Interview, Part II
You're 24, you're famous, you live in the heart of Manhattan. Do you remember the day when you realised that you achieved a success?
Anja: I remember and it wasn't after my first show. My agency sent me for a photoshooting to Paris. We were making an editorial for a German's Vogue ad campaign. Somebody called me in the morning saying that I can't forget about a casting for Chloe after the shooting. "All right, all right"- I said and immediately forgot about it. I came back to hotel after the photoshooting, I was going to take a bath and rest. Then I remembered that I should have been in another place. So when I came to the casting, I was breathless and the staff was relaxed, they all thought they had finised their work. When a photographer started taking me photos, everybody was joking and bantering. The next day I found out that I was chosed for that campaign. It was the most important day of my career, but you see that not much depended on me.
Do you think you're lucky?
Anja: I guess so. Since I remember I dreamed about becoming a model. I was excited while watching George Michael's "Too funky" and "Freedom". I knew these songs by heart. Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell were goddesses for me. I was talking about it so often that my mother sent my picture to "Uroda" which organised a recruitment for models with D'Vision agency. They liked my picture very much and as a 15-years old girl I went to do fashion shows in Milan. I think that's the luck.
Were you afraid of coming out to a catwalk?
Anja: No. I just knew I would be fine since I started. It was just hard to get used to these terribly high shoes. My mum was cheering me up during the first shows. 6 months later I was invited to Paris for a month and I went alone. I had a lot of great time, but I've always been adapting to new cases (?) very easily. We travelled a lot when I was little. When I was 4, we went to Greece. Then my father, who is a vet, was offered a job in Canada. After that we went to South Africa for four years. That's where I learnt English. Because of my parents I've always had that feeling that the World was standing wide open for me. They also learnt me responsibility. They trusted me and let me do everything. I didn't want to fail, so I never abused the freedom they gave me.