Excelsior

Yes, unfortunately, picking out models who don't smoke is pretty much the same as picking out intelligent models! You tend to remember them! The 3 that spring to mind are Laetitia Casta, Marissa Miller and Tyra. I'm pretty certain Karolina doesn't smoke either, Gisele doesn't anymore, Josie Maran gave up (pregnancy and all that), as you've already said Doetzen definitely doesn't. There are some who smoke like chimneys like Carmen Kass and the thoroughly unpleasant Diane Dondoe. Adriana and Ale smokes loads as well.

You may well be right. I was talking to someone I know today in a far better position than I, and I was wrong when I said that Adriana's contract is up in 2008. Its up this year. So, she would be in New York recently for negotiations (as Gisele was). Guess we'll find out in the next couple of weeks. If you hear nothing after that, likely she re-signed.

Well, she did. However, I was watching an interview she did at the Spiderman 3 Premiere today. Several things struck me. First, she's been to a whole lot of premieres and the like in recent weeks. Probably more so than she did in the whole of 2006. Second, her voice - it is a lot deeper (but not sore throat-esque) and she was speaking noticably slower than in the past. As if she was concentrating on what she said. Thirdly, what she said. The interviewer asked her if she had ever been to Queens before (daft question!). She replied, "I have got a funny story about that". That's a choice phrase - the reason people say that in media interviews and on the likes of Letterman is it suddenly gets the undivided attention of the questioner. Funny stories have punchlines. Punchlines come at the end, so the interviewer wont interrupt till the person has finished speaking. The clever part is, it doesn't matter if the reply is funny or not. The reason I know this is because I have had media training. Given that Adriana has (a) got herself out there more, (b) worked on her english and © seems to have had work on her handling of the media, and I should point out that now not working in the role I once was I am making as much of an educated guess at everyone else, it could be that VS are going to try and elevate Adriana's profile again.

I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I do know that VS are pretty annoyed at a whole bunch of their current Angel line-up and this is the probable reason they are starting to put out stories about their new girls. Gisele has been a general pain, is extremely expensive and generally, her performance at the previous Fashion Show was regarded as awful, including her utterly ridiculous entrance during Timberlake's first song where she stared at the floor. Selita has annoyed VS who seemed to act as her PR during the "Las Vegas Marriage" shenanighans. Adriana has annoyed VS a lot since signing with Maybelline, thus cutting her out of a good deal of VS product pushes. The widely regarded opinion is that Adriana is a great, professional model (she NEVER misses an appointment, always acts professionally on set). However, this is a girl whoeveryone thought would be the biggest, the best, VS's #1 girl. However, she has never put enough into her communication skills (ie. her english is still awful) and she is extremely lacking in media savvy (eg. VS were rather happy that GQ concentrated on the virgin part of her interview, because she also said "abortion is a crime", thus flying in the face of the opinion of over 50% of VS's customers - not very clever, not very clever at all). I personally would not be surprised at all if VS had a cull of its present lineup. With the likes of Raica Oliveira, Luli Fernandez, Pampita (surely the most underrated model in the world), Sophia Zamolo and a general move back to traditional-looking US models (Filippa, Marissa, etc) and some Europeans such as the UK models and Dutch models like Ellemieke Vermolen, VS could get a hell of a lineup for a lot less money than they pay now. One thing to add, which might just make everything I've said above, moot, but Adriana, as I remember, was under contract till end of 2008.