Topmodel of the Week: Sasha Pivovarova

Most people know this girl from Prada. She was the face of the brand for three years in a row. Yet this Russian beauty does so much more….

Name: Sasha Pivovarova
Age: 24
Date of Birth:  21 January, 1985
Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia
Discovered: Her friend, photographer Igor Vishnyakov took her picture in 2005 and sent it to IMG modelling agency. She was studying art history back then.

Runway debut: Prada, the brand immediately signed an exclusive three-year contract with Sasha.
Fashion shows: Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Pringle of Scotland, Rag & Bone, Rodarte, Max Mara, PHI, Christian Dior (couture), Elie Saab(couture), Valentino (couture).She opened last season’s (fall/winter 2010/2011)shows for: Jean Paul Gaultier
Covers:  American Vogue, Greek Vogue, Russian Vogue, British Vogue and Australian Vogue.In May 2007 Vogue named her as one of the new ‘supermodels’ together with models like Doutzen Kroes, Jessica Stam and Chanel Iman. As one of the favorite models of Steven Meisel, she appeared on the cover of the Italian Vogue five times.

In 2009 Pivovarova was ranked second on the Models.com top 50, together with Natasha Poly.
Vogue declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.
She won the Best International Model award in Shanghai in 2006

Ad campaigns:  Pirelli 2008, Armani, Longchamp, Chanel, H&M, Mulberry

Agencies:  IMG models (NY), Unique (Denmark), Donna Models (Tokyo)

Quotes:

• ‘I was on board  of 148 airline flights in 2008!’
• ’I’m not a person who likes waking up early’

Extra:

• Sasha loves to paint and draw.
• Her paintings have been published in French Vogue.
• She uses anything as a canvas hotel papers, casting and itinerary papers.
• She is working with Miuccia Prada to produce a book of her own artwork.
• She is also illustrating a book for Karl Lagerfeld based on Russian fairy tales.
• She is married to long-time friend and photographer Igor Vishnyakov.
• She practices Kung Fu.
• She recreated her wedding for a Vogue spread
• She has a very strong Russian accent

Topmodel of the Week: Abbey Lee Kershaw

This topmodel from down under is unstoppable. She walks in all the big fashion shows, was a Victoria’s Secret angel twice, was a model for the famous Pirelli calender and did a tv commercial for Gucci. You might wanna read more about this Australian beauty…

Name: Abbey Lee Kershaw
Age: 22
Date of Birth: June 12, 1987
Place of Birth: Melbourne, Australia
Discovered: While she was on the beach with her grandma in Australia. After that she took part in a modelling competition and won.
Runway debut: Milan, Gucci. She was booked exclusively for Gucci.
City: New York
Fashion shows: almost any fashion brand; one season Abbey walked in 84 shows.
She was a Victoria’s Secret angel for two years (2008 & 2009).
Last season (fall/winter 2010/2011) she opened the shows of Chanel, Michael Kors, Isaac Mizrahi, Issa, John Rocha and Pucci.
Covers:  Australian Vogue, Japanese Vogue, V, Dazed & Confused, Muse, Numéro. In 2008 Style.com named her one of the top ten newcomers.
Abbey Lee is ranked 8th on the Top 50 Models Women list by models.com.
Ad campaigns:  Gucci, D&G, CK Jeans, H&M, Levi’s, Lord & Taylor, See by Chloé, Guilty Brotherhood, Express Jeans and Pirelli Calender 2010.
TV Commercials: Gucci fragrance Flora
Agencies:  Next Management (London, New York, Paris), Chic Management (Sydney), 2pm Model Management (Copenhagen)
Quotes:

• ‘I like my hands. They do most of the talking.’
• ‘Let’s just say, if I weren’t a model, I’d be a walking collage. I see my body as a blank canvas that’s aching to be decorated; I find it all very fascinating.’
• ‘TV will never be something I commit to.’
• ‘I didn’t even know modelling existed as a job’
• ‘In New York you have to be very ambitious to stay ahead of everyone, otherwise you get lost in the crowd.’

