7

on the seventh day away from the new year let's look at 7 amazingly cool models who are really adding some dimension to the fashion industry and are among my many favorite models who i think deserve some kudos.
? me

in no particular order...

coco rocha- i love her looks and her personality. she's fierce on and off the runway, shoots fantastic editorials and makes the cutest little videos on style.com. and guess what? she has a website where you can find out even more about her. many know her as the model who irish danced at a jean paul gaultier show, but she's much more than that. i think that if we were ever to have another group of supermodels like the ones from the 90s (cindy, linda, naomi, claudia) coco rocha would be one of them. she's an unconventional beauty, she's beautiful in a way i don't see much. i can see her beauty inside and out, she purely enjoys her job and seems like a decent person, not someone hung up on her looks or amazing success.

jourdan dunn- in britain she's model of the year, she was the the first black woman to walk prada in 10 YEARS (ten years too long i say...and the one who walked ten years ago was naomi campbell), she's spoken out about the lack of diversity on the runway and in editorials, she's beautiful and i love her editorials and the way she sashays down the runway. she reminds me of a young gazelle, huge eyes, long limbs and unimaginably graceful movements. she's just been on the scene for a few years (maybe even just a year?) and she's already casting people under her spell. i expect to see so much more of jourdan in 2009.

georgia frost- i've loved georgia frost for some time now. i've only seen her in editorial, and don't remember ever seeing her on runway. i've loved every editorial she's done because of her experimental poses and the way she can tell a story with only the slight variation of the positioning of her limbs. it takes a lot to be a model, and only a few people can really master the job. even though frost doesn't seem to be widely recognized it is apparent to me that she is a bonafide model with lots of talent. i want to see more of her!

lakshmi menon- she is such a hottie. we barely see any models representing india, sri lanka, the middle east, or any oriental countries for that matter and i am happy that menon has made such a big splash in the fashion world by walking for such names as zac posen, hermes, givenchy (she was even in the givenchy ad campaigns!), etc. i recently read an interview about her and she seems like a very intelligent young woman, and while she is beautiful and smart she's incredibly laid back and just taking life in stride. she didn't pursue modeling rabidly but she was obviously destined to be a model and is dang good at it. as with georgia frost and jourdan dunn i want to see much more of her. what i love most about her is her presence on the runway and the way an image of her seems to jump off of the magazine pages.

lara stone- is too sexy for her shirt...so she often poses topless. but there's so much more to lara than her chest. she's a great model. i love her stare, the gap in her teeth, the way she works with other models in editorials (she never looks uncomfortable in images--she always holds her own)...and so does carine roitfeld. ms. roitfeld loves her so much that she's dedicating an entire VOGUE PARIS issue to lara. i can't wait to see what comes out of it.

liu wen- i first became aware of liu during the last fashion week for spring 2009. she walked a few shoes, i most remember her for pollini and dsquared. she has such an amazing smile, it brightens up her entire face and the runway. and when she's not smiling she looks just as good. there definitely needs to be more diversity on the runway and i hope to see liu wen diversifying it up with the best of 'em. there are asian models out there, people just have to be willing to cast them. with a smile like liu's though, i think it's impossible to not get cast.

natasha poly- is one of the greats. i think she should have the title of supermodel. she is so amazingly and unbelievably versatile. she's beautiful, but she knows how to play down her beauty when necessary. she knows how to adapt to the mood of a collection on the runway and to the set in editorials. one of my favorite images of her are from the nina ricci fall 2008 ad campaigns. they are so whimsical and awe inducing...i could stare at them for quite a while and not get bored. she also shared space with lakshmi menon for givenchy ad campaigns and looked really punky, gothy and scary. it just shows you that if you're truly a model you can embody anything.

i hope you enjoyed my list...but then again how could you not--it was perfect. :)