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Iselin for Chanel

Iselin on the cover to Norwegian D2 (Dagens Næringsliv)

My boyfriend was on a trip to Oslo, and had whit him a gift to me :heart:

a magazine whit Iselin on the cover...

I was totally surprised that he recognised her… He is not in this model stuff :wub:

I should have posted this for a week ago….

But it took some time for me to translate to English….

but before I was finish I found a translation written by Malin A on TFS

(thanks for the great work) who was much better that my translation was

I was trying my best to scan this magazine, but I could not fit all in to my scanner.

I post the interview in English and Norwegian

Interview in Norwegian

Sjelden supermodell

Iselin Vollen Steiro (22) avslår stadig jobbtilbud som ville gitt millioner i kassen.

MARTE SPURKLAND og TOM SANDBERG (FOTO)

mote I en hage på Oslo vest møtes to mennesker fra vidt forskjellige verdener. De står overfor hverandre med føttene i rimfrossent løv og betrakter hverandre. Iselin Steiro, Norges største supermodell gjennom tidene, ser spinkel, frossen og avventende ut.

Tom Sandberg, gråtonenes mester og ledende skikkelse innen norsk fotokunst, ser ut som han ikke helt vet hvordan han skal gripe an situasjonen. Hennes oppdrag for dagen er «å være seg selv». Hans oppdrag er å forevige henne mens hun er det.

- Jeg kommer nok til å hente frem et litt halvskeptisk uttrykk, sier Steiro.

- Et blikk som sier «jeg vet at du ser på meg» til kameraet. Det syns jeg er fint.

Sandberg ser tvilende ut. Mumler noe om unødvendige føringer og at lyset uansett ikke er optimalt ennå. Vinker henne bort til verandaen og peker mot en hvit plaststol som står ved et lite bord. Steiro synker ned i stolen, krummer ryggen, trekker de lange bena oppunder seg og inntar hvileposisjon.

Sandberg er oppe med kameraet og knipser.

- Nå er du deg selv, sier han triumferende.

Og så:

- Er du ikke?

Hun drar litt i luggen og retter blikket fast mot linsen hans.

- Joda. Tror du ikke på meg, kanskje?

Raskt til topps. Det er noen måneder siden sist gang Iselin Vollen Steiro utførte et oppdrag foran et kamera. En periode gjorde hun knapt noe annet.

Fra høsten 2004 til høsten 2006 var Steiro et av de absolutt heteste navnene i internasjonal moteverden. Aktører i bransjen er fortsatt i stuss over hvor raskt hun jobbet seg opp fra status som såkalt «new face» til etablert supermodell.

Høsten 2006 var hun i en posisjon hvor hun kunne velge å jobbe utelukkende med de beste motefotografene, for de største motemerkene og de viktigste motemagasinene.

På bransjenettstedet models.com var hun ranket som verdens fjerde viktigste toppmodell. For en modell på dette nivået fantes det bare én vei videre: den som leder helt til topps.

Men så slo lynet ned.

Fotografenes muse. Steiro ville ikke mer. Hun hadde ikke noe ønske om å klatre til den øverste modelltoppen, og ville heller reise hjem og bli student på heltid. Et kollektivt gisp gjennom moteverdenen. Hvordan kunne hun? Steiros byråer og agenter i Oslo, Paris og New York fortvilte. Bare et par år til med jobbing, så ville hun ha lagt seg opp nok penger for livet, argumenterte de.

Men ifølge Bruno Jamagne, bookingansvarlig for den franske avdelingen av Women Management, var det toppfotografene innen bransjen som ble aller mest skuffet.

- Iselin er spesiell. Fotografene hun har jobbet med har status som moteverdenens Da Vincier. Ved at hun trakk seg tilbake mistet de en av sine viktigste inspirasjonskilder. En av sine viktigste muser.

Men Steiro var urokkelig. Hun pakket sakene sine og dro hjem til gamlelandet, søkte studieplass ved NTNU og kjøpte seg leilighet i Trondheim.

- Det ble kanskje et litt overdramatisk brudd fra min side, sier hun i dag.

