valleyofdolls
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Vogue Russia Sept. 2003
Natalia Semanova by Ranjit Grewal
scanned by me
Natalia Semanova by Ranjit Grewal
scanned by me
-
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valleyofdolls
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Pashen'ka said:^There aren't many left...only a coupla more eds and a few mixed pics...
Here's an ed I still hadn't posted!
she looks really great in these!
thanx a lot for posting!!!
fashionkitten7
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Man, I myself wanted to post those some time...valleyofdolls said:
Anyways, thanks !
fashionkitten7
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P.S. That could be a good present to Pashen'ka on is birthday, if he hasn't seen them before...
valleyofdolls
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heh, sorryfashionkitten7 said:Man, I myself wanted to post those some time...
Anyways, thanks !
anyway, 4 pics from this ed was posted here before (fabri scans) i think only beauty one hasn't appeared in this thread
fashionkitten7
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^ No need to be sorry at all ! That's a good thing you posted those !
Yeah, I really need to look through this thread again... I start losing track of the pictures that's been posted...
Yeah, I really need to look through this thread again... I start losing track of the pictures that's been posted...
Ok, here's my translation of the article (luckily, the 2nd pic in #629 is from another article, or it would have taken me more! 
)
I've done it without a dictionary (just googling a coupla words I wasn't sure of) so it ain't a top-notch translation, but I hope you'll appreciate it anyway...
Btw: even thoug it may sound almost impossible after around 10 years being a Semanova's fan, still the more I see her - and most of all the more I read/hear/know about her - the more I adore her!
GOOD GIRL NATASHA
Supermodel Natalia Semanova tells Viktoriya Davydova about her job, her man and her plans for the future.
When I told my collegues that I was going to Paris to interview Natalia Semanova, they all asked the same question: "How old is she now? 28? 29?". Actually Natalia is only 23, but she's being known for so long - her career started when she was only 14! In 1994 she won the Elite Model Look contest, moved from Moscow to Paris and right away started to work with all the world's best designers and photographers. The 5 years long history of russian Vogue is deeply connected with Natalia. She was photographed by Mario Testino for an editorial about russian models in our very first issue, and then she appeared in eds by Arthur Elgort shot in Star-Town and Saint Petersburg; Lee Jenkins shot her on Haute Couture catwalks; together with Laetitia Casta she's been Yves Saint Laurent's muse - the designer choose her as testimonial for Opium parfum after Linda Evangelista.
"Yves Saint-Laurent is one of the last real couturiers. When I went to my first casting at YSL, they did me a complete makeup and hairdo, dressed me up, and only then they showed me to the designer. Even at castings, he always wanted to see every model exactly as she could look on the catwalk. He was sitting in a great room with a curtain, smoking cigarette after cigarette, with the ashes falling directly on the carpet, and his fave dog lying next to him. We were standing besides the curtain, and then I was said: "Go". At his famous last show, everybody cried and said it was the end of fashion. With Tom Ford the relation wasn't so good, I only worked once for Gucci. Though I like what he did for YSL".
Last summer Natasha officially retired from catwalks. In fashion world it had already been long discussed. Many think that she's got the best walk in the biz - they tried to imitate her, but nobody can repeat the swan-like movements of her neck, nor Natalia's fierce walk - the delicate motion of her knees...
Currently she's more interested in ad campaigns. Next Season [this article ain't new, unfortunately] she'll be the testimonial of Swarovski, and two years ago she signed a 4-years contract with BioTherm for skin products campaigns. The Company's managers chose Natasha 'cause "her freshness and her strong personality are Biotherm's brand spirit".
"Those are good jobs. Photosession twice a year, two/three days each, good money, nice people. Biotherm guys chose me from pics and then invited me for a casting. In a huge hall there were so many important people - the marketing director, PR-men, photographers. The were sitting behind a table, and I sat in front of them, then they started: 'please, bend like this, move your head on that side, now on this one..." A real zoo! Then they solemny informed me that I was gonna get the contract, they said congrats, and they gave me the cream I was going to advertise. The photographer came closer and quietly said: 'Natasha, these are good products, but it's better if you try them only after the shoot...'. But he was wrong, I actually liked them!"
Natalia is the epithomy of classic beauty: huge blue eyes, ideally full lips, a perfect nose. Not a surprise that she's got a cosmetics campaign contract - the dream of every model.
