Modeling Journey

Born on 4th December 1987, Dree Hemingway signed with Ford Models at the age of 14. Making her editorial debut in August 2004, she appeared in Teen Vogue, photographed by Alex Hoemer. Four years later, Hemingway made the move from Ford to Elite Models, with the signing creating media interest. Seminal fashion website www.models.com featured Dree as a rising star of the industry.

But Dree’s true breakthrough moment didn’t emerge until March 2009 when she was featured in both Interview and American Vogue. Her family connection (Dree is the great-granddaughter of literary icon Ernest Hemingway) may have sparked some initial interest, but it was no guarantee of quick – or easy – success. From her first agency signing in 2004, it took Dree five years to make it on an international level.

In March 2009, she debuted at the A/W Givenchy show as an exclusive. Just as it would do for Joan Smalls a year later, the Givenchy booking gave Dree’s career an instant boost. The domino effect on Hemingway’s career was striking. In April, she appeared in editorials for W and French Vogue; German Vogue in May; British Vogue in July and American Vogue in August.

Dree’s star factor rose further when her personal style was profiled in Russia’s Harper’s Bazaar and Teen Vogue. As Kate Moss has shown us, having a sense of personal style not only shows the fashion industry that you have good instincts, but also shows you’re paying attention. Being surrounded by the world’s most accomplished photographers and stylists, and not soaking up that creativity would suggest a model who’s not into fashion as much as they should be. The models that are at the top of their game almost are invariably models who love fashion. They have succeeded because that love makes the tough parts of modelling (the travel, long hours) that much easier to bear.

Hemingway’s glorious start to 2009 just kept rolling as she was signed on to appear in the Gucci Autumn / Winter campaign. Gucci does everything on a grander scale, and this campaign had everyone from Natasha Poly, Anja Rubik, Jamie Bochert, to Jacquetta Wheeler and Myf Shepherd. Dree joined fellow newbie Abbey Lee Kershaw to form an unforgettable campaign. Dark, edgy and sexy, it was the perfect summation of everything designer Tom Ford had done to refresh the brand.

Dree’s appearance in this blockbuster of a campaign ensured that her profile was unmissable. Hemingway opened the S/S 2010 show for Topshop, also walking for Karl Lagerfeld, Giles, Chanel, Twenty8Twelve and Rue du Mail.

The designers who signed Hemingway were an indication of how Dree’s own style was influencing the kind of work she was getting. Finishing off 2009 with editorial and cover work for V Man, i-D and Revue de Modes, All three are ultra high-fashion, left-field publications. This section of the fashion press is usually the hardest to impress, and Dree had already won them over.

In 2010, Dree’s career stepped up another notch when it was announced that she would be appearing in campaigns for Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianfranco Ferre and Valentino. This resulted in three very different campaigns for Dree to master. Gaultier went with military chic, Valentino required Dree to headline in black lace and pink hair and Ferre asked for classic Italian feminine. Injecting her own brand of cool into every shot, she lifts each campaign. Valentino goes from red-carpet to after-party and Gaultier has a layer of smouldering sex appeal added to its usual sense of avant-garde fun.

But Dree’s ability to work an editorial was also put to the test, with Hemingway appearing in nearly 20 during the course of the year. 2010 started off with a prestigious signing with French Vogue, appearing in a season preview. Dree transforms into a Parisian lady of leisure along with Lara Stone and Freja Beha, their headscarves and sunglasses off-set by quirky prints from Miu Miu. The key to getting a group shot is working together, but not fading into the background. Working with Stone and Beha, Hemingway fits in seamlessly.

Dree’s success in Europe was compounded by her Autumn / Winter runway season in February, walking for Isabel Marant, Karl Lagerfeld, MaxMara and Vivienne Westwood. For someone with a heritage that’s resolutely all-American, Dree has done a sterling job in appealing to designers from across the globe.

This worldwide appeal saw Dree land her first editorial for Chinese Vogue in July. Shot by Ellen von Unwerth, the beauty piece chronicled Dree’s ability to handle those demanding close-ups. Having been seen in edgy, complex shoots, even when modelling a high-end beauty look, Hemingway projected a softness that hinted at further versatility.

The next high point of 2010, with Dree racking up editorial-duty with magazines from every continent, was in November when she landed three in one month: French, British and Italian Vogue.

Her first shoot for Italian Vogue was named ‘Glitter’, a fun look at theatricality with Dree modelling the Philip Treacy lobster headpiece made famous by Lady Gaga. Wearing fashion that verged on costume, Dree’s challenge was to push through the extravagant designs and make the experience of wearing them believable. The shoot was pure Italian Vogue; couture worn like art.

Her November shoot with British Vogue, however, took Hemingway back to her roots. ‘My Own Private Idaho’, partly a pun on Dree’s place of birth, showed the model in a series of photos that explored the solitary, outdoorsy American that is part and parcel of the country’s cultural heritage. The resulting editorial draws inescapable parallels with her own background, and Dree’s performance creates a set of images that are haunting as they are moving.

