Modeling Journey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HELEN TOPE

Born in Belgium on the 8th of October 1988, Hanne Gaby Odiele was spotted at a rock festival when she was 17 years old. Hanne’s modelling career took off when she signed to Supreme Management agency in 2005: in September that same year, she made her runway debut, walking for designers such as Thakoon, Rodarte and Marc Jacobs.

2006 also started well with editorials in Italian and British Vogue, plus campaigns for Topshop and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti, but Hanne’s blossoming career flatlined in December 2006, when she involved in a serious car accident in New York. Odiele was knocked down by a car running through a red light, and the impact of the crash was so severe, that Hanne ended up with two broken legs, plus other fractures. Hanne’s doctors advised her that due to the severity of her injuries, recovery would take at least a year.

Hanne was left bedridden for several months and had to endure several surgeries and months of intense physical therapy. But just 10 months after the accident, Hanne made a triumphant return to the runway, turning in appearances for Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Paul & Joe, Prada, Rick Owens and Vera Wang.

It was a personal victory for Odiele, and her return to modelling was lauded by designers and editors: magazine Marie Claire named her one of their Top Ten New Faces, and Hanne became the face of Vera Wang, even modelling some of the designer’s clothes on a special edition of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. 2007 ended triumphantly with an editorial in Italian Vogue, proving that the promise of Odiele’s early career was no fluke: Hanne was in it for the long haul.

Hanne’s star continued to rise in 2008, with the announcement that she would join forces with Maryna Linchuk in a campaign for Mulberry, photographed by Steven Meisel.

February saw Odiele put in appearances for the Autumn / Winter show season including Balenciaga, Chloe, Marios Schwab, Jonathan Saunders, Richard Nicoll and Proenza Schouler. Hanne’s affiliation with fashion’s bright young things was a signal to everyone watching that her potential was something authentic, and not to be underestimated.

Odiele also began landing major campaigns and cover-space, signing a contract with DKNY Jeans and making the Spring / Summer edition of French fashion bible ‘Revue de Modes’.

In August, she scored a third editorial with Italian Vogue (this time shot by Richard Burbridge) and another outstanding runway season in September. Walking for the likes of Calvin Klein, Burberry, Dries Van Noten, Prada, Rebecca Taylor and Temperley, Hanne was starting to rise through the ranks, getting the attention of big brands too.

Hanne finished the year with editorials for 10 and Numero, and in 2009 she was announced as one of the faces of Balenciaga’s new campaign.

February’s show season saw Hanne scoop more honours, including opening shows for Christian Lacroix and Rue du Mail. She also walked for Alexander McQueen, Chloe, DKNY, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, Matthew Williamson, Prada, Thakoon and Valentino. To cement Hanne’s growing status, she landed the March cover of Italian Vogue, photographed by Steven Meisel.

In September, Hanne’s clutch of runway credits proved particularly telling. Walking for designers such as Alberta Ferretti, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Herve Leger, Louis Vuitton and Nina Ricci, Odiele had now graduated to old-school European labels and power-house US brands, such as Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors. No more a budding talent, Hanne was winning her fashion stripes.

October saw Hanne appearing in editorials for Dazed & Confused and Italian Vogue, and in December ’09 Hanne claimed a spot alongside names like Lara Stone, Natasha Poly and Gisele Bundchen, in the famous Twitter-inspired editorial in Italian Vogue.

The new decade promises to be a good one for Hanne, with an Alberta Ferretti campaign upping her profile even further. Posing alongside Kasia Struss, the advert is a frothy confection of ribbons and pleats, bringing the label front and centre for the next generation of high-fashion consumers. Every designer needs to find that next customer, and Ferretti’s youthful new direction is indicative of where fashion’s head is at.

Hanne’s youthful look plays right into fashion’s latest obsession with blondes, but Odiele’s niche (high-fashion-meets-cool) paired with her ability to be approachable on camera is translating into major kudos for Hanne, who has sealed her reputation modelling for high-street giants, Benetton, MAC and Topshop.

For brands like Topshop, striking a delicate balance between desirable and achievable fashion is crucial for its success. A 15-yr-old girl isn’t going to spend £40 on a dress if she isn’t convinced the dress is going to look as good on her as it does the model – or as near as damn it with the help of some clever styling.

This age group has its own spending power, and hiring the right model for a campaign can mean the difference between a good year and a great one. It’s one of the toughest age groups to please as teenagers are no longer intimidated by high-cachet labels and a campaign for H&M has to have the same production values as Prada, if it’s to convince teenagers to part with their cash.