Extra:

• Abbey Lee worked in the bakery section at Newmarket Safeway before.
• She has a pierced nose and a pierced nipple.
• During Paris Fashion Week Abbey Lee fainted at the Alexander McQueen runway right before she was to exit the runway.
• She is currently seeing Puerto Rican fashion director, producer, and runway coach Daniel E. Rivera.
• She fell at a spring Rodarte show in New York (2008)
• She had to skip a whole fashion season due to a knee injury.
• She smokes.
• She said no when Alexander McQueen asked her to walk in the spring/summer show in the crazy Armadillo shoes

Topmodel of the week: Chanel Iman

This week we focus on topmodel Chanel Iman. She always wanted to become a model. And with a name like that she did seem destined to work in the world of fashion…

Name: Chanel Iman Robinson (yes, this is her real name!)

Age: 20

Date of Birth: November 30, 1989

Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia

City: she currently lives in New York

Discovered: when she was thirteen years old she was already accepted at a modelling agency.

Breakthrough: 2006, after ending third in the Ford Super Model of the World Contest

Runway debut: 2006 (fall/winter) for: Anna Sui, Derek Lam, Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler

Fashion shows: Aquascutum, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Valentino, Bottega Veneta, House of Holland, Nathan Jenden, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexis Mabille, Christian Lacroix, Diane von Furstenberg, Valentino couture, Christian Dior coutue, Givenchy couture.

Covers:  Korean Vogue, Teen Vogue, V Magazine, Time, i-D and the premier cover of Harper’s Bazaar Dubai

• In 2007 Vogue named her as one of the next topmodels

Ad campaigns:  Gap, Benetton, Ralph Lauren, DKNY and Victoria’s Secret

TV: she appeared on America’s Next Top Model as a guest judge

Agencies: Supreme Management

Quotes:

• ‘If I sound like my own drill sergeant it’s because modeling sometimes is like boot camp.’
• ‘In a couple of years, I’ll be the most glamorous woman, hopefully.’
• ‘But I’m still a regular girl. I go to basketball and football games. I want to go to prom.’
• ‘I used to dress up as a model for Halloween, like every year.’
• ‘All I can do is being myself. And either you like it or you don’t..’
• ‘Most models wear all black all the time. I’m kinda tired of all the black’

Extra:

• She is Phillip Lim’s muse
• Her mother is with her during the shoots and shows, because she does’t want Chanel Iman to experience ‘the dark side of fashion’.
• She loves eating icecream when she is in Milaan
• She appeared in in two editorials for the all-black issue of Italian Vogue
• She has a boyfriend; rapper Tyga.
• She walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show in 2009
• She was the DJ for the Sonia Rykiel for H&M party this year (2010)
• Chanel Iman has her own website.
• Follow Chanel Iman on twitter: @ itsmechaneliman

Topmodel of the week: Natasha Poly

This week we’d like to focus on one of our favourite models: Natasha Poly.

Name: Natalia Polevshchikova (shortened to Poly)

Age: 24

Date of Birth: July 12, 1985

Place of Birth: Perm, Russia, two hours from Moscow (by plain)

Discovered: ‘When I was fifteen I went to Moscow for a model competition and I kind of won’ (Natasha)

Runway debute: Emanuel Ungaro

Breakthrough: 2004

Family: Still lives in Russia and is very proud. They all love Natasha’s pictures.

City: Natasha lives in New York

Fashion shows: Lanvin, Chloé, Stella McCartney, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, D&G, Louis Vuitton, Roberto Cavalli, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Gucci, and Sonia Rykiel, Kenzo, Givenchy…. Just all the big fashion brands.
Last season (fall/winter 2010/2011) she opened the shows for Kenzo, Roland Mouret and Rick Owens.

Photographers: Any big shot photographer has taken Nathasa’s picture. Patrick Demarchelier, Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz, Terry Richardson, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Emma Summerton, Steven Meisel, Craig McDean, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Mario Sorrenti and Solve Sundsbo to name a few….

