Any model even remotely associated with the brand, let alone featuring as one of the campaign girls, can look forward to a career spent working with the best creative talent fashion has to offer.

Anna’s next booking after the Prada announcement was for a multi-model haute couture editorial for Italian Vogue. Photographed by Paolo Roversi, ‘Dream of a Dress’ is a roll-call of all the best and brightest modelling talent. Using the latest designs from Paris, it was a gothic, glamorous masterpiece that showed Anna and her peers exploring couture’s dark side. Anna’s reversal of fortune continued with a 45 show season in September and October, opening the show for Burberry and walking for Prada, Chanel, Givenchy, Lanvin, Erdem and Thakoon. Her meteoric rise from fashion girl to face to watch may have been dizzying, but Anna’s performances were grounded by the knowledge and experience gained by working beyond the glare of the spotlight, before her re-emergence in 2009.

2010 was an even better year for Anna, with the model scoring big in January when she was asked to appear in an editorial for Italian Vogue, dubbed ‘Runway’, and shot by Steven Meisel. In what turned out to be a vastly important piece of editorial work, Meisel used every model of note to compile a series of carefully-constructed shots made to look like behind-the-scenes candid snaps from runway shows. Mixed with standard editorial shots (plus a cover of Karlie Kloss about to take a tumble in platform heels), it was a brilliantly self-referential take on high-fashion, and a phenomenal way to kick off a new decade.

Anna took on a challenge in February when she featured in a spread for French Vogue. Called ‘Vogue a Porter’, it paid homage to the controversial 1974 film ‘The Night Porter’. Anna got to take on the topless shot made famous by Charlotte Rampling. A notoriously difficult kind of shoot to get right, it earned Anna major kudos. Turning her classically feminine looks into something altogether more ominous, Anna was the epitome of French Vogue’s point of view: subversive, clever and irretrievably stylish.

The year continued to be lucky for Anna, signing on to become the face of Dior jewellery, and a contract with Chanel cosmetics. The latter booking was particularly important for Anna as it would turn her from a high-fashion favourite to a recognisable presence in beauty halls across America and Europe. Like Prada, Chanel is a label whose image and name go hand in hand, and the fame of Chanel’s make-up is almost on a par with its clothes. The pillar-box red lipstick and the Rouge Noir nail polish are as solid pieces of Chanel iconography as the tweed suit itself. Anna’s face was perfect for the classic beauty with a trend twist that’s needed for Chanel. Again, as with French Vogue earlier in the year, Anna was able to morph seamlessly into that mould. But look closer at the images produced and there is a haunted quality there that takes the Chanel ad to another level: it’s not just about lipstick, but about an entire sensibility.

Bringing an element of individuality is what separates a high-fashion campaign from a more commercial one. The fuss-free look for the H&M campaigns has become synonymous with the brand, but at no stage do these images feel cheap. Freja Beha’s S/S 2011 campaign for H&M is perfectly on-message for the label, but Freja’s personality jumps off the page and that’s what keeps us looking. Great campaigns work because they linger in the mind - and that’s exactly the point.

The remainder of Anna’s year was made up of runway and editorial, plus a new campaign for Sonia Rykiel with up-and-coming model Katie Fogarty. But it ended with another major signing, this time with American icon Vera Wang.

Modelling both her fashion line and bridal wear, Anna became the face of the brand that has changed the way we think of dressing for that ultimate fashion moment. Launched in the Nineties, Vera’s aesthetic rejected Eighties excess in favour of a calmer, more refined look. Anna was a perfect pick to represent the label – she created a look that was soft and yielding but with a high-fashion edge that was aspirational rather than something designed to intimidate. This is especially important when modelling bridal wear, as it has to connect with the customer on a very real level: creating that fantasy image is all well and good, but if the customers can’t imagine themselves wearing that dress, the campaign has failed. Anna made the perfect connection, making the label look desirable but feel attainable – an important distinction.

2011 promises to be off to another good start for Anna, with an early appearance in American Vogue. Shot by Mario Testino, it is an epic multi-page editorial featuring all the trends from the Spring / Summer 2011 runway. Called ‘Gangs of New York’, models were put into groups. Anna was paired off with Frida Gustavsson and Jac. All three were photographed in vintage lace Ralph Lauren. Referencing the more romantic side of the Wild West, the picture is dubbed by Vogue as ‘The New Romantics’. The photo is soft-focus and other-worldly, but at its core, Frida, Jac and Anna are clearly three women not to be trifled with.

It’s a perfect metaphor for Anna’s career to date. Her gentleness on camera belies an inner strength – you can’t reference films like ‘The Night Porter’ or work for designers such as Givenchy or Prada without being able to take a walk on the wild side. Her speciality may be the soft, feminine aspect of high-fashion, her work with Vera Wang being a particularly good example of this, but it is Anna’s willingness to dig deeper and go further that sets her apart from the competition.