With the success of magazines like Teen Vogue, this generation of teenagers are probably the most fashion literate to date, and their influence is starting to rub off on the entire industry. With the recent press attention on Christopher Kane’s revival of Versace’s diffusion label, Versus, the line between ‘young fashion’ and ‘women’s fashion’ is becoming increasingly blurred. Scan the stock of any e-boutique and try to guess which age bracket a Lanvin jacket is suitable for, or a Marc Jacobs sundress. It’s not as easy as it used to be.

No-one, regardless of what it says on their birth certificate, wants to be accused of dressing ‘old’, and the move towards trans-generational fashion: fashion for all, at any age, is something that Hanne is a part of. She’s just as comfortable modelling for Oscar de la Renta as she is for DKNY and that’s why she has continued to be so successful.

What makes Odiele special is her evergreen quality. To be relevant after several years on the circuit is no small achievement. Hanne has spent years working for diffusion labels like DKNY and Marc by Marc Jacobs, and only recently graduated to prestige labels like Valentino and Chanel. It’s all part of fashion’s game plan: make it young, make it cute; make it desirable.

But every model, no matter how successful, needs a back-up plan for when her career eventually comes to a close: Hanne has said that she wants to work as a stylist. Her sense of style has been well-documented on sites like http://www.whowhatwear.com/ and http://www.fashionising.com/ and she was even spotted by Scott Schuman, owner of the famous Sartorialist website. A brilliantly simple concept, the Sartorialist website (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) scouts cities across the world for stylish people. Schuman takes their picture, and uploads it onto the site. It’s a new technology version of the fashion scrapbook, documenting all the different facets of modern style. Schuman spotted Odiele, and asked to use her photo on the website, having no idea who she was. If you get the seal of approval from The Sartorialist, you must be doing something right.

This February, Hanne enjoyed her biggest show season yet: getting hired for 63 shows is a pretty powerful indication that fashion can’t get enough of this gutsy blonde. Walking for prestigious names like Chanel, Chloe, Marc Jacobs, Sonia Rykiel and Thakoon, Odiele’s full-to-bursting itinerary proves that second acts in fashion are possible.

Hanne has won over the fashion industry by being one of the most enthusiastic and hardest-working models in the business, and with her career in the ascent, Hanne’s name is about to get a whole lot more familiar.

Born on the 23rd November 1987, Polish Kasia Struss is a very contemporary vision of modern-day beauty.

Discovered by an agent in 2005, Kasia began working in 2006, debuting at Paris Fashion Week. She walked for Louis Vuitton and Prada’s sister label, Miu Miu.

Struss’ new look, conspicuous at a time where doll-like glamour was at its height, caught the interest of the press. In May 2007, http://www.style.com/ listed her as one of their Top 10 newcomers of the season, and she also appeared on influential website http://www.wwd.com/ as one of the new faces to watch.

In August 2007 she did her first editorial for Italian Vogue, photographed by Steven Meisel. Kasia was also booked for couture season, walking for Chanel, Givenchy, Roland Mouret and Valentino. She modelled for Aquascutum’s look-book and featured in the A/W campaign for Dolce & Gabbana.

A lot about a model’s direction within the industry can be determined by the runway work they are offered. In September 2007, and barely a year into her career, Kasia not only booked the following designers, but was asked to open their shows: PHI, TSE, Jil Sander, Balenciaga, Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti and Giambattista Valli. This was in addition to walking in shows for Chloe, Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Erdem and Giles. These names all represent very different states of opinion when it comes to fashion, but what they all have in common is that they are fashion’s taste-makers. The industry looks to them for the next big trend. The fact that all these designers chose Kasia to participate in their runway collections, indicates that she was already being considered a muse for fashion’s next generation.

In February 2008, Kasia experienced her biggest runway season to date, and was booked for 72 shows. This blockbuster season combined the best of avant-garde (like Jonathan Saunders and Preen) with more established labels (such as Alberta Ferretti, Gucci and Prada). It was self-evident that Kasia had now become a major presence on the international runway circuit.

During the recession, the one constant in fashion has been the allure of the runway. With so much at stake, fashion houses are investing a great deal of financial and creative energy into making great, memorable shows; the late Alexander McQueen trail-blazed this approach with events that verged on the theatrical. Designers are using technology to up their game, streaming their shows live on the internet, because runway remains the most potent way of advertising what their brand is all about, and hiring the right model can make all the difference.

