DARIA THE FASHION PIRATE
She's got cat eyes and a mermaid body. A female animal with no standard measurements, sea adventurer, catwalk shark. In Canada, where she's grown up, Daria Werbowy learned sailing and was taught in 4 years of navigation. Ten years later, she heads for Manhattan. The greatest designer fell into her nets and Lancome makes her their image. The ship's girl became one of the most famour top models, but her dreams of the high seas doesn't leave. Invited on board of the MoonBeam IV, among the most beautiful boats in the world, Daria has got sea foot. On her boat, she has promised herself to sail around the world alone...or maybe with 3, with the man of her life and a baby. Most interesting news to me!
SHE RULES ON THE CATWALK, BUT THE REAL KINGDOM IS THE OCEAN. WE"VE FOLLOWED HER UP TO BARCELONA WHERE HER BOAT IS MOORED.
[second page] NOT BEING JUST THE TOP, SHE HAS TATTOOED 2 ANCHORS. Daria is not one of those who are starving themselves for the podium. This has not prevented her from being on the most famous fashion magazines in the world. On the deck, the beauty sleeps. The 8 is the sail number of the Moonbeam IV.
[third page] On the sea, Daria surrenders just to meditaion. She takes her surfing board. Last Winter, she followed the waves on the coasts of Central America. When she missed mountains, she often goes back to the sky in Canada where her parents live today.
[article] FAR AWAY FROM POLAND AND UKRAINE, SHE HAS FOUND HER ROOTS ON THE BANKS OF LAKE ONTARIO.
"Go ahead, swing me into the water!" the mermaid screams. The crew has hoisted her to the top of the mast of 35 meters. Safe in her belt, she laughs, she challenges the men of Moonbeam IV. A sailor who takes care of her famous boat, witness of Grace Kelly and Rainer III honeymoon. Daria's legs are balancing in the blue. "She knows herself, she's sporty," says Mikael Creach the captain confidently. "We will make him haul down the sail." That Englishman does no leave any earthy touch to Moonbeam. On the Bar, Mik looks at Daria when she goes down. 1.8 meters of androgyny sensuality, a t-shirt on her chest, and specific actions. In her eyes - 2 mirrors of clear water, abyss circles - the taste of danger. Catwalks are far away: she's a filibuster with a venus body who moves on the bridge with safe steps, despite the swell. Top model muse of Lancome, dubbed by Karl Lagerfeld, she's not the first passenger described as a "good yachtswoman." But Mik feels it, that girl is made with the same wood of his boat: a rare elegance, she's made for the strong winds of the high sea. Going on the Rayon de Lune, one of the most beautiful women in the world doesn't realize just a dream. She meets her twin. In its centenary shell, 35 tons of lead counterbalance the power of the sails. The cutter is designed for running. Fred, the cook nicknamed Winch, insist: navigation on this bijoux is very, very physical. Daria knows it, and he's pleased. She doesn't ask about, as certain clients of yachts do, where the television and the air conditioner are. She caresses the leather around the pulleys, the rough teak on the bridge, the shiny bronze..."I have no boys to maintain the veneer, but I'll think about it!'
Daria Werbowy came from the neighborhood, her boat, a Formosa 52 (16 meters long), is moored at the other coast of Port Vell, in the middle of Barcelona. "Prosit" (cheers! in German) she explains, "is made of wood, old school - no buttons to take up the veil - but more...pirate! With photos in the cabin, it's a totally personal mess." No doubt, she imagines the man to share her life with. Lonely, but not single, it's a secret love. We prefer speaking about a name that sparkles, a festival name, "Prosit." The beauty has slept on its board last night instead of going down to a luxurious hotel. "My boat is there, I can't leave it alone. I have somewhat neglected it these days. It deserves more love, it took me so far away." On each hand she brings happy stigmata of her biggest journey: 2 tattoos of anchors, sea wolved tradition for who crosses the atlantic. It has been 3 years, new york - les acores with no calls. Just her, her father, her brother, her sister, and a telephone for emergencies and a little call to mom. At night, during the quarters, Daria tastes the lonliness of the sea. Hypnotized by the black horizon, with her compass as a guide. "The strange things that come when you close your eyes in the dark: I mean songs, I saw unreal lights in teh sky. Phosphorescent organisms pressed around the shell, as fairies are taking me somewhere." The four Werbowys are surrounded by dolphins and whales, water walls 10 meters high. Daria has spent 24 hours this way, in close quarters with her crew "addicted to freedom,"
Her father, a civil Ukrainian engineer, after a long exile in Poland, had emigrated to America when Daria was 1 and a half. He was looking for a better life. Three long years later, Daria was in the Toronto airport, a man appears and all the family run into his arms. The youngest remembers her reunion with her father as intense, full of love. "My parents are humble," she says. "They have had the courage to change their lives at 20. We are uprooted and are proud of that. I have searched anxiously for my homeland for a long time, my home, but meanwhile I say: I will never find it on the earth, my home sweet home. My home is on the water." As a little girl on the banks of Lake Ontario, she tinkers in tubs. "When we had no money, we reutilized what we could." As her father was a scout, he transmitted the virus of the high seas onto Orest, 29, informatic engineer, and Oksana, 30, yoga teacher. The first one owns his own bat, the second participates in sailing competitions. Prosit is a family affair. Her father has fixed it up for 10 years. "I went to high school and I wanted to sail madly. He fixed up the bridge all alone. He played music for his boat. I play guitar for him and I speak to him as a horse. He doesn't admit it, but I'm sure my father has had long conversations with his boat!"
As we put our feet on the warm wood of the Moonbeam IV, she thinks about her father, her brother and her sister. "I'd really love them to be there, but they couldn't come." She opens her computer, hoping for a last minute call. Its like the telephone ashe uses when she goes sailing for a long time. "This gives me the possibility to say no to some jobs they offer me." In two years, this dazzling muse hasn't passes seven days in her New York loft. She tries to have two weeks free to go sailing. Soon, shes going to have a month or two. "I take respect for my job and for the people I work with, but it can't be just like this, a top. I've got to cut my world, to jump on my boat and find myself at 30 miles with no constraints, with no pawns. Otherwise, I'll become bad." She hasn't covered the seven seas, and watered the vodka - marine tradition, polish version. She can spend hours on Google Maps to look for the most inhospitable places on Earth. She has dreamed of having lived, after 30 years, 2 or 3 years on board of a new boat with, if possible, a child. The glory has prevented this to her: 27 years old, millionaire, she must take care of this promise. But she will try to get her "captain license" to go alone. "It will be the best luxury for me. For 18 years, I've been always supported by people, make-up artists, photographers..."
At the end of the Summer, Daria wants to go to the Amazon with her companion to follow the shamans in their trances. An initiatory journey into the forest, a test for one who loves the wide mountains and have fear of reptiles. How long is she going to be absent? "I don't know. We'll see!" And the mermaid goes away smiling from the Rayon De Lune.
image source: thanks Maria!!
Translation: Elisabeth
* by: mm6789