Her ability to work with the most cerebral designers and translate their vision, whether it is on camera or on the runway, is all down to the slow-burn part of her career. Having to wait it out for nearly two years would test even the most determined model, but Anna stepped back into the limelight ready to wow us, and she did. Anna’s career will continue to offer up surprises and delights because she recognises the importance of challenge: challenging your industry and your peers, but most importantly, yourself.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: TONI GARRN

Born July 7th 1992, Toni Garrn was discovered aged 14 at a street festival in 2006. Initially signing with Modelwerk, Toni modelled locally in Germany before signing with Women Management in 2007. In April that year, she landed her first international editorials with U.S and Italian Elle.

Toni’s career accelerated further in May when she was booked for a French Vogue editorial. Spearheaded by Editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, French Vogue, along with its British, American and Italian counterparts, can count itself as one of the taste-makers of the industry, especially when it comes to launching new faces. Garrn’s appearance was enough to secure her an unforgettable runway debut. In September she walked in New York Fashion Week, exclusively opening and closing the show for Calvin Klein.

The all-American label took to Toni so much that just a few months later; news broke of her replacing Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova as the face of the brand. Garrn’s Teutonic charm formed the perfect aesthetic for the design-house that made its name on clean lines and uncluttered silhouettes. Garrn’s coup in getting the Calvin Klein contract lined her up for a year of impressive editorial bookings. From February to September 2008, Toni did print work for Italian Vogue, German Vogue and Numero, finishing the summer with a cover for her native German Vogue.

The high visibility approach worked. Garrn experienced a breakout runway season in the autumn, opening and closing shows for Carolina Herrera, Herve Leger, Fendi, Just Cavalli and YSL. She also made appearances for Alberta Ferretti, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Gucci, Michael Kors, Prada, Stella McCartney, Valentino and Versace. It was a textbook season, with Toni representing every facet of the industry.

November proved to be a particularly well-starred month for Garrn, with an editorial in Chinese Vogue, shot by the late Corrine Day, and her first cover of Italian Vogue, sharing the honours with model Katrin Thormann.

Capping the year off with an editorial collaboration with Italian Vogue and Steven Meisel, Toni’s New Year began with a bang: a cover for Russian Vogue, and a signing to represent Prada, working alongside Anna Jagodzsinka and Giedre Dukauskaite.

As incredible a highlight as this was, the signings kept coming. Toni replaced Catherine McNeil as the face of Hugo Boss, and Raquel Zimmermann as the face of Italian luxe label, Fendi. Toni also got substantial roles in campaigns for Chloe, Etro, Emporio Armani and Shiseido cosmetic line, Cle de Peau. Toni’s journey from newcomer to established face was now complete.

Her success on the runway continued too, with Garrn managing to equal her own record from the previous season, signing up to appear in an incredible 49 shows. With many designers hastily re-booking Garrn, Toni scooped further opening and closing spots from Donna Karan, Bottega Veneta and Preen.

September saw Toni take part in a mammoth couture layout for Italian Vogue. The title of the piece was ‘Dream of a Dress’, and Garrn appeared with models Heidi Mount, Sigrid Agren, Rose Cordero and Constance Jablonski.

Like the seminal U.S Vogue May 2007 cover that launched names like Coco Rocha and Agyness Deyn, this grouping of new models was intended as a launch-pad. Dark and supremely gothic in tone, it was a couture shoot designed to challenge the most confident model, and their collective success heralded the arrival of a new generation of modelling talent.

Toni’s stock rose further after the Italian Vogue shoot, and her rise from editorial star to international cover girl continued, with Garrn performing cover duty for German and Japanese Vogue, including a cover shoot with Karl Lagerfeld in February 2010. An incredible tribute to a model that had not yet turned 18; it was a bona fide career high.

In March,Garrn landed another editorial that got the entire fashion industry talking. The Italian Vogue couture shoot, ‘High Glam’, saw Toni paying homage to haute couture’s last – and most loyal – customer base. Staying in character for a multi-page layout, Toni played the role of a bored, but fabulously dressed, socialite. A good editorial is always about more than just the clothes, and Toni pushed through the pricey garb to create a series of shots that portrayed genuine modern glamour. With haute couture, the secret to making it look contemporary is all in the attitude.

Following on from a very successful runway season for Spring / Summer 2011, in print, Toni’s final appearances of the year have included a double-editorial booking for Spanish Vogue, plus the cover shared with Caroline Trentini, Kasia Struss and Iselin Steiro. Snapped by Victor Demarchelier (son of legend Patrick Demarchelier), the cover represents a gear-change for fashion, and a significant one at that.

