I translated Natalia's interview. It is my first so it might be really bad.
Hope you'll like it.
NATALIA
She mesmerizes everyone with her big, deep geen eyes. She is like a young girl even though her three kids. The most important thing she learned from life is “no”. She doesn’t do jobs that doesn’t feel right to her, but she gives herself completely to the jobs she chooses. She Works for her kids to have a better life. Tom Ford is right. She is the most beautiful women in the world. In every way.
We arrive toWest Sussex in the South of London after a few hours car trip.We go through greens that meet with sky, endless fields until we arrive. But it is impossible to believe that this house belongs to a supermodel. There is neither a door nor a security guard. We wouldn’t stop there if we didn’t notice the cars.
The main house that Natalia lives with her three kids is in the middle of the land, behind the trees. The house we see , which is located in the huge land, is called Spa. It is called Spa because of the pools and steam baths in and out of the house. Obviously she prefers the welcome her guests in here. The dolls and toys spread around the pool is the sign that she spends time with her kids here.
The crew arrived before us. They complete the preparations. Everybody did as the note, which was send to us. “ Shoes will be removed at the door and white socks will be worn”. There are many shoes in front of the spa which makes the house looks like a traditional Turkish house. We remove our shoes too and wear the socks that web ring with us. As we enter we realize that this is not a supermodel caprice. The floors are covered with white carpet. And then Natalie comes in. She is wearing a short black pair of shorts, and a tshirt. Bare feet. Very naturel. Very plain. Very beautiful. As Tom Ford says “ worlds most beautiful women”. Even though she just came from Mert & Marcus shoot for American Vogue which took two days she doesn’t show her tiredness as a professional. I’m not amplifying, her eyes are mesmerizingly big and deep. It is the first time that I’m witnessing a human is blessed with this kind of blue. We decide with our fashion director Ece Sükan, if Bambi was a women it would be Natalie Vodianova.
SHE WAS DISCOVERED WHILE SELLING FRUITS
Natalie was born at Gorky which is now called Nizhni Novgoro. She gets discovered 15, while selling fruit. She learns English in three months and moves to Paris at the age of 17. Natalie, started appering in runway after 2000. Dice Kayek 2001 S/S was one of her first runways. Even she married once ( she announced her divorce recently) and has three kids aged 10 to 4 she rised very quickly. She got covers even when she was pregnant. She posed for Marc by Marc Jacobs photographed by Juergen Teller at the last months of her pregnancy. She covered British Vogue seven times. She is one of the most earning models in the world. She walked over 175 runways. Louis Vouitton, YSL, David Yurnman, Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Nina Ricci, Versace, Diane von Furstenberg, Calvin Klein and L’oreal is just a few brand that she worked for. This year we see her in Stella McCartney and Givenchy campaigns. She is so thin and so in shape that if you didn’t know you wouldn’t guess that she is mother of three. I ask the first question that everybody is curious about.
How do you keep your in shape?
I don’t do sports. I am not a person who can wake up early and go running. I probably run once in six months. But I do yoga. And every morning I do sun saluting moves to wake my system and get moving. It is a very important part of my life, it takes 15 minutes.
Natalie is really neat while working almost a perfectionist. She gives her comments and tells her ideas in every step. We look at the clothes that are fashion director Ece Sükan, before hair and make up. She loves them all. She loves our photographer Cüneyt Aker too and admires his work. It looks like it’s going to be a great day.
60 GAME PARKS
While we prepare her for the shoot, she is working on her The White Fairy Tale Love ball . Which model wears which designer? Who should walk the runway? She answer countless phone calls. After seeing the wigs chosen by Ece and Cüneyt, she decides models should wear wigs to the night too.
Love Ball, is a special night held every year to raise money for her charity Naked Heart. The first ball was held in 2008 at Moscow and raised 5 million dollars. It is known as the biggest fundraiser in Russian history. This year it was held in Garavani’s Le Chateau de Wideville. The ball had a dress code: white and silver. Attendies like Anne Hathaway, Carine Roitfeld, Olivia Palermo, Stella Tennant, Anna del Russo and Margherita Missoni preferred to fit while Daphne Guinness wore a colorful kimono by McQueen for Givenchy. And Natalie wore a red gown by Valentino which was inspired from Little red riding hood. Like the Valentino gown, every dress sold for the charity were inspired from fairytales. The dresses were designed by 50 designers includes Riccardo Tisci, Olivier Theyskens, Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld and Dolce & Gabbana. For example, Frida Giannini from Gucci made a long, black, assymetrical, one armed shiffon dress with a thin black belt and a silk cardigan with purple flowers. Christopher Bailey made a long satin and lace gown completed with a Philip Treacy hat.
Why was the Naked Heart founded and what does it do?
More than 25 percent of Russian families raise their kids in below the poverty line. Naked Heart’s purpose is to build safe playing parks for these kids. We’ve build 60 parks in 44 cities so far. We also build orphanages, childeren hospitals and special rehabs. We built 3 parks in England this year. Ofcourse it’s only the beginning. After this we are going to start a program to help kids with special needs.
