She looks like the girl who has it all, but supermodel Natalia Vodianova is still haunted by the poverty of her early life. Now she plans to build 500 playgrounds in her native Russia.
Although it’s 12 years since she left Russia, Natalia Vodianova still gets homesick, especially when she hears the language. “It’s odd because I even think in English now – though I sometimes dream in Russian, depending on who’s in the dream and what’s going on. But Russia has made me who I am: romantic, generous and a little melancholic.”
The 27-year-old model grew up in the grimly industrial city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, in the sort of poverty that saw her single mother hold down four jobs while Vodianova raised her two sisters, one of whom, Oksana, has cerebral palsy. She was spotted at 15 by a model scout and taught herself English in just three months. She moved to Paris at 17, and by 22 she was a British Vogue cover star, married to property magnate Justin Portman and happily settled in the UK with their first-born, Lucas (who’s since been joined by siblings Neva and Viktor). At this point, when most of us would have settled back to enjoy life’s good fortune, Vodianova set up her own charity.
Unlike celebrities who blunder good-naturedly into complex political situations or try to solve global warming with a charity single, Vodianova’s Naked Heart Foundation has a simple and personal goal. Founded in response to the tragic Beslan school siege in 2004, the charity provides playgrounds for Russian children: 39 have been built so far, and the target is 500. “I see the importance of play in my own children and the lack of it in me,” Vodianova says. She estimates that, due to her family situation, her own childhood ended when she was six. “I would have loved somewhere to go when I was a little girl, somewhere I felt secure and that made me feel like a child. We adults have worries, but we forget that the little ones have them, too.”
The model tells why she loves brogues and wants thicker hair.
How does being a model affect your style?
Being a model created my style. I wasn’t aware of fashion before I started working, so my inspiration comes from the clothes I’ve worn and people I’ve met.Which would you say has been your most seminal fashion campaign?
All my images for Calvin Klein: I have worked with them for so long that this relationship has come to define my career. I don’t think too much about it, though, just as I don’t let seeing my face on billboards daunt me.What is your biggest fashion irritation?
There is a strange imbalance in attitudes to fashion: people either take it too seriously or fail to acknowledge its importance. Clothes define who you are but they shouldn’t take over your life.
Natalia Vodianova reckons she spends twice as much time working on her Naked Heart Foundation as she does on her modeling, but she couldn’t do one without the other. “I come from nothing, and in going back and helping others, I can show people in need that this world of beauty and glamour is not so far away from them,” she says. The foundation has so far placed 39 playgrounds in Russian cities, the last in Biisk, in the Altai region, where 3,000 people turned out for the opening. “The further out you go, the more misery you see,” says Natalia, “but the more incredible souls you meet.”
Natalia appreciated the therapeutic value of play from her own deprived childhood. “Except,” she says, “I was playing in basements, running in the street unsupervised…” Her parks offer secure facilities for kids, and contracts with local governments guarantee they’re free to all. And despite having to deal with corruption (two instances of people charging to use the parks) and a local indifference to philanthropy, she feels the tide is slowly but surely turning in its favor. Events like the Love Ball, to be held during London fashion week, certainly help. Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, is among the performers (Lily Allen will be there, too) because he and his song “Where Do the Children Play?” have always inspired her. Hopefully he can also inspire others to contribute the hoped-for million pounds that will build four more parks, too.
Source: Style.com.
There was a mix of rising stars and seasoned favorites at the shows Saturday. After two seasons without staging a proper runway show, Peter Som selected Lisanne de Jong to open. Jacquelyn Jablonski continued to score yet another opening look, this time for Ohne Titel, with Estonian model Karmen Pedaru closing. Power stomper Natasha Poly picked up her first (of many to come, we’re sure) closing slot this week for Altuzarra. But the model who stood out the most was Natalia Vodianova, who made a special runway appearance when she opened and closed for Alexander Wang’s tightly cast show. And when a supermodel like Natalia hits the runway, rookies had better take a step back.
Source: NY Mag.
Gallery Links
Campaigns > 2010 > Stella McCartney S/S
STELLA’S SPOTS: Stella McCartney has put an old pal at the center of her spring ad campaign: Lucky, the pet dalmatian her family had when she was growing up. The black-and-white image of Lucky — shot by Linda McCartney in 1976 — serves as the backdrop to the ads, which feature Natalia Vodianova. The campaign, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, was styled by McCartney and the art direction was done in house.
“I love the way it’s very graphic and soft at the same time, due to its double exposure,” said McCartney of her mother’s photo, which is entitled “Lucky, Sussex, 1976.” As for her choice of Mert and Marcus, McCartney told WWD: “I have known Marcus since I was a teenager and Mert from when they first met, but we never had the chance to work together. I wanted to capture their high-glamour approach over my mum’s low-maintenance way of working.”
She said the campaign images are “fashion meets reportage, mixing color, and black-and-white. A family animal with an outside atmosphere meets studio lights, camera, action! Opposites meeting in one image, illustrating the masculine and feminine sides of the Stella McCartney brand,” she said.
The ads will break in the March issues in the British, French and Italian editions of Vogue as well as in V and Pop.
Source: WWD.
Gallery Links
Photoshoots > Set 015
The night before I met Natalia Vodianova, a snowstorm descended on south-east England. The Russian supermodel (‘SuperNova’, as Mario Testino calls her) was on her way back to her house in Sussex from a party in London when her car got stuck in the snow. Rolls- Royces may be the height of luxury, but it seems they are not suited to icy country roads. Luckily, her driver’s house was not far. ‘We couldn’t go forward or backward or anywhere. I walked to his house in my Christian Louboutin heels.’ You must be used to extreme weather conditions, I suggest. She fixes me with her pale aquamarine eyes and shakes her head. ‘It was a long time ago,’ she says.
Vodianova was born 27 years ago in the industrial motor-building city of Nizhny Novgorod, formerly known as Gorky, the fourth largest in Russia. Between November and March, there is almost permanent snow cover. But, as she says, it is more than 10years since she left the city to work as a model in Paris. She looks like a teenager and it is hard to believe that she is old enough for anything to have been a long time ago. But it has been quite a journey from a childhood of poverty to the idyllic converted water mill in the rolling countryside she shares with her husband, Justin Portman, the land-owning half-brother of the 10th Viscount Portman, and their three children.
The Supermodel-Making-It-In-Hollywood crown may have belonged to Lily Cole in 2009, thanks to her starring role in The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, but in 2010 we predict that it’ll be stolen by an equally high profile newcomer: Natalia Vodianova.
According to web whispers, the Russian catwalker is the face of what looks like a fully CGI-ed Medusa in the eagerly-anticipated remake of the 1981 epic Clash Of The Titans, which stars Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Gemma Arterton and is set to open in the UK on 26 March.
Despite starring in Roman Coppola’s 2001 film CQ and last year’s Probka, which was directed by Alexander Kott, the film would be Natalia’s first shot at a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster.
Apparently, director Louis Leterrier wanted to reference Medusa’s mythical beauty before she was turned into a snake-headed monster as a punishment doled out by Aphrodite, and decided that Natalia had the superlative look of today. Her involvement is so minimal, however, she’s so far not officially credited, and the production notes are yet to be signed off.
If it really is her, La Vod’s as fierce as a mythical goddess as she is on a runway judging by this extended trailer. See her in all her gory glory at 1:44 (but blink and you’ll miss it).
Source: Handbag.com.
