Modeling Journey

Today I discovered an incredibly exciting modelling prospect in the guise of Silent Model's newest recruit Zoi Mantakanis. Hailing from Karlskrona in Sweden, seventeen year old Mantzakanis owes her extraordinary dark, brooding looks to her Greek and Swedish lineage. Standing at 175 cm, Mantzakanis' angelic face and voluptuous pout conjures up images of iconic models Brooke Shields and Gia Carangi. The lethal combination of Mantakanis' va-va-voom physique and her pretty baby face is simply mesmerising and marketable. I am particularly enthused about Mantzakanis because even though her face looks vaguely familiar, her looks are distinctly individual and unlike any other model that I have seen in recent times. It will be interesting to see if casting directors will be transfixed by Mantzakanis in the lead up to the Spring/Summer collections in September.

The late Francesco Scavullo's name is synonymous with the seductive, head to toe all out glamour that was represented by the quintessential Cosmo girl. Over a thirty year period beginning in 1965, Scavullo captured the essence of the Cosmo girl as a sensuous, confident and sexually liberated woman. During this period, Scavullo together with his long time companion and stylist Sean M. Byrnes, was responsible for the selection of the model, the cleavage revealing outfits, make up and hairstyles that would eventually appear on the cover. Every model wanted to be a Cosmo girl and the Cosmopolitan cover was accompanied by a model profile and interview which provided  an insight into the personality and life of the cover model. Scavullo's stable of beauties included Lauren Hutton, Naomi Sims, Brooke Shields, Gia Carangi, Janice Dickinson and Christie Brinkley. I have many Cosmopolitan covers in my collection and the following selection is a chronicle of some of the most influential models of our time.