"Now for campaigns they tend to choose known faces, models were substitued by actresses and singers. A month and a half ago I was working in a parisian studio, and next door they were shooting Jennifer Lopez for Louis Vuitton. And the same time, in USA Steven Meisel was making the Versace campaign with Cristina Aguilera. People want to see classic, beautiful faces, or at least, known faces. Nowadays' models with original beauties aren't much appreciated by the vast public, who aren't used to that and only manage to see the imperfections, like wide ears or funny noses"
Natalia appeared at the end of the supermodels' era. Until the mid-90s the models were the best loooking girls - gorgeous faces, perfect bodies, extremely photogenic. They have been substituted by the s.c. 'antimodels'.
"New faces show up every season. A model takes off and start working constantly - she hardly has time to sleep or even breath. And around her everybody keeps repeating 'You're a star'. And the next season, they don't even see her anymore, even though she's still the same as before, and of course, she doesn't understand what's going on. It's just that her face ain't trendy anymore. Such tragedies happen every year, and it's hard for many girls. I think the economical situation is to be blamed for this. When I started, models were paid very much - you'll agree that there's a difference between a supermodel and a 'model for one season'. On the other hand, the models were asked to do more. They had great freedom, and at sessions they were more like actresses. Why was Linda Evangelista different in every shoot she did? She had taken acting courses and was able to change her look like an actress. Now every photographer has his own specialization, his own style - cameras, colours, fave models' poses. And now the photographers almost always know beforehand what they'll get from a shoot".
They say that fashion biz is a hard one. I'm curious to know what Natasha thinks about it. Has she ever cried, even just for the nostalgy of home and family?
"There have been hard moments too, i.e. when they treated me like an object: 'go there, do that, don't do that, sit down, no, stand up'. At jobs I've never shown that I had been offended, but then I came home and cried. Now I have a different tactic: they can be very rude to me, and my only answer will be a laugh. And by the end of the day, they change. That was one thing I dind't know at first, my husband taught me".
Natalia married two years ago. Her husband Alexandre [wasn't it David?!] - or Dado, as everybody call him - is french, and used to work as a booker in Natalia's agency, but she long ignored about him. And as for him, he looked at her like at a star, he was afraid to approach her. Elite's stars - Linda Evangelista and Nadja Auermann - practically ended up their career leaving their places to Gisele and Natasha.
"Back then I already considered me a quite successful model, but I was very shy. I used to arrive at the agency as a grey mouse, sitting unseen in a corner, quietly asking about castings and shoots. At that time I had a young man, but our relation wasn't going good. He always shouted at me, even throwing my shoes out of the window, saying that I should wear shorter skirts and dress more sexy. And I made many compromises, I did all I could so that we could be happy together, but all I got was nothing. Somebody would have understood right away that the best thing would have been to end the relation, but I longly hesitated. I had a friend at the agency and asked him for advice. He knew that Dado liked me, and introduced us to each other. That's how I got to know my husband. 'The important thing is that it was good for you' he keeps telling me. And he's the first man that really cared about me".
Such stories aren't a rarity in fashion biz. Very often, the world's most beautiful girls aren't at all sure about themselves, and are incredibly lonely: very day in a new town, different places, new people. No time to actually get to know somebody, and even if you find an intersting person, then there's surely no time to actually get to know him better. Also, normal men are often intimidated by models and don't approach them. In the best cases the girls find their boy-friends at their agencies - like Natasha did, or Karolina Kurkova, or Eugenia Volodina. But in worst cases, the models will end up with men that only use them as a status-symbol: 'I'm with a model'.
"We models grow up early, we earn good money, and it's natural to lok for strong relations - somebody that will wait for you. And when you find your man, you want to do all for him. When I'm away from Paris, every free moment I have I'll phone my husband and listen to his voice, with tears in my eyes.
I often think about the future. Of course, I'd like to have children. But if I choose to have a child, I wanna see his first steps and hear his first words. That's why if I choose to do that, I'm not gonna come back in the biz after it. And I don't want to become an actress. Many models have tried going to Hollywood, but then came back to the catwalks. Amber Vallet and Carolyn Murphy both had good roles in movies, but everybody know them as models, not as actresses. Perhaps, even the characteristic of our job don't help: a model is used to look beautiful in every condition, therefore in every scene models-actresses will end up posing and trying to look great, forgetting about the script.
