Fashion shoots are notorious for running late. So when madison shows up at a studio in New York’s Meatpacking District, we expect to wait a while for Daria Werbowy, who’s been working here today. But when we arrive at the appointed hour, the shoot has wrapped and the crew is packing up. Rock music is blaring and the table is littered with beer bottles and cigarette stubs. Ah, the glamour! A crew member disappears into the wardrobe area to fetch Daria.
Already, the 26-year-old gets a gold star in our book for being a professional. (On time? Unheard of!) Before we can even scribble this in our notebook, however, a dressed-down, lanky Daria Werbowy (pronounced Ver-bo-ee) wanders over to say hello and tell us she wasn’t expecting us today. There’s been a miscommunication somewhere along the line, but it doesn’t seem to phase her. “It’s fine, let’s talk now,” she says, settling into a chair and picking up a beer.
Wait – is this really fashion’s model of the moment? On time, an unscheduled interview, happy regardless – and completely without an entourage for us to contend with? Ordinarily, this situation would require frantic phone calls to agents and publicists, hasty apologies – and possibly even begging – but there’s no need for that because Daria is here. And Daria is in charge.
You can’t pick up a copy of French or American Vogue without seeing her jaw-dropping body and feline eyes staring back at you – but in person, while tall and gorgeous, she doesn’t have that stunned alien look that so many models sport. Like Kate Moss before her, Daria is known for an off-the-clock appearance that’s equal parts laid-back and achingly cool.
Today she’s in a pair of black leather pants and a vintage tee under a tobacco-coloured cardigan not unlike the one your grandpa wears. Her hair is pulled back into a bun and she’s scrubbed off most of her make-up. It’s an ensemble that would look right at home in her wardrobe that’s jammed with leather jackets from Balmain, Chanel and Balenciaga as well as Topshop, jeans of all stripes (vintage, men’s jeans, cut-offs, jeans from high school) and hoodies – lots of hoodies.
“I get pretty attached to things, so I wear the same thing over and over and over again,” Daria says almost apologetically. “I like mixing old and new” is about as far as she gets in labelling her personal style.
What would she do if the world suddenly ran out of jeans, jackets and hoodies? “I’d probably be nude!” she laughs. Daria has certainly done her fair share of nude shoots. She’s been nude in Vogue, nude in arty French magazine Industrie as well and wearing little more than a string bikini in the latest ads for high-street
juggernaut H&M.
But nothing comes close to her recent shoot in Love magazine. On the cover and in the stunning black-and-white photos within, Daria appears as stark naked as they come, including, well... a full frontal.
“My mum was definitely a little shocked,” Daria admits. “But I think they were beautiful images of the female body. For me, it was a celebration of that. I’m not super-thin – I’m more womanly. I embrace that and I wanted to share that with women. I think we should embrace what God gave us.”
To be fair, Daria does do some work in that department. A sports enthusiast, her favourites are snowboarding and sailing – and we’re not talking lounging around on a yacht in a bikini. Last year, she hung up her high heels and spent three months sailing the Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans with her family and friends. She grew up sailing under her dad’s tutelage and is as passionate about it as ever.
“I’ve never felt so comfortable in my life as when we were out there,” she says of the trip. “Every day is completely different and you’re forced to appreciate the small details. You wake up every morning and the ocean looks like it’s a different colour. The sky is a different colour. We had birds landing on the boat. We caught fish. We saw dolphins every day.”
Spending time with her family helps keep this Canadian by way of Ukrainian-Polish parents down-to-earth. Her sister works for a charitable foundation and her brother is a computer programmer. But Daria wanted to be a model ever since she was a girl. She was 14 – and 5ft 11, with braces on her teeth – when she first signed with a Toronto modelling agency owned by a friend’s mother. But it wasn’t until 2003 that she really made headway, catching the attention of photographer Steven Meisel, Prada and French Vogue. An entire industry has been unable to take their eyes off her ever since.
An editor for website Modelinia.com, Bianca Posterli says that support from noteworthy figures such as French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld is the ultimate endorsement for the model. “Daria can truly mark her success by her versatility,” says Posterli. “One day she’s designing a make-up collection for Lancôme, the next she’s off to Paris to open and close the Balmain runway show. She’s become iconic.”
To rattle off her modelling milestones would take up far too much space here, but as an example of her power, consider this: Daria holds the record for opening and closing the most runway shows in one season – more than 12 shows in 2005 – and has just been signed as the new face of Oroton in Australia.
But it’s her Lancôme cosmetics contract that is considered the holy grail of modelling jobs – a position usually reserved for such A-list actresses as Kate Winslet and Julia Roberts. It was, she still says with some wonder, “really early” in her career. “I had just started living in New York and setting up my life and then I went full force into it.”
Despite some concerns about such heavy corporate responsibility at such a young age – she was just 21 when she signed to Lancôme – the relationship has been
nurturing, and slowly, Daria has learned to feel comfortable about having something not all models get to enjoy – a voice.
“It’s a beautiful thing, but also kind of scary,” she says, trying to explain why she’s just named doing interviews as one of her greatest challenges. “It really makes you think about who you are and who you want to be and what you want to project. I struggled with that a bit, but I’m slowly getting better – even though I’m probably more confused about things than I’ve ever been.”
Daria has now launched a make-up range with Lancôme – Brazilian Earth Colors. A portion of the proceeds go to a non-profit organisation in Rio de Janeiro called Centro Espacial, which gives kids access to arts programs as a form of therapy. “I was introduced to a few people there and it happened organically,” Daria explains. “This was personal to me and it was important that I didn’t do this work just for the sake of it. I also use art in my life as therapy; it’s helped me, so it was great to see it translate in other places.”
Daria is still finding her way with her own art, although she doesn’t rule out the idea of pursuing it professionally. Mention a 10-year plan though, and she’ll cringe. “I’ll be 36, that’s all I know!”
For now, she seems content to continue playing muse to many a designer and photographer, enjoying the travel when she can, and nesting with her boyfriend (jewellery designer Kenny Jossick, who was once an assistant to famed photographer Mario Sorrenti) and three cats when she’s at home in New York’s Lower East Side.
Today, she’s thrilled to be spending her weekend there, after just returning from three weeks on the road – one of those at home in Toronto, where her mum nursed her through a nasty bout of strep throat. “I just moved into my place in December, so I’ve got some adult things I’ve got to take care of – open mail and all that grown-up, responsible stuff.”
It can be disconcerting to hear such an industry veteran as Daria talk as if she’s fresh off the bus. But, as she explains, “You grow up so quick in this industry. I used to put a lot of pressure on myself, but then I realised, I’m still young! I’m still totally confused in figuring out my life.
“I feel like it’s always going to be that way.” She grins. “I try not to have any regrets in life.”
By Rebecca Wallwork
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