Natalia Vodianova

[Candy Lady]

Here I agree with Renyxa again, that voting time... I couldn't wait when it was over, honestly.. That mad man Malakhov needs to tie his hands to his body and let Natalia host the second semi-final gracefully!

Anyways, here are my creencaps from press conference before the 1st semi-final. Some of them are not focused, but you know, people move

Hate to say this but Natalia and Andrey behaved not very polite, as regardless of whether somebody was speaking or not they continued talking all conference long. Not good.

[Candy Lady]

I just saw an interview with Alsou (she will host the final on may 16th) and she said that they have a very strickt script and that everything is counted until seconds and writers told them to stay with the script, so I suppose the same situation is with Natalia and at least it is not her fault that they sounded awkward yesterday. Maybe it is crazy Andrey who made it weird

[Candy Lady]

My screen caps from 1st semi-final

[Renyxa]

I just saw an interview with Alsou (she will host the final on may 16th) and she said that they have a very strickt script and that everything is counted until seconds and writers told them to stay with the script

how funny poor Andrey, i think he was punished by organizers :evil:

[Candy Lady]

Pictures from Eurovision, credit: www.eurovision.tv

[Candy Lady]

From the press-conference (same source)

PS. What is Natalia wearing???

[Candy Lady]

Second Semi-Final: Dress Rehearsal (same source)

[CarMELita]

Vogue UK September 2003

ph. by Mario Testino

source: blogspot, beautyliesintheeye

[Candy Lady]

Natalia at one of the openings of her playgrounds (Russia)

[Candy Lady]

Getting ready for the MET ball (soure: youtube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMru4VeFZ9k (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQxefPOHNOU (part 2)

[@lice]

so cute

[Renyxa]

let's congratulate Natalia with a successful ending of her mission!

[Chocolate]

She was beautiful tonight! And she mentioned Carmen Kass

[Candy Lady]

Picture from tden.ru (some after party)

[Candy Lady]

Natalia's short interview. from kp.ru

- Natalia, I'm sure you have already watched the tape of your show after the 1st semi-final, haven't you?

- Unfortunately, no. I'd like to see it, but rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals. No time.

- Where were you when you got an invitation to host the main contest in Europe?

- In New York. Actually, I didn't accept the invitation at once. The reason is that for that period of time I had a work to do, which I had to reschedule because of the contest. So these 6 day working at Eurovision were a big decision for me to make.

- On stage you wore several amazing dresses. Did you pick them yourself or stylist helped you?

- I picked by myself only!

- Who was your main audience?

- My son. He and my husband were backstage during the show. He watched and voted. For Iceland, by the way. When I finished the show, he was extremely happy. We discussed the semi-final and he said: "Mom, this is so great! Dad wanted Finland to win. I wanted Iceland. You wanted Turkey. And the all made it!" I am a fairy for him now (laughs).

- Natalia, who called you first after the show?

- My friends sent me messages. Nobody called. I guess this was because the understand how overwhelmed I was. You know, after the show I was so stressed out... Because I was very emotional on stage. I sat on the chair backstage and couldn't get up. My husband told me: "Let's go?" and I was like: "Justin, you have no idea how I feel right now. I am so stressed!" But then the messages from friends started to come and they were like: "You were great! Everything was good!". I felt better at once. But still I couldn't fall asleep until 4 in the morning. I was still very on emotions. Because I understood that I'll have to go on stage once more. If that was my final show, I'd feel much better.

- How do you make yourself feel better?

- By having a laugh and a green tea. I am not taking myself too serious. I understand, that everything can happen.

- Do you read what people write on forums about your show?

- Never! (Laughs)

[Candy Lady]

More pictures (unfortunately with watermarks)

[fashionmistake1234]

i dont like natalia with her hair down in the black dress and too much makeup

[Candy Lady]

From CNN:

Walking off the plane at Domodedovo airport in Moscow, our crew quickly discovered that Russia is quite possibly the most bureaucratic country in the world.

It took over three hours for the border control to check every luggage item and all the registration paper work. This was just the beginning as My City, My Life descended on the streets of Moscow for four days to film Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova.

Our plans for each day’s shoot were usually replaced with off-the-cuff, impromptu filming. Each day we began with an idea of where we would be shooting and by the end of the day we found ourselves nowhere near those locations.

It was evident from the start that the more of the city Natalia shared with us, the more she could offer had she more time. She quickly made herself available to us for four days, doubling our original agreement, in order to fit in as much as possible. Such willingness to share time is hard to come by from anyone, let alone from a genuine star.

Natalia was also insistent that her family — husband and three children — were part of the show as family is the most important aspect of her life. As expected, the Russian model was a complete natural on camera, but it was Natalia’s genuine willingness to try almost anything and her kind-hearted attention to her fans that caught us by surprise.

While the model was easy to work with, the same cannot be said about the ever-present, city-wide, security. They continuously made our lives difficult by pestering us for filming permissions and telling us we could only film in a certain direction, which most of the time was not the one we needed.

On a few occasions, we ended up being filmed by police while we were working, for evidence in case we pointed our camera in a forbidden direction.

After being shut down a minute into filming in Red Square, Natalia salvaged the cold remains of the day with an invitation to film in a traditional, Siberian 'banya' or bathhouse.

At the 'banya' Natalia and her husband Justin were smeared with honey, had hot water and milk poured over them repeatedly, and were given full body rubs by burly men in a room literally as hot as an oven.

Moscow has harsh seasonal changes, snowy April days, domineering architecture and people that will often walk right through you as if you don’t exist. But we visited locations that opened up for me a kinder Russia rarely depicted by world’s media.

In Red Square, people crowd not inside the walls of the Kremlin but on a gilded square marked out on the cobblestones, just a few meters wide and far away from St. Basil’s Cathedral. It is the geographical center of the city, where people come to stand in the hope of receiving good fortune in the future.

A metro station with statues from the Bolshevik era hovering over the passing crowds has a bronze dog whose nose has been polished smooth over the decades by people wishing for good luck. The 'memory wall' and the 'love bridge' are locations where lovers and friends tie ever-lasting bonds with pens, markers and locks.

Natalia did a fantastic job letting My City, My Life see beyond Moscow’s public façade. Given the difficulties provided by the city itself, it was perfectly counterbalanced by her good-hearted nature.

[Candy Lady]

A better quality of Vogue Russia June'09