Zen

Our latest up-and-comer shot to the model stratosphere last season with castings at Prada, Chanel (twice!), Hermès, Haider Ackermann, and Maison Martin Margiela. The Slavic beauty is just starting to make a splash in print, and we have no doubt that a bevy of photographers will be rushin' for the Russian this season. We caught up with Zen—an abbreviation of her actual name, Zenia Sevastyanova, not a self-proclamation—and learned all about her hopes, her hands, and her most embarrassing casting moment...

What's your favorite physical feature?
I don't have one. It's about overall balance and inner grace in a person. I do pay a lot of attention to hands though.

What's the strangest compliment you've received about your looks?
You're so attractive, you look like a boy.

What's the best advice you've gotten from another model?
Never be late.

When you're walking down the runway, what's going through your mind?
Storm on the inside, peace on the outside.

What's your diet during Fashion Week, and what do you eat immediately after?
Fish and greens, no carbs. Immediately after I eat something delicious, since it ends in Paris. Crepes with nutella and coconut.

If you weren't modeling, what would you be doing?
Same as now. Painting, drawing, making clothes or the opposite, I would be a journalist or a chemist, or pursue architecture.

What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you at a casting?
I had an eye twitch while getting a snapshot.

What's the best city to work in and why?
New York, for the creativity, the amount of talented people and never knowing what to expect.

What would you ask for if you were granted one wish?
I ask for wishes every day and they all came or will come true.

What's your dream job in modeling?
Balmain campaign. Somewhere like Bali, the Maldives or other exotic place.

• Posted May 21, 2012
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Lea T. Plots Her Return

Lea T. is back from gender reassignment surgery and ready to snatch her crown back from that northern interloper, Miss Universe Canada. In São Paulo over the weekend, the beguiling Brazilian native and Givenchy muse walked the runway alongside Isabeli Fontana and Caroline Ribeiro to help celebrate Elle Brazil’s 24th anniversary.

Plus, according to the blog Made in Brazil, Lea T. has plans on Fashion Rio and São Paulo Fashion Week, both of which will take place in the coming weeks. Suddenly, it seems like forever ago that she bravely debuted her bits in a nude photo shoot for French Vogue and locked lips with Kate Moss on the cover of Love.

• Posted May 15, 2012
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Kolfinna Kristofersdottir

Iceland, with its tongue-twisting names (remember Eyjafjallajökull?), is leaving us speechless once again. Kolfinna Kristofersdottir has been on every casting director's radar since her Marc Jacobs exclusive at the fall '12 shows, her first season. She then opened and closed Christopher Kane in London before killing it in Milan, walking for Prada, Versace, Fendi, Missoni, and Bottega Veneta.

Kolfinna's pixieish features have also earned her a few high-profile international Vogue castings, including April's Prom Night editorial in Vogue Italia, shot by Steven Meisel, and a shoot in Vogue Germany's May issue. A cross between Bjork and Karlie Kloss, she's clearly made to be seen. (Next)

• Posted May 15, 2012
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The Models of the Met

In case you haven’t heard, the Met Gala (or East Coast Oscars, as we like to say) is Monday night. Vogue.com is livestreaming the event for the first time, a move tailor-made for those anticipating which models will accompany which designers—and what they’ll be wearing.

With a Prada/Schiaparelli theme, most guests—particularly Anna Wintour and co-host Carey Mulligan—will certainly be clad in head-to-toe Prada. But we’re also expecting a wild, if not surreal, mix of red carpet looks, from shocking pink to printed pantsuits. If we’re lucky, maybe even a lampchop-shaped hat. It’ll be hard for the bevy of young designers to compete with Miuccia’s statement-making designs. It helps when you have a date like Karlie Kloss, who’ll be attending with (and towering over) Jason Wu.

Also keep a look out for Joan Smalls with Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing, who'd be crazy not to take the opportunity to show off his heavily embellished dresses for fall. Or Anja Rubik and Constance Jablonski, who'll be accompanying Anthony Vaccarello and Haider Ackermann, respectively. Erdem Moralioglu must be thrilled to be escorting supe-in-the-making Arizona Muse, while Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have gone the actress route, stepping out with Isabel Lucas, most recently cast in the new Terrence Malick film, Knight of Cups.

