I posted this on Bellazon. Its an article about Kim published in April 2008. Enjoy
Kim Noorda: look into my eyes
Kay Barron
Published: 12:01AM BST 19 Apr 2008
Kim Noorda sets the catwalks alight with her steely gaze and out-there attitude, but she's a home-loving girl at heart, she tells Kay Barron
On the catwalks, Kim Noorda fixes the cameras with her steely blue eyes and strides with all the confidence of a veteran. Last year the Dutch model opened Valentino's penultimate couture show, and walked for all the designers who count, among them Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton and Dolce & Gabbana.
But, since she was discovered at the age of 16 by Holland's leading talent scout, Wilma Wakker, Noorda has been in the top flight for just five years. 'Regardless of my job, I feel the same now as I did when I was at school. I was shy then and I still am.' Not that there is a hint of it when our photographer, Chad Pitman, gives Noorda direction.
Her body strengthens and she transforms the Yohji Yamamoto boilersuit she is wearing into a must-have trend. But when the lens is not directed at her, she is positively shy. When I am working and people are preening and dressing me it feels less like I am the centre of attention, as everyone is concentrating on their own jobs.'
She is a natural and popular with high-profile photographers. Bruce Weber shot her for French Vogue and immediately rebooked her for the s/s 08 APC campaign. Greg Cadel used her for the cover of Numero Japan and booked her again for the new Georges Rech campaign.
For Noorda, modelling is just a job; one that allows her to travel, and provides income enough to buy her first house, close to her parents in Amsterdam. In the near future, if at all, there will be no austere loft apartments in New York, and no trendy east London flats for her to shack up in with a dubious musician boyfriend.
When a job is over, Noorda will take the first opportunity to fly back to her family and friends. Which is probably what keeps her so grounded. There are no airs or graces, and she has a genuine interest in those she works with. She also admits to having no close model friends. 'We all only really see each other twice a year at the shows,' she says. 'With different schedules and bases, it is difficult to make the effort to see each other more.'
Even after a hectic timetable of back-to-back runways, Noorda can be found winding down with a book rather than joining the rest of the fashion pack at the numerous after-show parties. While wanting to model 'for as long as they want me', she has no interest in fame, and less in the party circuit, strengthening her appeal as the natural beauty of last year's Bottega Veneta and Bulgari fragrance campaigns.
For all the Agyness Deyns and Kate Mosses, headline-grabbing, publicity-courting and partying, Noorda is just one example of many, many more who just do their job and go home.
Source:
Telegraph.co.uk
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