March 6, 201213 yr Elle France March 2012 Unavoidable on the catwalks, she succeeded Kate Moss as the muse of Stella McCartney ... but she has kept all the sweetness of her native Martinique and poses as if it were a game ... this is an encounter with a beautiful person.Sigrid Agren has a Swedish name and a Slavic "head" but she is 100% French. And it is a pleasure to be able to speak with her without using the simplified English that we all often struggle with in the fashion world. I remember how we were all stunned in 2008 when she closed the Prada show. The beautiful allure, the cute face. Or when she replaced Kate Moss as the muse of Stella McCartney. It was a success, whereas surpassing Kate Moss would otherwise seem a bit tricky, no? And ever since then, whether it is for Calvin Klein or Chloé or Chanel, she makes her own path: in runway shows or campaigns, we have learned to recognize her dark eyes surrounded by her "blondeness." Right now she is posing for our special fashion issue. The photographer, Jan Welters, is doing some tests, some polaroids. She is serious, but a childlike joy comes over her when we have fun folding her legs in all directions like a a gifted gymnast. Her movements are natural, a little sharp, full of urgency and of life. One only needs to see her move to understand that Sigrid is a good person. I believe she was 13 (or 13 and a half) when, eight years ago, she enrolled in a contest sponsored by Elite in Martinique. At this time, she lived near Fort-de-France, where she was born, with her Swedish father and her mother from there [Martinique?], originally from Granville in Normandy. Elite published an announcement in the local newspaper and her friends told her "you should try." "I went there without much hope" she clarifies. Someone once explained to me that models are often the kind of people who, as adolescents, are totally ignorant of their beauty, who simply feel different, too tall to kiss the boys. She won the competition on the world level. Overnight, but for a good cause, she was cut off from her family, from her school, and from her friends. "Thankfully there was Facebook," she sighs, and a flash of childhood can be seen in her eyes. She fought to continue, despite ups and downs, with her studies. She even had to stop modeling for a short time. She also fought to maintain her link to Martinique. She says, "when I return, and it is as often as possible, it is enormously comforting to see that nothing has changed, and to have a normal rhythm. Fashion is a world where things change so fast, we no longer understand what time is for real." Perhaps because we speak the same language, I completely understand what it means to have this profession. "It is not at all what I imagined. Among so many beautiful women, you can't consider yourself better than anyone else. There are so many wonderful girls and so few places on the runways." But Sigrid has something more: she is conscientious. She sees certain others "burn their wings" and during this time, she works. Apparently, she doesn't go out, she flees from the nightclubs and the groupies of "seducers" that attach themselves to other top models. Evidently, she is not self-destructive. Her feet are now firmly on the ground, after having had "sea legs" as a child when her father worked on boats. Nothing goes to her head: "I quickly learned that the celebrity of models is relative. For example, in the street, I can pass in front of an enormous poster with my face on it and nobody makes the connection." She is beginning to be less timid/shy, to dare, with her legendary politeness, to speak up a little more when she is exhausted or when a position [job?] is not desirable. "It is a world where you can have the impression that you are surrounded by people that know better than you. Therefore, in reaction, you can either become capricious, or you can find a more intelligent way to exist by asking people questions, not about their private life or petty troubles, but rather to discuss the work we do together." This commands respect for her: it looks like she has not become hardened/jaded. Everything has remained tender/soft. I remind her that she was the target of some comments on the Internet when we saw a photo circulating of her backstage during a show, where we saw her back, her nude torso, in the process of changing, and where she seemed very thin. Again her calm is a lesson: "from certain angles no one has the advantage." She adds, "the problem is that today very thin people are treated like suspects. We look for signs of thinness as if they were proof of a problem. As if all thin people were doing it on purpose by starving themselves. My mother is also very thin, it's in my constitution." She says these things in a sweet voice. Oh such a nice person ... She needs to return to the photo shoot. As discreetly as I can, I contemplate Sigrid's svelte, supple, and tender body. Long arms that tend to roll up her sleeves. The grace. Ah there is beauty in this world. translation by 2ou3choses from Fashion Spot
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