- Men jeg hadde følt en stund at jeg egentlig ikke ville holde på med dette mer. Og etter at jeg hadde tatt coverbilde til italienske Vogues augustnummer 2006, tenkte jeg «greit, det var det. Nå er det nok».

Taus og mystisk. Som en av verdens største supermodeller har Steiro vært et ettertraktet intervjuobjekt for norske og internasjonale medier. Hun har valgt å forholde seg taus.

Historiene som verserer om henne der ute er dermed få, og ofte fortalte. «Alle» vet at hun er vokst opp langt mot nord i Harstad og ble oppdaget da hun var 14 år gammel og på juleshopping i London med mamma og pappa. «Alle» vet også at Steiros foreldre insisterte på at datteren skulle fullføre videregående skole før hun fikk prøve seg ute i den store verden, og at det derfor drøyde noen år før internasjonal motebransje for alvor ble introdusert for den klassiske skjønnheten.

Men så vet ikke «alle» så mye mer. Om supermodellens privatliv, nykker, opp- og nedturer har det vært øredøvende stille. Og også om årsakene til hennes farvel til moteverdenen.

Steiro er fortsatt strikt på at hun ikke har lyst til å legge ut om vekt og press og bransjens dunklere sider.

- Det går jo også an å snakke om modellyrket som et av de få yrkene hvor jentene helt klart er på toppen. Det finnes ikke mange verdenskjente guttemodeller, eller hva?

«Fuck me like a boy». Noe av det viktigste som skal til for å lykkes som toppmodell er at man har et talent for rolletolkning, mener Steiro.

Sommeren 2003 fikk hun sine første rolleinstruksjoner fra New Yorks motefotografer. Det var sommeren før tredje klasse på videregående, og hun hadde under tvil fått tillatelse fra foreldrene til å tilbringe ferieukene i motemetropolen for å teste ut modelltilværelsen. Mange av bildene fra denne perioden viser en 17 år gammel jente med et undrende, nesten litt skremt uttrykk i ansiktet. Men én billedserie er annerledes. Her stirrer Steiro mot kameraet; trassig, kraftfullt, aggressivt. Utviser et typisk vellykket modelluttrykk.

- Det der er ikke skuespill, sier Steiro tørt.

Den homofile fotografen hadde falt pladask for den unge modellens androgyne fremtoning, og prøvde etter beste evne å motivere henne til å spille ut sitt gutteaktige uttrykk på best mulig måte.

- Han sto bak kameraet og ropte «Fuck me, fuck me like a boy». Jeg ble rasende. Ville bare hjem. Det er dét du ser på bildet.

Etter hvert skulle det mindre til før Steiro klarte å finne frem til de gode uttrykkene. Hun begynte å utvikle en teft.

- Fotografene vet ikke alltid helt hva de vil ha, forklarer hun.

- De kan gi deg et utgangspunkt, en måte å stå eller sitte på. Men derfra får du spillerom til å vise følelser, gi dem noe som har liv. Du må skjønne hvem du er på hver eneste jobb. Finne en egen identitet til hvert oppdrag.

Rollen som sterk og sexy kvinne er kanskje den vanligste hun har blitt bedt om å spille.

Det er først og fremst i motemagasinenes redaksjonelle billedserier at toppmodellene får spille interessante roller. Det motsatte, å ta bilder som bare skal selge en vare, er noe av det kjedeligste Steiro kan tenke seg. Her er hun terrorist i en billedserie for italienske Vouge september 2006.

De sære rollene. Men Steiro selv foretrakk de litt rarere konseptene. I løpet av karrieren har hun blitt avbildet som transvestitthore i en trailerpark. Som mannlig glamrocker i rockeband. Som innlagt på mentalsykehus. Som medlem i en religiøs sekt, og som potensiell terrorist i sikkerhetskontroll på en flyplass.

Nettopp Steiros talent for rolletolkning trekkes frem fra aktørene i bransjen som noe av det som gjorde henne så unik. Fotografer som hadde jobbet med henne en gang, ba gjerne om å få jobbe med henne igjen. Det skaffet henne mange av de mest attraktive oppdragene i bransjen.