The secret to Toni Garrn’s success is very simple. She is fashion’s latest representative on the glamour front-line. Following on from the likes of Cindy Crawford and Jerry Hall, and more recently, Catherine McNeil and Raquel Zimmermann, Garrn is the face of fashion’s latest shift in aesthetic. If you want to know what fashion’s take on glamour looks like right now, Toni is as close a match as it’s possible to get.

At 18, Toni is already a veteran of couture editorials. She wears thousands of dollars worth of couture as if they were her favourite pair of jeans. Google her ‘High Glam’ layout for Italian Vogue and it’s patently obvious that Garrn refuses to be intimidated by the world of haute couture. You look at and admire the dresses as the first port of call, but Toni’s blend of wit and pathos is what makes the shoot visually compelling. To elevate a fashion shoot to couture standard takes a sophistication that’s hard to find, so when a model arrives on the scene that is as comfortable in couture as Garrn, they tend to be in high demand.

High fashion asks more of its models because enticing the most hardened couture devotee takes more than pointing out the hours of craftsmanship. Making desire part of that equation is what has kept this most rarefied layer of the fashion industry afloat at a time when it should, by all logic, have sunk without a trace. Glamour may seem like little more than smoke and mirrors, but its enduring image and what it represents has proved to be the bedrock of the industry.

The restrained and muted tones of A/W 2010 are set to be replaced with bursts of tropical
colour and Seventies poolside glamour as 2011sees postmodern glamour fully evolve. The hair is a little less than perfect, the eyeliner smudged around the edges, but it’s battle-worn chic at its best. The industry has come through a storm of economic gloom not seen since the 1930’s, and the tone for next year is a glamour that’s both beautiful and worldly-wise.

Fashion’s angle on glamour has learnt lessons from the tough, early seasons of the recession. If it’s to grab attention, glamour must be desirable but attainable. The blockbuster success of A/W 2010 has showed that there is still an appetite for high fashion, but the finishes; sheepskin, shearling and leather, are all primed to be of practical benefit as the weather turns colder. Even party-wear has seen the light with velvet maxi-skirts and slouchy jumpers replacing mini-dresses and bare legs. The desire for fashion – and its unique ability to transport us – never went away; it just got a reality check.

Models like Toni will continue to thrive, as creativity is what’s needed to progress fashion in a direction that’s both vibrant and engaging. That last part is crucial, as the industry cannot afford to lose sight of what it learned during the lean times.

With fresh talent setting the pace, both in front and behind the camera, fashion’s way forward is centred on just one bold and beguiling idea: possibility.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: OLGA SHERER

Born on 29th July 1987, Olga Sherer is a couture model with a unique approach to the demands of high-fashion, making her a constant presence in an ever-changing industry.

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Sherer began her modelling career in March 2005, making her runway debut for Issey Miyake. Her CV was somewhat sparse until February 2007 when she took the industry by surprise with a 72-show season, including Alberta Ferretti, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Dior, Erdem, Hermes, Lanvin, Prada, Rodarte, Vera Wang and Versace. Reading like a list of who’s who in the fashion world, Olga’s dramatic emergence from bit-player to leading lady was all a matter of timing.

Between 2005 and 2007, the fashion world experienced a revival of Pre-Raphaelite-style beauty. Suddenly models that wouldn’t look out of place on a Victorian canvas became hot property. Names like Lily Cole, Lily Donaldson and Gemma Ward set the industry alight with a new type of beauty that wasn’t glamazon or editorial. Their classically ‘pretty’ looks worked well with the feminine trends and Olga’s striking red hair coupled with her painterly, wistful beauty made her an instant hit.

What also worked for Sherer was her aristocratic look and couture-perfect physique, allowing her to cross-over from romantic to avant-garde work with ease. This meant that Olga’s triumphant success on the runway translated into editorial work, appearing for W and an editorial for Italian Vogue, photographed by Greg Lotus.

She then became the face of Lanvin’s Autumn / Winter campaign. Shot by Steven Meisel, the campaign featuring Olga in a yellow dress became one of the most striking images of the season.
Her success also allowed her to land coveted slots, opening and closing shows. In September, she opened shows for Luca Luca, BCBG and Luella Bartley; closing shows for Paul Smith, Matthew Williamson, Fendi, Pucci, Lanvin and Moschino. It was a stunning 73 show season, with Olga being paired with designers who specialised in using colour and pattern. The punchy impact of Olga’s red hair made her an automatic stand-out in a market dominated by blonde and brunette models, and also provided a brilliant backdrop for the zesty colours used by designers like Williamson and Smith.

In October, Olga got her second editorial with Italian Vogue; this time photographed by Steven Meisel, and in January 2008 got her third editorial with the magazine, plus work for V and Numero.

Renewing her contract with Lanvin, Olga had another brilliant show season in February opening shows for Narciso Rodriguez and Bottega Veneta, and closing shows for Ralph Lauren, Kenzo and Tuleh.