Covers: Natasha has appeared on covers of many Vogue issues. For example we saw her on Vogue Australia (Dec 2004), Germany (Jun 2006), Japan (Jan 2005), Paris (May & Sep 2004, march 2007), Russia (Aug 2008, Mar 2009), Paris (Apr 2010). Plus:

• Vogue Russia dedicated a whole issue to Natasha Poly in July 2008.
• Vogue America named her one of the faces of the moment in 2009
• Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models in the 2000s.

Ad campaigns:  Gucci, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Robeto Cavalli, Sonia Rykiel, Nine West, Dolce Gabbana, Calvin Klein Jeans, D&G, Epoca, Philosophy by Alberta Ferretti, Fabrizio Corsi, Fornarina, Jimmy Choo, Krizia jeans, La Perla, Louis Vuitton, Massimo Rebecchi, Marc’O Polo, Max Mara, Ralph Lauren, Nina Ricci, Jil Sander, Blumarine, Givenchy.

We also recently spotted Natasha in the campaign for the H&M Garden collection.
Gucci is one of the biggest deals for Natasha, she has worked with the brand for several years now.

TV Commercial: Gucci by Gucci fragrance (2007)

Agencies:  Women management (NY, Paris, Milan), Select Model Management (London), Mega Model Agency (Hamburg) Traffic Models in Barcelona.

Quotes:

• ‘I hate it when they say that models are like mannequins, and not the people in the flesh.’
• ‘You’re never fully dressed without a smile.’
• ‘A driver is a must during fashion week. Having a car means you have somewhere to nap during shows, a place to leave your bags, and a trunk to stock up with generous gifts from designers, like shoes and handbags.’
  (yet we saw her arriving at a Paris Week fashion show on a motorcycle last season)
• ‘Besides my iPod, during show week I carry make-up remover, some money, lip balm, gloves, my ID, face cream, and my Sony Cybershot in my bag.’

Extra:

• Natasha has walked the Victoria’s Secret fashion show twice.
• Paris is her favourite city
• Natasha had long dark blond hair before, now her hair is very light blond and it’s shorter too.
• Natasha thinks Karl Lagerfeld is a genius.

Dreams: Natasha dreams of opening a shop in her city with fashionable, yet affordable clothes.

Dutch Models – New Face: Melissa Tammerijn

She just popped up out of nowhere and is planning to stay around for a while. Dutch model Melissa Tammerijn (19) from Delft started off as a runway model last season (fall/winter 2010). And lucky for her she already got to walk in big shows like Marni, Balenciaga, Viktor & Rolf and Sonia Rykiel. Besides, Melissa was booked exclusive for the Calvin Klein fashion show, in which she walked next to accomplished models like Stella Tennant and Kirsty Hume.

With her bright blond hair and her strong face Melissa is often compared to Uma Thurman. And she might just become as well-known as the blond actress.

Recently Style.com, as well as, Models.com named Melissa as one of the Ten New Faces from last season. Last year Patricia van der Vliet and Mirte Maas were in that top ten, so the Dutch models are going strong.

Melissa is taking her career very serious and has already moved to London. Let’s hope we’ll hear a lot more from this dazzling Dutch beauty in the future!

Dutch models: Patricia van der Vliet

Dutch models were well-represented at the catwalk this year. One of the ‘new faces’ we saw in many big shows was  Patricia van der Vliet. The blond girl popped up in shows from Prada, Balenciaga, Nina Ricci and Yves Saint Laurent. She even had the honor to open the Louis Vuitton show (the only time we saw her with black (afro) hair).

Patricia once participated in the Dutch tv-show Holland’s Next Top Model. Although she did not win, she ultimately made her way into the modelling business.

Her diverse appearances in shows of the largest brands in the world showed us how versatile Patricia is as a model. In some shows she was hardly recognizable.

Style.com already discussed Patricia as one of the ten new faces on the catwalk. Hopefully we will be seing a lot more of this girl. If you ask us, we already consider her as a Top Model.

Tess van Daelen

Paris Fashion Week ss2010 Impressions #15

Models on tour

Are modelagency’s cutting costs for transport?  Male models working in Milan during this fashionweek take their skateboard to move from one show to another. Peter Stigter  spotted them outside Bottega Veneta. Maybe it’s just the easiest way in a city where public transport it not at its best.

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