- Hvor langt går du da for å holde deg inne med fotografen?

Steiro sperrer opp øynene.

- Spør du om jeg har ligget med en fotograf?!

- Du kan svare generelt, ut fra ting som skjer i bransjen som sådan.

- Det skjer mer med guttemodeller, etter hva jeg har hørt. Mange av disse fotografene er jo også homofile. Så nei, jeg tror ikke det skjer noe særlig på jentesiden. Hun pauser og tenker seg om.

- Men du merker det jo når en fotograf ser på deg med ulveblikk.

- Hva er ditt neste trekk da?

- Det har egentlig bare skjedd en gang. Og det var en fotograf som har rykte på seg for å være litt av en gris. Så jeg tok det ikke veldig alvorlig.

Steiro har gjort flere kampanjer for Gucci. Dette er fra en jubileumskampanje lansert sommeren 2006.

Fra Gucci til Vogue. I modellverdenen heter det ikke «Suffer for beauty». Det heter «Die for fashion».

Steiro mener at hun alt i alt har sluppet billig. Vel var det tøft den første høsten i New York, da hun etter fullført skolegang kom til byen med en koffert i hånden, ble stuet inn i en liten leilighet med syv-åtte andre kanskje-supre modeller, og fikk beskjed om at det første hun måtte gjøre var å bli radikalt bedre til å gå på høye hæler.

Men det tok ikke lang tid før vinden begynte å blåse Steiros vei. I løpet av 2004-sesongen gikk hun show for prestisjemerker som Prada og Calvin Klein, og på ryktebørsen i den svært ryktebaserte bransjen summet ryktene om «the new girl» fra Norge.

- Sommeren 2005 tenkte jeg at nå må jeg satse litt. Kjøre på. For nå går det bra. Og jeg så jo at det var noen fordeler med å få det til. Økonomisk, for eksempel. Det er ikke til å legge skjul på at man får flere muligheter ved å gjøre de gode jobbene, enn ved å gjøre de halvkjipe, dårlig betalte.

I løpet av showsesongen høsten 2005 gjorde Steiro opptil seks show per dag og sov ikke mer enn tre til fem timer per natt. Innsatsen betalte seg.

Da sesongen var over ringte Gucci og ville ha henne til å fronte deres kommende kampanje. Derfra gikk det slag i slag.

Steiro gikk fra Gucci til Chanel til Valentino. Fra magasinene Harpers Bazaar og I-D til franske og italienske Vogue.

På et tidspunkt var hun aktuell kandidat til å få en kontrakt med kosmetikkfirmaet Estée Lauder. En kontrakt som ville plassert henne blant verdens best betalte modeller.

Men det var ikke alt modellhåndverket som kom like lett for motebransjens nye yndling.

Bambi på catwalken. På stikkordet «catwalk» blir Steiro fnisete og lett hektisk i ansiktsfargen.

- Jeg har alltid syns det har vært forferdelig å gå catwalk. Jeg rødmer fortsatt masse når jeg gjør det. Føler at jeg ikke har kontroll på situasjonen.

Det verste Steiro har gjort på en catwalk er å velge feil utgang. Miste en sko. Vise en pupp uten at det var tilsiktet. Men sånt kan hun leve med. Det som plager henne er at hun mener hun ikke er i nærheten av å få til de kattepusaktige, myke bevegelsene som har gitt navn til gangarten.

- Mitt ganglag kan best beskrives som marsjering, tror jeg. Men heldigvis for meg ble jeg lenge sett på som en androgyn, litt hard type. Derfor gjorde jeg få typisk sexy show. Jeg gjorde mest de klassiske hvor man skal gå helt streit og sette den ene foten rett foran den andre. Balenciaga, for eksempel. Der er det meningen at man skal gå krasj krasj krasj over gulvet. Det er mitt favorittshow. Der ble jeg god.

Men modeller i toppklassen er pent nødt til å beherske flere gangarter. Steiro øvde og øvde, på kryssing av ben og hoftesving, teknikken som karakteriserer de typisk sexy catwalkene. Forbannet de mytiske fremstillingene av catwalkens glamour.

