HER HERITAGE MIGHT BE THE STUFF OF CONTEMPORARY LEGEND, BUT DREE HEMINGWAY IS BENT ON WRITING HER OWN STORY. CHAPTER ONE FINDS HER AS A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG MODEL WITH THE FASHION WORLD AT HER FEET, SPORTING THE LATEST FROM THE NEW YORK SPRING 2010 COLLECTIONS.
Dree Hemingway hails from legendary American stock: blonde, lithe, lovely, the great granddaughter of literary icon Ernest, and the eldest daughter of quintessential American beauty Mariel. But the formally trained ballet dancer–turned model doesn’t rely on her famous name for her success. Instead she’s determined to write her own tale in the fashion world. Her ascent in the industry was marked earlier this year when Riccardo Tisci booked her for a Givenchy runway exclusive in Paris. In quick succession, she shot a Gucci campaign with Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, ran a tear in the editorial world, and logged in a full season of runway shows—and she was a sensation. Now the 22-year-old, who grew up between mom’s California bungalow and great grandpa’s Idaho hunting grounds, is capturing the imagination of a new generation of American dreamers. Call them, if you will, the Dreemers. Derek Blasberg
DEREK BLASBERG Hi Dree, what are you doing right now?
DREE HEMINGWAY I’m in Paris having dinner with some friends. It’s fashion week here, and I just went on about a million castings.
DB Oh, yes, the castings. How are you liking this wonderful industry?
DH I love walking in shows, but I don’t particularly enjoy the castings. I’m not really a show girl—I’m not 10 feet tall, and I’m American. But I think I’m a good walker. I love modeling. Is that bad to say? Is that vain?
DB I don’t think so.
DH It’s not just being in front of the camera that I like. It’s the whole creative process. I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with some amazing people, and I feel like I know what I’m doing now.
DB Would you go so far as to say you’re doing well? Would you acknowledge your own hype?
DH That’s a tough question. I’m aware that I’m doing well, yes, but I don’t want to become a diva about it. I’ve seen girls become monsters like that—not that I’ll tell you who they are. The minute you think you’re doing well in this game is when it all comes crashing down. You’re always on the edge.
DB Before you were a model, you were a ballerina, right?
DH I started dancing when I was 5, and then when I was 13 I got really serious about ballet and thought that’s what I wanted to spend my life doing.
DB What changed?
DH The girls. They got crazy! I didn’t want to wake up and live and breathe and die ballet. I wanted more than that. I guess, in a way, the passion died a little bit.
DB Do you still dance??
DH I take classes once in a while, and I can still get on pointe. Maybe that’s why I like modeling, ’cause I get to move and keep dancing to a certain extent. If I wasn’t a dancer I wouldn’t know my body as well, so it has come in handy. I’ve been flexible my whole life, though. My mother says I used to breast-feed in a split.
DB Let’s talk about the family. Where were you born?
DH Sun Valley, Idaho.
DB I’m from the Midwest, and I love my Midwest roots.
DH I love it there too. It’s a good change from the New York craziness. My mother grew up there and lives there part-time, so that’s where I spent my childhood. I went to Hemingway Elementary, and I was a huge nerd.
DB How could a Hemingway be a nerd in the Hemingway school??
DH I was never in a clique and I was scrawny and awkward. And I really didn’t get the whole Hemingway thing, even though there was a huge mural of Ernest right in front of the school.
DB Is that what you call him, Ernest?
DH Yes.
DB So you didn’t know who he was?
DH No, not really. When I was growing up I was very naïve, and then once I found out the extent of his legacy I was too intimidated to read his books. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I still haven’t read them all.
DB You’re kidding!
DH They’re all kind of depressing.
DB But they’re so good! It’s Hemingway, for heaven’s sake!
DH I can remember when I was about 12, I did an interview with my mother for this documentary on Ernest. My mother was in the background and the interviewer asked me what I thought about his books, and I had just read The Old Man and the Sea, so I was like, No, I don’t like him. But I really love those Harry Potter books! I turned and looked at my mother’s face and she was just mortified.
DB And, of course, you never knew Ernest Hemingway.
DH I didn’t. My mother didn’t either.
DB I doubt it went over well at Hemingway Elementary that you cared more about Harry Potter than, say, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
DH Yeah, that probably didn’t help things. Like most young girls, I had my own opinion—and I was gung ho about it. All my teachers wanted me to like and idolize him, and it probably just made me rebel even more.
DB I have a favorite story about you: we were at dinner and someone told you they were a writer, and you responded, “Oh really? My mom is a writer!” I almost fell out of my chair. I’m sure your mom is a wonderful lady, but I think you forgot the real writer in your family.
DH Yeah that did happen. Ha! But Ernest is not someone I’m constantly thinking about. In fact, I might like his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald a little bit more. Right now I’m more in a Gatsby phase. I will say, though, that Hemingway had a great look: that scruffy bear look. I’m into that. A little scruff goes a long way.
DB When did you move to L.A.? Was that easier, where it’s not completely atypical to have a famous parent or grandparent?
DH Yeah, it didn’t matter much there—although I was just as much of an outcast. I remember the first day of middle school in L.A.: it was that time when everyone was just starting to wear Juicy Couture jumpsuits, and I was never allowed to wear one of those. So on the first day I showed up wearing water socks, which my mother had convinced me were cool, and a Gap pencil skirt. I had hairy legs because I didn’t know girls were shaving their legs yet. The hair on my head was messy, almost dreadlocks, ’cause I didn’t let anyone near it. I was skinny and scrawny—basically, I was not like the other L.A. girls I was going to school with.
DB And let me guess: you still feel like that scrawny girl?
DH Nah, I’ve embraced my figure. It’s what I am. And you know what, I like it now.
DB I love that you said that. I feel like sometimes really skinny girls feel bad saying they like being really skinny.
DH It’s who I am, and I haven’t been able to change it. I eat like a pig and it doesn’t go anywhere—yet. My grandmother says when I hit 30 it’s all going downhill and that I’m going to get a big ole Italian-lady body. My grandmother has huge boobs, but she was flat like me when she was my age.
DB So you’ll start wearing a bra then.
DH Exactly, I’ll need a push-up bra! And you know what? I’ll learn to embrace that figure too.
DB Speaking of your future, what are your plans? Writer like Ernest, actress like mom?
DH I thought about taking acting classes and becoming an actress for a while, but right now I’m in love with this job. And I have to be honest here: I think sometimes, in certain situations, I’m not taken seriously because of my last name.
DB Really?
DH It can be a double-edged sword. It gets me in the door, but then I really,
really have to prove myself.
DB I can see that. Sort of.
DH My last name has been in so many arenas: Ernest was a writer, a prolific
writer. Margaux was a big model, and my mom is an actress.
DB An Academy Award–nominated actress, I might add.
DH So I think some people have this idea of me making it because I’m a
Hemingway, but I don’t think I’m here because of that. I think I’m here because I work hard and I want to be here.
