I love New York and I hate New York, it is very intense"
Funny, intelligent, stunning. Anyone would settle for just one of such qualities, but Siri Tollerod has it all. And, like a true Northern European girl, concrete and with her feet on the ground, has remained a simple girl. Since the times when, after school, she would go horse riding, or play handball, go skiing, do aerobics and sing, she has never been one that stands still.
As she was doing her last minute Christmas shopping with three friends at H&M in her native town of Kristiansand, she received the best gift herself when scouting agent noticed her and proposed her to do some castings. A few months later she landed in Milan where she spent the summer trying her hand at modeling. She liked it and after going back to Norway to get her diploma she plunges in this new adventure. That was 2006, Siri was 18.
And already in June 2007 came her first important shooting, realized by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia. She worked the whole summer preparing for her true catwalk debut in September, for D&G in Milan and Lanvin, Nina Ricci, Yves Saint-Laurent in Paris.
In the meantime she had a good time in New York, making friends with other models (Charlotte De Calypso, Kasia Stuss, Sheila Marquez and Heloise Guerin) and still sang whenever possible, since that was still a great passion.
Whenever she could she went back to Norway to visit her family and especially her younger sister Susanne. But job offers kept increasing and Siri soon became one of the most coveted models in the fashion circuit. She bought a flat in the East Village, New York, an started traveling and enjoying the most bizarre experiences.
On the set of a shooting for Vogue, with Miles Aldridge she had to kiss a cat, and for a Ogilvy commercial, in Montreal, she had a snake wrapped around her neck. But she is not one to get easily impressed (“in Norway we are all very used to living in close contact with the nature”).
When she travels for work she carries with her a few basic items: a mobile phone, a package of peanuts, cleanser and moisturizing lotion, her Ipod filled with Coldplay, Oasis and Annie Lennox songs.
Her beautiful blonde hair is the joy of all hair stylists during fashion shows, and to protect her tresses she uses tons of conditioner and Moroccan Oil, to keep hair healthy. After the shows, he only desire is to go back home, take her shoes off, wear no make-up and sleep the whole day without anybody telling her what to do. But on the catwalk and on sets she is a hard worker.
The environment is her soft spot, she gets cross when she notices that someone refuses to recycle, and tries to use her bicycle or public transportation. Together with other models she raises funds for the Environmental Justice Foundation.
She does her shopping on foot, and then meets up with her girlfriends to get a cup of tea at the Cafè Select in Soho. She buys especially sunglasses (“I love them”), comfortable shoes (Prada Sport and Acne), adores indulging, once in a while, in Benny’s burritos, some cheesecake or a slice of carrot cake.
She like reading (Anna Karenina, On the Road, Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell), and she would like to go back to school one day, studying to be a PR or in marketing. In the meantime she is having fun with the launch her own lipstick line, Siri for Zanzuel, that may be also used on cheeks and as eye shadows.
She adores winter sports (skiing, fishing), but does not disdain the seaside, since her ideal holiday is doing absolutely nothing in the Caribbean. Last April she starred in a fashion film, Matchstick Girl, a kind of interactive service, that features clothes from Chanel, Jil Sander, Prada, Céline, Jean Paul Gaultier.
Throughout the years she has walked runways for Givenchy, Christian Lacroix, Dior, Miu Miu, Les Copains, Valentino, Alberta Ferretti, Elie Saab, Armani Privè. She has been the face of Sportmax and Marc Jacobs and appeared in the Harajuku Lovers campaign with Gwen Stefani.
She has been portrayed by Karl Lagerfeld, Peter Lindbergh, Steven Klein, Craig McDean. She graced covers and appeared in editorials for Elle, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Dazed&Confused, Numéro, V, Allure, W magazine.