But if having the best date is a contest—and let’s face it, it might as well be—then the Americans are in the lead. Joseph Altuzarra is taking Lana Del Rey, while Alexander Wang scored Azealia Banks, who's slated to perform. The two songbirds had better choose their outfits carefully. If 2009's theme, The Model as Muse, taught us anything, it's that a supermodel in a micro-mini is hard to compete with.

• Posted May 07, 2012
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Nastya Kusakina

The Russian Federation is striking back this season with a new crop of unknowns dazzling casting directors. The largest country in the world has always had an advantage when it came to churning out heavy-hitters—Natalia Vodianova, Natasha Poly, Sasha Pivovarova—but it feels like it's been a Siberian winter since the last Slavic beauty rose to the top of the pack.

Enter Nastya Kusakina. The Bolshevik bombshell with husky-blue eyes may very well be the next Russian name you're struggling to pronounce. Her first runway season, fall 2012, earned her top spots at Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Maison Martin Margiela and, most notably, Raf Simons' final collection at Jil Sander. It's about time the Eastern Bloc made a comeback. (Women)

• Posted Apr 25, 2012
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Laura Kampman

Laura Kampman has had one of the most promising starts to a career that a newbie could ever ask for. While most models spend their days trekking from casting to casting, crossing their fingers for an exclusive, the Dutch dish has booked several in just two seasons, for Calvin Klein in New York and twice for Balenciaga in Paris. And in between: Marc Jacobs, Rodarte, Alexander Wang, Christopher Kane, Missoni, and Sonia Rykiel.

The Balenciaga casting led to a starring role in the house's spring 2012 campaign, where Kampman must have caught the eye of Steven Meisel, considering he shot her again for Vogue Italia's February issue. If that isn't a hell of a six months, we don't know what is. (New York)

• Posted Apr 10, 2012
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Marie Piovesan

Dime-a-dozen teenagers have and will always dominate the catwalk, but superstars like Amyeline Valade and Lakshmi Menon have changed the game for a new generation of 20-somethings breaking into high fashion.

Enter Marie Piovesan, the 26-year-old French newcomer who's already captured the attention of Paolo Roversi (Vogue Italia) and Craig McDean (Interview). The striking beauty also snagged a Céline campaign and took the coveted closing spot at Louis Vuitton's fall 2012 show, while opening for Rick Owens and walking for countless others. Age diversity, we never thought we'd see the day. (Marilyn)

• Posted Apr 02, 2012
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Vanessa Axente

The Prada exclusive is a title so coveted that it's practically made careers overnight. This season's opening spot went to Hungarian head-turner Vanessa Axente, handpicked by Prada's new casting director, Ashley Brokaw. The classic beauty has been working in the Japanese and Singapore markets since she was 14, and has already nabbed a cover of Harper's Bazaar Singapore. But a seal of approval from Miuccia herself propelled the starlet—in her debut show season, no less—to additional castings at Givenchy, YSL, Dior, Alexander McQueen, Celine, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, Dries Van Noten, and Valentino. Something tells us a campaign can't be far behind. (DNA)

• Posted Mar 22, 2012
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Kel Markey

Casting directors stake their salaries on finding the freshest faces for their clients, and this season fortune has smiled on Kel Markey. The Gainesville, Florida, native tore through Fashion Month like a hurricane, booking influential castings like Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Prada, Céline, Balenciaga, and Yves Saint Laurent. With all the masculine silhouettes coming up for fall, we forecast a busy year for the androgynous beauty. (Supreme)

• Posted Mar 15, 2012
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Karlie Kloss Finally Shows Up In Paris

Even in the sensational, electric world of modeling, it came as a shock when Karlie Kloss abruptly canceled all of her New York runway appearances just days before Fashion Week began, tweeting a "big opportunity" and "game-changer" as the reason. Just as baffling, she was then a no-show at the London and Milan collections. Prada without Karlie? Impossible!

She returned to dominate the runways of Paris, walking in no fewer than 15 shows, starting with rising-star Anthony Vaccarello and including all-important Lanvin. Of those 15, she opened four and closed another four. Still, the biggest question in all of modeling remains (besides Katy Perry having possibly hooked up with Baptiste Giabiconi—Karl Lagerfeld's Baptiste): What was the big opportunity? Minds are inquiring if a film role beckoned. Only time will tell.

• Posted Mar 10, 2012
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