She is one of Viva agencies most promoted models, she has come to be photographed by Mario Testino, dressed as Anna Wintour, for French Vogue...Snejana Onopkas has integrated, two years into her career, in the very select from which the tops pull.
One feels that the young Ukrainian is living a waking dream: amongst her backstage interviews, Snejana punctuates all her phrases with "it's coool". Diaphonous, nearly evanescent, her classic physique gives her a mysterious air. In her Ukrainian birthplace, Snejana grew up without dreams of sequins and runways, she lived in a modest way within a loving family.
However, during a trip to Kiev, her plans for her future changed. It was on the street that she was stopped and she was asked to join an agency: she was 15 years old and she accepted. She left to work in Japan, where her type of phsyique is sought after, however she didn't work there. She felt it was a personal failure that she didn't work well in Japanese castings. Becoming a model did not seem a possibility again.
On her return to Kiev, she signed with the agency: Metropolitan. However, a little after, her agent gave her the chance to sign with DNA (American agency) and after Snejana learned some girls who worked for DNA (Natalia Vodianova, Linda Evangelista amongst others), she didn't hesitate for a second. It was at that moment that things were really there for her, she said later that she was at the right place at the right time.
As for lots of models whose careers explode as soon as they come on the market, she worked with Steven Meisel. At last he permitted the quick rise along the right strategies, necessary for the pedigree of a future top model, notably the cover of Vogue Italia. Helped by the master of fashion photography, the young girl was very quickly included in the ad campaigns of top houses like Prada, Lanvin, Gucci, Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabbana. D&G said they adore work which is glamorous and sexy, because it needs to feel sexy to feel good.
The next step in this development is to walk in runway shows. Her elegant silhouette, and porcelain face had nothing bad to seduce the designers. The Spring Summer collections 2006 propelled her into the hearts of select shows: Christian Lacroix, Marc Jacobs, Fendi, Balenciaga et Chanel. She has made the friendship of Karl Lagerfeld, to whom she has candidly said she would like to be the next face of Chanel.
So her absence from FW07 shows was remarkable. It did not mean for her in any way a renunciation, or for the designers, a lack of interest: the young girl had simply to choose between fashion shows and posing for a Shiseido campaign. In Milan, Burberry, Gucci and Dolce Gabbana, she became one of the 'it' girls of the season.
As far as life outside shootings and shows, the young girl likes to stay close to her family, and when her job permits her time, she goes to rejoin them. By necessity she lives in New York, nevertheless in the future, she would love to live in London. Her future as a model? At the moment she likes the financial assistance it gives her, she is able to buy more properties in Kiev and she has succumbed to the charms of 'Limited Edition' Bentleys.
In reference to fashion, she loves crocodile bags from Fendi, but she always wears simple jeans. Luxury bag and casual look, the young girl seems to have the basis of the look 'hype-cool' dear to models. And if she stopped tomorrow? Snejana seems to take pleasure in learning languages and perhaps to become a lawyer
By Coco - for
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