Model Call: Luma Grothe By Kristi Garced
“Sometimes people say I look like if Angelina Jolie and Miranda Kerr had a baby,” said Luma Grothe (pronounced Gro-tay), the 20-year-old model from Joinville, a city in the Southern region of Brazil. If Grothe doesn’t look like your typical Brazilian — her eyes are blue, her skin slightly pale — it’s because she’s German, Japanese and African, a mix that set her apart physically from her darker-skinned Brazilian classmates while growing up.
Grothe, who is repped by One Management, might be recognizable as the face of Dsquared2’s spring campaign — stroll past the intersection of West Broadway and Spring Street in New York’s SoHo and there’s a 10-foot-high poster of her plastered on what will soon be the brand’s first U.S. store. Editorialwise, she’s been featured in multiple international editions of Vogue, Glamour and Elle and also nabbed the covers of Grey Magazine, Vs. Magazine and Vogue Italia’s beauty supplement, in addition to look books for Barneys New York, J. Crew and Urban Outfitters. As for runway, she walked the fall shows for Jeremy Scott, Julien Macdonald, Dsquared2, Cushnie et Ochs, Nicole Miller and more. It’s hard for Grothe to decide which she enjoys more, print or runway. “Image is so powerful, and I really like seeing the results of photo shoots,” she said. “But the catwalk is all about the moment. Everybody’s looking at you.”
The 5-foot, 9-inch model has lived in New York City for a year with her boyfriend and their French bulldog, Bark Obama, and when she’s not busy with work, she has a soft spot for musicals. “I went to ‘Mamma Mia,’ which sounds cheesy, but it’s really cool. ‘Book of Mormon’ was great, too.”
WWD: How did you start modeling?
Luma Grothe: My best friend was being really annoying about this modeling competition in the south of Brazil. He was like, ‘You’re superskinny, just go there. You’re gonna win it.’ I didn’t even wanna go. I was studying and doing well in school. I was 16 at the time. I guess he convinced me to go, and it was good. I didn’t win, but people saw me there and then somehow I got signed with this agency. I started modeling, and it was going so well that I had to stop school. So I still have one year to finish. I’ll go back and finish, definitely.