Pretty woman.
The sky above Zurich is translucent grey. Our location is an elegant cafe-bar, beside the river Limmat. There has been a power cut along the street. Swiss top model Nadine Strittmatter is unfazed. She will have an iced tea, she tells the apologetic waiter.
Professionally, Strittmatter has cultivated a sultry gaze; when I meet her, she smiles much more than I expected. She is interested to hear I am from England. "I love British men!" She laughs and admits to an obsession with Russell Brand: "He's in my yoga class, and he makes jokes all the time." Yoga classes in Los Angeles, with one of Britain's most notorious comedians? "It is a huge class that everyone can go to," she explains.
Beautiful projections
A willowy 1,83-metres tall, Strittmatter has model genes. There are those almond-shaped, blue eyes, the high cheekbones, and not a trace of makeup on her porcelain complexion--and that is before you get to her creative outfit. Who would have thought bright red pipe jeans with a little black jacket could look so darn good?
Still, she admits, her career in modelling happened accidentally. "My mum sent pictures of me in to Elite Model Look," she says. The 27-year-old came fifth in the Swiss competition ten years ago. Now, her international modelling portfolio includes shows for Victoria's Secret, Bally, Chanel, Christian Dior and Roberto Cavalli, editorials for Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and Annabelle, and advertising campaigns for Versus by Versace, La Perla and Wolford.
When she sees her picture everywhere, she explains it is like looking at a different person: "As a model, you are a projection." She speaks in scarcely more than a whisper; however, a decade in the business has taught this shy girl from Canton Aargau to glance confidently into the camera lens and to hold her body straight on the catwalk. "You have to be really fit," she says, at once dispelling the myth of starving, frail models. Strittmatter's regime includes yoga, horse riding and running.
Fashionable determination
Strittmatter joins the likes of Michelle Hunziker and Julia Saner, as one of very few Swiss models to have found success on an international level. "We don't need to leave [the country] really," she suggests and refers to Switzerland's financial stability and high living standards. "I know a lot of Swiss girls who tried [to make it in the modelling industry], and then didn't like it, because it wasn't a secure environment."
Launching a career involves attending...
Pour continuer la lecture
SOLLICITEZ VOTRE ESSAI