This year looks set to be Dree’s busiest yet. Already appearing in S/S campaigns for Daks, Lanvin and Margaret Howell, Hemingway has proved herself to be a formidable presence on the campaign circuit. Featuring for Daks and Howell, she may not have been the most obvious choice for these British brands, but Dree performs in each ad like no-one else was ever in the running. Fashion is never purely skin-deep: if you don’t connect with what you’re wearing, it’s a fail on every level.

Dree’s latest venture has seen her appearing in a short film for a solo exhibit by artists Sofia and Mauro. Called ‘The Young Woman and the Sea’, the piece directly references Dree’s great-grandfather’s famous short story ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. Playing on the mythic themes of man versus nature, the film could well signal the future direction of Dree’s career. It may not be a case of putting pen to paper, but it’s clear that Dree’s gift to the modelling industry is story-telling. Her silent performance in the short film brilliantly showcases what she’s learnt from the world of modelling, but also an inherited sense of narrative.

As we move into an age of innovation, first the interactive advert from Burberry and the growing popularity of campaign videos, there is some debate over whether traditional print media has anything left to offer to the fashion industry. After all, can a static image really be any match for developing technology?

The crossroads that fashion finds itself in is being mirrored in many other industries. The worlds of film, fiction and home entertainment are also in a state of flux. Whether you go for 3-D or 2-D, paperback or Kindle, what’s emerging is a two-tier system of technology and tradition. While in some industries, progress is essential, in fashion the addition of technology is more a case of inclusion rather than survival of the fittest.

What fashion’s doing is bringing the best of tradition and technology together to make the most of both, rather than aggressively pushing out one in favour of the other. As an approach to embracing new technologies, it’s revolutionary.

Despite the rapid growth of technology, the classic editorial isn’t losing any of its appeal. Websites that catalogue editorials such as www.fashiongonerogue.com are proving immensely popular, making access to the work of every fashion magazine immediate and democratic.

The reason for the non-demise of the editorial boils down to fashion’s love affair with creating moments. The editorial represents the most permanent means of doing so – a runway show lasts mere minutes and a campaign’s shelf-life is only good for six months. But with an editorial, the moment is there, forever.

Where the editorial continues its hold on our imagination is when it creates moments that both thrill and inspire. To do that, the editorial needs a model who understands how to access those emotions and piece together a narrative. This skill is something that is far beyond the scope of new technologies, and luckily for models, it always will be. Dree’s success – on every platform – indicates that the future of modelling isn’t about innovation, it’s telling stories.

HELEN TOPE

source: fashionising

New York Magazine

Born in Norway on the 15th of September 1986, Iselin Steiro began her career when she was scouted whilst Xmas shopping in London.

Discovered in 1999, Steiro debuted at Fashion Week in September 2003, walking for Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and Prada. Her career though did not take off properly until 2005. Many models find themselves suddenly in favour when fashions change, and Iselin’s rise is a perfect example of case in point.

Steiro’s strong features meant that she would have to sit out the decade’s brief infatuation with chocolate-box, Pre-Raphaelite beauty. Models like Lily Cole and Gemma Ward excelled during this time, but girls like Steiro – still beautiful, but a little off-centre – had to wait their turn.

Iselin’s moment came in February 2005, when she became the face of the season. Picked by designers Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Chloe, Louis Vuitton, Missoni, Proenza Schouler and Rochas to appear in their runway shows, Steiro’s off-beat appeal came into its own.

Editorials for W and Harper’s Bazaar followed, plus campaigns for Benetton, Jill Stuart and Hugo Boss. But it wasn’t until autumn that Iselin’s ability to do quirky glamour really paid off. Photographed by Steven Klein, she got a major contract with D&G, working alongside Hye Park and Vlada Roslyakova. Followed by an Autumn / Winter campaign for Roberto Cavalli, Iselin’s strengths as a model were finally being realised.

In February 2006, Iselin took the opening spot at the Calvin Klein show. This honour, previously taken by Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova for the past seven shows, was nothing short of a changing of the guard. Fashion’s aesthetic was visibly starting to shift from ultra-feminine shapes and colours, to a darker, altogether more avant-garde mood.

With more challenging silhouettes being touted as the norm, the industry needed models to match. Iselin’s brief was to make these new shapes look wearable. In 2006, tulip skirts and ankle-length cigarette pants were deemed to be at fashion’s absolute edge of wearability: only the bravest gave them a go. Four years on, we think of them as modern essentials.

Iselin’s status as the newest high-fashion favourite soared. She was chosen to be the face of Gucci in their 85th anniversary campaign and appeared in the Balenciaga Spring / Summer ad with Hilary Rhoda. In August, Iselin finally landed the cover of Italian Vogue. Shot by Steven Meisel, it was an affirmation from the very heart of the industry.