And in order to do anything else, I'd need to learn first. Every now and then I tell my husband: 'I can't do anything!'. They have always told me: 'Work as a model as long as you can - it will only last a coupla years, and then there'll be no coming back to it'. I agree, after all I managed to be quite successful in this biz, I'll try to do it as long as possible. Then with my husband we have common plans for the future - a project related to fashion. But it's a secret for now!"
)I've done it without a dictionary (just googling a coupla words I wasn't sure of) so it ain't a top-notch translation, but I hope you'll appreciate it anyway...
Btw: even thoug it may sound almost impossible after around 10 years being a Semanova's fan, still the more I see her - and most of all the more I read/hear/know about her - the more I adore her!
GOOD GIRL NATASHA
Supermodel Natalia Semanova tells Viktoriya Davydova about her job, her man and her plans for the future.
When I told my collegues that I was going to Paris to interview Natalia Semanova, they all asked the same question: "How old is she now? 28? 29?". Actually Natalia is only 23, but she's being known for so long - her career started when she was only 14! In 1994 she won the Elite Model Look contest, moved from Moscow to Paris and right away started to work with all the world's best designers and photographers. The 5 years long history of russian Vogue is deeply connected with Natalia. She was photographed by Mario Testino for an editorial about russian models in our very first issue, and then she appeared in eds by Arthur Elgort shot in Star-Town and Saint Petersburg; Lee Jenkins shot her on Haute Couture catwalks; together with Laetitia Casta she's been Yves Saint Laurent's muse - the designer choose her as testimonial for Opium parfum after Linda Evangelista.
"Yves Saint-Laurent is one of the last real couturiers. When I went to my first casting at YSL, they did me a complete makeup and hairdo, dressed me up, and only then they showed me to the designer. Even at castings, he always wanted to see every model exactly as she could look on the catwalk. He was sitting in a great room with a curtain, smoking cigarette after cigarette, with the ashes falling directly on the carpet, and his fave dog lying next to him. We were standing besides the curtain, and then I was said: "Go". At his famous last show, everybody cried and said it was the end of fashion. With Tom Ford the relation wasn't so good, I only worked once for Gucci. Though I like what he did for YSL".
Last summer Natasha officially retired from catwalks. In fashion world it had already been long discussed. Many think that she's got the best walk in the biz - they tried to imitate her, but nobody can repeat the swan-like movements of her neck, nor Natalia's fierce walk - the delicate motion of her knees...
Currently she's more interested in ad campaigns. Next Season [this article ain't new, unfortunately] she'll be the testimonial of Swarovski, and two years ago she signed a 4-years contract with BioTherm for skin products campaigns. The Company's managers chose Natasha 'cause "her freshness and her strong personality are Biotherm's brand spirit".
"Those are good jobs. Photosession twice a year, two/three days each, good money, nice people. Biotherm guys chose me from pics and then invited me for a casting. In a huge hall there were so many important people - the marketing director, PR-men, photographers. The were sitting behind a table, and I sat in front of them, then they started: 'please, bend like this, move your head on that side, now on this one..." A real zoo! Then they solemny informed me that I was gonna get the contract, they said congrats, and they gave me the cream I was going to advertise. The photographer came closer and quietly said: 'Natasha, these are good products, but it's better if you try them only after the shoot...'. But he was wrong, I actually liked them!"
Natalia is the epithomy of classic beauty: huge blue eyes, ideally full lips, a perfect nose. Not a surprise that she's got a cosmetics campaign contract - the dream of every model.
"Now for campaigns they tend to choose known faces, models were substitued by actresses and singers. A month and a half ago I was working in a parisian studio, and next door they were shooting Jennifer Lopez for Louis Vuitton. And the same time, in USA Steven Meisel was making the Versace campaign with Cristina Aguilera. People want to see classic, beautiful faces, or at least, known faces. Nowadays' models with original beauties aren't much appreciated by the vast public, who aren't used to that and only manage to see the imperfections, like wide ears or funny noses"
Natalia appeared at the end of the supermodels' era. Until the mid-90s the models were the best loooking girls - gorgeous faces, perfect bodies, extremely photogenic. They have been substituted by the s.c. 'antimodels'.