Kasia’s unusual East-European features automatically make her a stand-out, but that’s the draw for designers. With Kasia on side, a brand immediately announces itself as brave, bold and forward-thinking. No matter how esteemed the history of a fashion house, no-one wants to think of their brand as being behind the times.

2009 brought more couture and editorial work, with Kasia walking in the Dior couture show in January and appearing in her 2nd Italian Vogue editorial in March. In July, she walked the couture shows for Givenchy, Chanel, Dior and Armani Prive. Struss also did a campaign shoot for Mulberry, photographed by Steven Meisel.

The shoot, which she worked with Irina Kulikova, was an ode to autumn. Posing in a leaf-covered forest, Kasia and Irina’s gloriously frizzy hair, combined with lashings of high-fashion attitude, elevated Mulberry’s transition from home-grown bag brand to major fashion player. It was the perfect campaign, as memorable as it was evocative.

The campaigns kept coming as Kasia was named one of the new Chloe girls. Working alongside models like Raquel Zimmermann, Kasia’s unique brand of beauty now stood shoulder to shoulder with the industry’s glamour puss-in-residence.

In December 2009, Kasia finally made the cover of Italian Vogue. Shot by Steven Meisel, Struss now completed the ultimate modelling milestone. In acting, an Oscar lets you know you’ve arrived, in fashion, it’s Vogue Italia. This seal of approval finished off an incredible year for Struss, who saw her standing in the industry go from super-edgy runway girl to mainstream big-budget campaigns for Mulberry and Chloe. It was an extraordinary year.

2010 promises to be equally unforgettable, with January bringing a busy couture season for Kasia, walking shows for Armani Prive, Elie Saab, Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and Valentino.
This month, Kasia can be seen in the March editions of Vogue and Elle, appearing in the S/S ad campaign for Alberta Ferretti. Amid a confetti of ribbons and pleated tulle, Kasia models alongside newcomers Constance Jablonski and Hanne Gaby Odiele.

There has been considerable attention lavished on this season’s big-name campaigns. Usually a litmus test of which models are at the top of everybody’s must-hire list, this season, the ads themselves are getting the spotlight. Balenciaga has fun with Photoshop, Chloe borrows a page from Ralph Lauren and Lanvin goes even further with Jamie Bochert’s face obscured from the camera altogether.

It is no surprise that fashion has had to get more creative to keep our attention. The emphasis on products is essential to keep many labels afloat, and the choice to hire established faces, but not necessarily ones that are household names, is a deliberate one. Costs are lowered, and the product and label take centre stage.

Girls like Kasia really do well in this kind of climate. Her fashion pedigree is firmly established, but she does not distract attention away from the product she is meant to be selling. This trend for faceless fashion is something new and sparking much debate. In the latest Prada advert, it is somewhat impossible to miss the bag: it takes up virtually the entire page.

Far from being bad news for models, it proves just how essential that personal contact is for the consumer. After all, if aspiration wasn’t a contributory factor in buying the latest must-have bag, no label would bother using models at all - a mannequin would do. But they don’t and that is because we still need that relatable aspect. If we don’t aspire to look like the girl on the ad, cover or runway, then fashion simply hasn’t done its job.

Kasia Struss has excelled during a tough time for the industry because her look is all about a clean, modern aesthetic. Taking her lead from Nineties models like Stella Tennant and Audrey Marnay, girls like Struss are dominating the catwalk by virtue of their non-conventional beauty.

There will always be a place in fashion for the girl who can pull off the glamourpuss look, but the good news for prospective models is that high-fashion’s tastes when it comes to beauty can vary wildly. Not being a typical beauty doesn’t mean your career’s a non-starter. Modelling is as much about inspiring the designer as the consumer, and editorial looks can help redefine the direction of where fashion is headed, and that in turn, can make you very popular indeed. Just ask Kate Moss.

Models like Kasia Struss will inform the future of fashion by being that bold mixture of feminine and masculine, hard and soft. Sex appeal and glamour will always be required but at the very frontier of fashion, those calling the shots want to work with Kasia.

Struss is centrally placed to enjoy the most exciting decade for fashion in nearly twenty years. Innovation, technical and creative, is what will drive fashion over the next 10 years, with our relationship with technology running through every collection, whether that takes the form of literal translation or a more subtle influence. A face that can deliver any aesthetic, and do so with credibility and authenticity, will not only influence the progress of high-fashion, but also what the next generation of models will look like.

Kasia is the best means we have of determining the face of fashion’s future. She is truly a 21st century girl.