As fashion moved towards more urbanised looks with tough-girl details like exposed zips, leather and lashings of black, Iselin’s bookings increased. She shot the A/W campaign for Gucci (shot by Craig McDean); closed the September show for Gucci in Milan and picked up an editorial with Meisel for Italian Vogue.

2007 saw Iselin’s career pick up pace with a cover of Elle in March and a confirmation early in the year that Steiro had been chosen to be the new face of Valentino. Iselin’s ability to do arch-elegance, glamour with a slant, made her the first choice for designers across the globe. In addition to signing contracts with TSE and Blumarine, Steiro scored editorials with French, Italian and American Vogue. Her career was at an absolute high. It was at this point that Iselin made the decision to walk away from it all.

At the height of her career, Iselin made the decision to temporarily shelve modelling and return to education, enrolling at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. After completing her studies, Steiro returned to the fashion industry in April 2008, and her return was heralded by none other than French Vogue.

During Steiro’s time away, the fashion perspective had shifted even more in her favour. The loose, free-flowing shapes still being shown had disappeared entirely, making way for body-conscious, editorial – even sculptural – shapes, not just in couture, but now a regular feature of ready-to-wear. These bold style statements needed a model that could pull them off and not get lost in the most avant-garde designs. Steiro’s return could not have been better-timed.

Signed up for autumn campaigns for Mulberry and Missoni, Iselin made a triumphant return to the runway in September, walking for Chanel, Balenciaga, Givenchy and Stella McCartney.

In 2009, Iselin became the face of Lanvin. The campaign shoot, featuring Iselin in a series of draped dresses, was the brainchild of Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz. The use of intricate pleats and folds in Lanvin’s designs would usually be more of a couture feature, but Elbaz was introducing a couture sensibility to ready-to-wear garments. Detail was the way forward, and Steiro’s performance as Lanvin’s hedonistic muse, pushed the message even harder. She made the dresses look young and directional but without being daunting. It was lustworthy fashion at its best, and with Iselin’s help, Lanvin became the label of choice for Young Hollywood, joining Marc Jacobs and Chanel as red-carpet must haves.

The following year, Iselin got a highly-coveted place in the 2010 Balenciaga campaign. Like Lanvin, this label was rediscovered when its newly-hired creative director Nicolas Ghesquière utilised his futuristic vision to make Balenciaga a byword for cutting-edge chic. Turning Balenciaga into a fashion house that not only champions trends, but kick-starts them, Iselin was brought in to take part in their Spring / Summer campaign with modelling newcomers Mirte Maas, Lisanne de Jong and Patricia van der Vliet.

True to form, the campaign was a quirky play on perspective and proportion that made for an instant standout image. Defiantly different, Steven Meisel’s Photoshop-collage was a hit. The advert became a major talking point, putting Balenciaga (and its models) front and centre of that season’s crop of campaigns.

Shooting back-to-back editorials for Italian Vogue in January and February, Iselin’s bookings for show season continued to dazzle and surprise. This wasn’t a case of a former top-model being given her dues; this was a model being booked by virtue of her own merits. In addition to walking for brands like Chloe and Hermes, Steiro was asked to appear on the runway for youth-led labels like Miu Miu and The Row. The fact that Iselin is still being requested for shows that would ordinarily be populated by models nearly 10 years her junior, is in direct opposition to the theory that fashion doesn’t value longevity; Steiro’s career is ample evidence to the contrary. When a model is this great, they get to stick around.

It should be no surprise that Iselin has such an avid interest in architecture: when a model has the right angles and proportions, the result is both contemporary and timeless, and that’s where Steiro fits in. She is both of-the-moment and classic because she is the kind of model that outstrips fads or trends. Iselin continues to work in today’s fashion climate as she did back in 2003 because she arrives as a blank canvas, a super-structure onto which designers, photographer and stylists can project their ideas.

Steiro brings an intelligence that understands fashion on a level that has very little to do with collating the most magazine covers or scoring column inches. Now fashion is leaning towards a pared-back, stripped-down aesthetic, Iselin will continue to do well because she is exactly the sort of model that’s required right now: no ego, no entourage, just an ability to get on with the assignment.

Iselin’s true appeal lies in her off-centre beauty that shifts and changes to fashion’s whim. Like her friend, fellow model Anna Jagodzinska, her rough-edged beauty can dial up the glamour when required, but there’s a quirky slant to that glamour that makes you look twice, and that’s exactly what you want for a big-budget, high-stakes campaign.

The forerunner for models like Hannah Holman and Siri Tollerod, Iselin’s career is the blueprint for models entering the industry. It’s no longer enough to just love fashion. If you want to be relevant, and stay that way, ignore the call of the limelight. It’s time to look at modelling from an entirely fresh perspective.

HELEN TOPE

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