The Star Online.....Just Daria
By LEE TSE LING
Daria Werbowy: ‘It is our appearance that is judged, and without a strong mental outlook, one does not last.’
WHEN you are so very famous, everyone is on a first name basis with you. Isn’t that right, Claudia, Naomi and Linda? And now the latest supermodel to emerge, Daria Werbowy.
Everyone wants a piece of her, from designers, to the media, to the opposite sex. Donnatella Versace selected Daria, along with fellow one-namers Christy and Kate, and models Carolyn Murphy and Angela Lindvall for her Autumn/Winter 2006 advertising campaign.
Time magazine saw it fit for her to grace the cover of their
Style & Design spring issue. AskMen.com declares her to be “one of the best reasons to flip through our girlfriends’ fashion magazines.
Which ones? Take your pick from Canada’s
Elle Quebec and
Flare,
Numero, Japanese, Greek and Italian
Vogue (she appeared on their cover an astonishing six times in 2003) and many more. She is currently one of the highest paid models in the world, according to London’s
Daily Telegraph.
Flare is calling her the
supe du jour. And most recently she’s landed the coveted role of Lancôme spokesmodel. So, who needs a last name, when Karl Lagerfield, the Maestro himself, has handed you the laurel of “
the girl of the moment”?
Daria is often touted as the forerunner of the iconic supermodel comeback, without any sub-model behaviour following in her wake. No diva delinquency for her, no
prima donna posturing.
Daria is your typical girl-next-door, whose horizons aren’t fame and fortune, but to achieve her dreams of going to art school and sailing around the world.
Apparently she’s your typical girl-next-door and remarkably sweet. How she manages to keep this up – in 2003 alone she appeared in 30 runway shows (from Anna Sui to Zac Posen) – is mind-boggling.
But trawling through magazines, there are testimonials from the industry which confirm this. Trawling through the archives of
www.style.com there is backstage evidence too: Daria goofing around with model buddies Gemma Ward, Caroline Winberg or Erin Wasson, Daria pulling monkey faces for the cameras. In most of the shots, she’s the one with the widest grin.
Maybe it’s because she knows she’s not doing this for keeps.
W magazine reported that she intends to leave the tempestuous beauty world to sail around the world when she turns 27 in four years’ time.
“I am absolutely an addict of sailing,” says Daria, who used to sail regularly with her family on Lake Ontario, Canada.
“I also love snowboarding and basketball, but sailing I always return to,” she adds.
Or maybe it’s because she knows there is a further goal on her horizon, and that modelling is one path that will get her there.
“I love Picasso, Bacon, Andy Warhol, that is to say the moderns. When I remember that I have become a model to finance my studies in painting, none of its strength is lost,” she says.
What, you wonder, actually goes through Daria’s head as she “pistons her hips like a leapord’s shoulders on a slow approach” down a fashion runway, to paraphrase AskMen.com?
“A lot of things go through your head. Sometimes you think about what you’re going to eat for dinner, or, did I do my laundry, or, oh s***, I didn’t call my mum. Sometimes you’re just blank. Other times you’re like, yeah, strutting. Like yeah, all right, look at me, I’m modelling! I’m a model!” the 22-year-old was quoted in Canada’s
Weekend Post.
And while you might forget how young she is when you read her portfolio, or see her gazing enigmatically out from a magazine cover, you can count on her to remind you she’s just your average working girl when she opens her mouth.
Daria was born in Krakow, Poland, the daughter of Ukranian parents. When she was four, the family moved to Canada, settling down in Mississauga, a suburb on the outskirts of Toronto.
A sneak peek at Versace’s Autumn/Winter 2006 advertising campaign: (from left) Daria, Angela Lindvall, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss and Carolyn Murphy.
At the age of 14, the statuesque Daria who towered 180cm tall won a modelling contest and was encouraged to pursue a modelling career.
After some success with local agencies, Daria decided to try her luck in the fashion capital of New York City. In 2001, at the age of 17, she signed on with IMG Models NY (her current mother agency).
This proved to be an important period of soul-growth for her. Though she went for many castings and spent several months abroad in Paris and Milan, she wasn’t getting any jobs. Eventually she returned to Canada in 2002.
“Everyone said I should be a model, while nothing was happening despite my efforts. Those times made me take stock of the difficulties of this business. It is our appearance that is judged, and without a strong mental outlook, one does not last,” she says.
“In 2003, I changed; I was stronger and I was more sure of myself. I wanted to work again, above all to finance my art studies. I called IMG and returned to New York. Three days later, I did Marc Jacobs’ fashion show and a week later I worked for Steven Meisel for Prada. Everything began to happen and it became my career.
“I know it will not last forever, therefore I appreciate every moment.”
eword, you are insane! I love her prostitute-like ads. A different side of Daria, especially in comparison with her other campaigns. Although perhaps Versace comes close...
Here's hoping Daria does some great things in my absence! 
to all, peace.
