Vogue ITALIA website|Editor's Blog|Doutzen Kroes (Published: 09/07/2015)
“Supermodels will never come back”. Like those who were popular in the 80s and 90s, to be clear. Something we often hear when people talk about fashion. Because fashion lovers, sometimes, like to look to the past. Maybe the time of models outclassing actresses has gone, but there is always an exception: in this case it comes from Holland, and it’s called Doutzen Kroes, an athletic blonde withes blue eyes, born in 1985 in Eastermar.
Doutzen’s story of is a highly successful one, in the vein of the glorious times of the supermodels. Steven Meisel shot her first cover, for the February issue of Vogue Italia. The start of the 2000s was not easy for an emerging model like Kroes. At that time models were usually very thin, unripe, young so that they did not “overshadow” the designers’ creations. She is no ordinary beauty, she is thin yet athletic and her face is highly recognizable thanks to those “pouty lips” that have become her trademark. In those years she walked runways for many fashion designers, but not for all of them. She did walk for Dior, Oscar de la Renta, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli and Yves Saint Laurent, but Doutzen Kroes’ strong point was not the number of shows she did, but the ability to land prestigious campaigns.
The first assignment came in 2005 when she replaced Christy Turlington as the face of the “Eternity” fragrance by Calvin Klein. Another decisive step was the deal she signed in 2006 with beauty giant L’Oréal, a collaboration that still continues today. And, of course, the athletic body of the Dutch model could not go unnoticed, and the bosses of Victoria’s Secret saw her as a new perfect “angel” to represent the world’s most famous lingerie brand. These important assignments alongside the covers for magazines such as Time, Elle, Vanity Fair, the most prestigious editions of Vogue and campaigns for Tiffany, Miu Miu, Gucci and H&M, consolidated her supermodel status and for many she is simply “Doutzen”. A name that has become a symbol of a sexy, sporty and healthy beauty.
Her popularity is also reflected in the social networks: her Instagram profile has over three million followers. Her private life has been also very rewarding; she is married to DJ Sunnery James and the couple have two children, Phyllon and Myllena. Her success seems unstoppable. Although in 2014 she left Victoria’s Secret the top model is still collaborating with fashion giant Calvin Klein, she recently closed the Atelier Versace F/W 2015 show in Paris and she is the new face of Mercedes Benz, the sponsor of all the leading fashion weeks. We are not in the 90s any more, many things have changed: our lifestyle and the media, for instance, yet the fashion industry will always be looking for a new icon to globally represent our aesthetic and cultural evolution. Doutzen Kroes is a case in point.
Vogue.it