In July, Olga got booked for the couture season, including Armani Prive, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino. Standing at 5’ 11”, Sherer proved she was born to wear couture. Olga was brilliant at embodying the concept of collections, with a presence that paid dues to the couture models of the 1950’s. Sherer’s knack for working haute couture made her consistently in demand right at the very top levels of the industry.

In the latter part of 2008, she got a series of high-profile campaigns including D&G, Bottega Veneta and a cosmetics campaign for Dior. Olga even went international with editorials for Chinese, German and Russian Vogue, with Russian Vogue featuring her as a top model.

In September, she appeared in the ready-to-wear season, closing shows for Paul Smith, Missoni and Rick Owens, also appearing for Alexander McQueen, Hermes, Lanvin and Valentino. Even the RTW component of her CV leant towards designers whose collections borrowed from the principles of couture: Rick Owens’ work is all about deconstruction (a feat that is impossible without an intimate knowledge of how clothes are made), and of course Lanvin, whose dresses are an intricate masterwork of drapery and folds.

In December, Olga took part in a multi-model editorial for V called ‘Couture after Dark’. Shot by Cedric Buchet, the spread was an electrifying series of pictures illustrating that couture is as much of the 21st century fashion experience as ready-to-wear. Working alongside models Ali Stephens, Karmen Pedaru and Siri Tollerod, the shoot was dynamic, daring and utterly modern: a perfect match for Olga’s strengths.

In January 2009, Olga continued with another couture season, this time working for Armani Prive, Dior, Christian Lacroix and Valentino. She scored her 4th editorial with Italian Vogue in February, and hit a major career high-point when she was selected to become one of the faces for a Marc Jacobs campaign. Olga finished off the year with a show season walking for Carolina Herrera, Dior, Elie Saab, Marc Jacobs, and Michael Kors and an editorial for Russian Vogue.

February 2010 saw Olga return to the runway with another packed season. Wanted for shows like Aquascutum, Bottega Veneta, Lanvin, Margaret Howell, Mary Katrantzou, Prabal Gurung and Vanessa Bruno, Olga’s booking sheet was an even spread of established labels and prestige brands, ranging from the Parisian glamour of Lanvin to the very British chic of Margaret Howell. Also working for new talents such as Katrantzou, Sherer was again working with designers whose work hinged on pattern and colour.

With mid-year work ranging from editorials for i-D and a celebration of Russian modelling talent by Russian Vogue coming in December, Olga Sherer’s star continues to shine high and bright.

What is immediately clear is that the main focus of Olga’s career has been haute couture. With a reputation for being the most difficult area of fashion to understand and appreciate, modelling couture is the toughest hurdle for a model to master. Height and good cheekbones aside, haute couture places very specific challenges on a model; it remains, despite the changes in fashion over the last fifty years, very different to the world of ready-to-wear. Still a byword for exclusive (and very expensive) fashion, couture modelling requires a set of skills that test even the most confident model.

Couture is as much about drama as it is about design. To make couture work beyond the runway, you have to tell a story. Big clothes require big narratives, and Olga’s work on editorials such as ‘Theory of Evolution’ for Elle, or ‘Couture After Dark’ for V, showcase how clearly she understands the balance between grounding couture in some sense of reality, and allowing the magic of the clothes come to life. A model isn’t just needed to physically cart a ball-gown down the runway; she’s needed to flesh it out so the dress becomes something other than a mass of material and stitches: it becomes couture.

Modern couture is often drawn as extravagant and out of touch, but what models like Olga bring is a sense of history that blends the old with the new. On the face of it, older and newer styles of modelling seem poles apart, but look closer and there are similarities. Google Jean Shrimpton and her defiant, straight-down-the-lens stare would fit right in with any current campaign for urban fashion.

It works the other way too: visit You Tube and find the Spring / Summer 2010 show for Dior Couture. The equestrian-themed collection allowed the likes of Karlie Kloss and Iris Strubegger to trot down the runway as haughty country-club fillies, with designer John Galliano even getting in on the act. The collection was the show everyone talked about because it tapped into the sense of occasion required to justify the time and effort spent on creating museum-worthy fashion.

Couture is all about creativity in its purest, most undiluted form. Models like Olga have succeeded in the world of modern couture by fusing 1950’s romance with contemporary avant-garde. A grasp of where modelling has been is just as important as knowing what’s happening now. Fashion may be about the newest and the next, but it’s constantly borrowing from the past, and that’s true of modelling too.

A virtuoso performance on a couture runway owes a great debt to the women who walked before; models like Lisa Fonssagrives, Suzy Parker and Dorian Leigh. They helped to define what we now understand as haute couture, and Olga Sherer’s ability to be both contemporary and other-worldly is translating the oldest branch of the fashion industry for the next generation, ensuring its longevity and its survival.

HELEN TOPE