Natalie says she decided to open Naked Heart after the Beslan tragedy. (Terrorist killed 339 people half kids in a school in Beslan at 2004.) She thinks playing games is a therapy for kids. Natalie herself had a tough childhood. Her father left when she was a baby and her mother raised her and her sister who had a brain apoplexy on her own. Natalie helped her mother by taking care of her sister and selling fruits in bazaar.
Did your own childhood affected your decision on openning Naked Heart?
Ofcourse. My sister is disabled. I raised her. My mother was trying to take care us both.So I know how hard life can be for family who have a disabled kid. There is almost no help from the goverment. We have to do something about it. It is impossible not doing something for someone like me who made into somewhere in her life.
CINEMA
Natalia really gave all of herself, her time her energy to charities. Especially when it is about Russia. You can see her love for her country from the decoration of her house. The walls are covered with Natalia portraits drawen by young Russian artists. You see young Natalia in one of those, just 15. She is staring at Moscow in glass globe. It is stil where her mind is.
As we talk some boxes arrive, Natalia opens them with excitement. There are colorful shoes and boots in the boxes. She made a cooperation with a big Russian company . The income from her line will be used for Naked Heart. “ I designed three shoes. High heels, midi heels and boots. There are lots of color options. And the price is affordable, it will be around 20 euros. They all have heels. Because Russian woman love wearing heels. Actually all woman needs heels for looking beautiful, sexy and attractive.
Russian woman are feminen, sexy. Is Natalia sexy too?
I think most woman want to look sexy. But sex appeal is subjective. It is different to man and to woman. Some people can look sexy without clevage. Some is sexy as her clevage. It actually depends on what kind of a person you are. I guess being yourself is the sexiest thing in this life. I’m… I’m very feminen. I can wear everything but I must look feminen. It shouldn’t scream.
While we are talking about fashion I should ask about Hakan Yıldırım which she walks for every year. “ I don’t do a lot of runways now. I only participate in projects that I really believe in. And I admire Hakan very much. Otherwise I wouldn’t walk for his show. He is a very strong designer; fresh, sexy, elegant and very feminen.” Natalia is 29 and she is at the top of her career. Even if she doesn’t walk runways she does have a lot of campaigns.She also does charity work and she has three kids that she coddles!
How do you find time for everything? How do you balance your career and your personal life?
A friend of mine said once “The most important word I learned in life is no.”. You should learn to say no. You can’t do everything. You have to set your priorities. It is sometimes your job sometimes your children. Sometimes yourself. I say “no” to more things now. I don’t do jobs that doesn’t feel right. But if it does I give myself to it, I work with my heart and I do it perfectly.
There is one more job that she does with her heart now: Cinema. Natalia’s first screen experience was Roman Coppola’s CQ in 2001. In 2009 she acted in Russian director Alexander Kott’s Probka. And last year we watched her as snake haired Medusa in Clash of the Titans. Today Natalia ,who used to say that she doesn’t want to work on more movies because of her kids, have changed her mind after her last movie Belle du Seigneur. She played her first serious part in this movie by Glenio Bonder. She acted alongside actors Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Marianne Faithfull. She says there will be more to come. “I loved Belle du Seigneur and acting.It was a very beautiful very rich experience for me. It satisfied me more than modelling. You make characters in modelling too. But it is a beautiful thing to show different feelings.”
SHE EATS FOR HER BLOOD TYPE
Shoot is over. We go to the kitchen. Photopgraphs by Annie Leibovitz are hang in the kitchen. And it is filled with various kind of food. She is very careful about what she is eating. “ I’ve been eating according to my blood type for 5 years. Now I feel more energetic, lucid and I never feel bloated. When I was a kid I had ulcer. I had a very delicate immune system. I would have cramps, pains. Since I’ve started this diet I never had any problems. Recently I went to Kazan for a playground opening. They served foods that I loved as a kid. I cheated for once and I had pain all night.” I found out we have the same blood type. AB +. She says humus, tea, coffee, chicken, meat and avacado is bad; egg, lamb and caviar is healty. Ofcourse the list goes on. According to this list I need to give up many things that I love and start eating many things that I hate. She continues referring herself as Doctor Natalia. “I know it takes some effort. You need to give up many things that you love. But it feels great at the end!”
The diet Natalia is talking about, is founded by Doctor Peter J. D’Adamo and introduced in a book called Eat Right 4 Your Type. D’Adamo says the most important element in healty eating is your blood type and he suggests a different diet to every type. Group 0 that D’Adamo refers as the hunter group should eat more proteins. Farmer type A group should prefer grain and vegetables. The best food fort he nomad B group is dairy. And AB group should be considered as a mixture of type A and B.
Our diner is over.She says goodbye and thanks and kisses everyone. She says “ It was a great day. Everyone was so sweet. Cüneyt is a very calm and very Professional photographer. It wa swonderful to work with her.” And Natalia disappear with a basket filled with food that is good for her blood type on her arm.