"New faces show up every season. A model takes off and start working constantly - she hardly has time to sleep or even breath. And around her everybody keeps repeating 'You're a star'. And the next season, they don't even see her anymore, even though she's still the same as before, and of course, she doesn't understand what's going on. It's just that her face ain't trendy anymore. Such tragedies happen every year, and it's hard for many girls. I think the economical situation is to be blamed for this. When I started, models were paid very much - you'll agree that there's a difference between a supermodel and a 'model for one season'. On the other hand, the models were asked to do more. They had great freedom, and at sessions they were more like actresses. Why was Linda Evangelista different in every shoot she did? She had taken acting courses and was able to change her look like an actress. Now every photographer has his own specialization, his own style - cameras, colours, fave models' poses. And now the photographers almost always know beforehand what they'll get from a shoot".
They say that fashion biz is a hard one. I'm curious to know what Natasha thinks about it. Has she ever cried, even just for the nostalgy of home and family?
"There have been hard moments too, i.e. when they treated me like an object: 'go there, do that, don't do that, sit down, no, stand up'. At jobs I've never shown that I had been offended, but then I came home and cried. Now I have a different tactic: they can be very rude to me, and my only answer will be a laugh. And by the end of the day, they change. That was one thing I dind't know at first, my husband taught me".
Natalia married two years ago. Her husband Alexandre [wasn't it David?!] - or Dado, as everybody call him - is french, and used to work as a booker in Natalia's agency, but she long ignored about him. And as for him, he looked at her like at a star, he was afraid to approach her. Elite's stars - Linda Evangelista and Nadja Auermann - practically ended up their career leaving their places to Gisele and Natasha.
"Back then I already considered me a quite successful model, but I was very shy. I used to arrive at the agency as a grey mouse, sitting unseen in a corner, quietly asking about castings and shoots. At that time I had a young man, but our relation wasn't going good. He always shouted at me, even throwing my shoes out of the window, saying that I should wear shorter skirts and dress more sexy. And I made many compromises, I did all I could so that we could be happy together, but all I got was nothing. Somebody would have understood right away that the best thing would have been to end the relation, but I longly hesitated. I had a friend at the agency and asked him for advice. He knew that Dado liked me, and introduced us to each other. That's how I got to know my husband. 'The important thing is that it was good for you' he keeps telling me. And he's the first man that really cared about me".
Such stories aren't a rarity in fashion biz. Very often, the world's most beautiful girls aren't at all sure about themselves, and are incredibly lonely: very day in a new town, different places, new people. No time to actually get to know somebody, and even if you find an intersting person, then there's surely no time to actually get to know him better. Also, normal men are often intimidated by models and don't approach them. In the best cases the girls find their boy-friends at their agencies - like Natasha did, or Karolina Kurkova, or Eugenia Volodina. But in worst cases, the models will end up with men that only use them as a status-symbol: 'I'm with a model'.
"We models grow up early, we earn good money, and it's natural to lok for strong relations - somebody that will wait for you. And when you find your man, you want to do all for him. When I'm away from Paris, every free moment I have I'll phone my husband and listen to his voice, with tears in my eyes.
I often think about the future. Of course, I'd like to have children. But if I choose to have a child, I wanna see his first steps and hear his first words. That's why if I choose to do that, I'm not gonna come back in the biz after it. And I don't want to become an actress. Many models have tried going to Hollywood, but then came back to the catwalks. Amber Vallet and Carolyn Murphy both had good roles in movies, but everybody know them as models, not as actresses. Perhaps, even the characteristic of our job don't help: a model is used to look beautiful in every condition, therefore in every scene models-actresses will end up posing and trying to look great, forgetting about the script.
And in order to do anything else, I'd need to learn first. Every now and then I tell my husband: 'I can't do anything!'. They have always told me: 'Work as a model as long as you can - it will only last a coupla years, and then there'll be no coming back to it'. I agree, after all I managed to be quite successful in this biz, I'll try to do it as long as possible. Then with my husband we have common plans for the future - a project related to fashion. But it's a secret for now!"
fashionkitten7
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Haven't yet read your article, but I must say I totally agree !
Here's some more of our dear Natashenka! From www.onethousandmodels.com
There are more on the way, all from the same source. If they've been posted already, my apologies in advance.