- Når jeg går catwalk ser jeg ingenting. Ingen blitz, ingen beundrende blikk fra salen. Jeg hører musikken og rytmen jeg skal følge. Og stemmen inni mitt eget hode som sier: «Å, nei, nå glemte jeg å ta den svingen». «Nå tråkker jeg på kjolen». «Nå må jeg huske å stoppe». Det er virkelig ikke veldig glamorøst.

Etter å ha tenkt seg lenge om kommer Steiro på ett positivt element i catwalkopplevelsen.

- Det hender jeg hører navnet mitt hvisket i mørket på sidene når jeg går. Hvis de i salen lurer på hvem modellen er. Da hører jeg, veldig svakt, «Iselin», «Iselin». Det kan være litt fint.

Modellmytene. Så er vi tilbake til det store spørsmålet. Når alt gikk så bra og karrieren var så lysende, hva var det som utløste den dramatiske følelsen hos Steiro av at hun bare ikke orket mer, høsten 2006?

- Når du spør slik merker jeg at jeg er redd for å fremstå som bitter.

- Hvorfor det?

- Det er så mange historier i mediene om modeller som legger opp fordi de er utbrente og nedbrutte. Eller gravide. Det er liksom de to grunnene man har til å slutte. Men for meg var det ikke sånn.

De svarteste av modellmytene stammer fra nittitallet, mener Steiro. Supermodellenes store tiår.

- Historiene om fri flyt av champagne og kokain og modeller som er så ruset at de faller ned fra catwalken stammer derfra. Men på slutten av nittitallet gjennomførte man en stor opprydning i miljøet, og nå er ting ganske annerledes. I dag er det omtrent like mye dop i modellbransjen som det er i alle andre bransjer. Det er en fritidssak. Det er ingen som deler ut dop backstage, sånn som folk tror. De fleste modeller er veldig klar over at de har en jobb å gjøre, og da nytter det ikke å være ruset.

Vektpresset. Men én myte om modelltilværelsen kan ikke hun tilbakevise. Man blir tynn av den.

På hjemmesidene til Women Management presenteres supermodell Steiros vitale mål som bryst: 81 cm, midje: 61 cm og hofter: 88 cm. Ikke overveldende høye tall for en jente som er 178 cm høy.

- Modeller sover lite og spiser lite. Sånn er det jo. Særlig i showsesongene, sier Steiro.

Ganske lenge overlevde hun på adrenalinet hun fikk av å reise verden rundt, gå show og bli fotografert.

- Men når de tingene blir rutine, da merker man at det begynner å ta på. At kroppen begynner å slite.

- Holder du matchvekten du hadde som modell?

- Jeg har ikke lyst til å snakke om vekt. Men ok. Jeg har lagt på meg. Mange kilo.

Men det var heller ikke vektpresset som gjorde at hun trakk seg tilbake, understreker hun.

- Jeg har alltid sett på modellkarrieren som et mellomstadium. Og nå hadde jeg nådd et punkt hvor jeg ikke følte at jeg ble stimulert lenger. Jeg hadde lyst til å studere. Lyst til å kunne henge med venner. Ønsket meg en hverdag, rett og slett. Man skal ikke kimse av hverdagsritualer.

Frustrerte moteguruer. For Steiros modellbyråer har hverdagen endret seg etter at de mistet sin norske stjerne.

Fra høsten 2006 til sommeren 2007, da hun bodde i Trondheim og var meldt opp til forberedende studier ved universitetet, klarte de å lokke henne ut på nok oppdrag til at hun kunne regnes som halvtidsmodell. Men fra hun begynte på arkitektstudiet i Oslo høsten 2007 har hun vært kategorisk i sine avslag.

Modellmamma Eivor Øvrebø i Team Models prøver å se positivt på situasjonen.

- Bransjen respekterer Iselin veldig for avgjørelsen hennes. Hun kan komme tilbake når som helst og fortsette der hun slapp.

Det er ingen i motebransjen som er villige til å angi konkrete summer på oppdrag og jobber, men Øvrebø bekrefter at tilbudene Steiro avslår er av den arten modeller flest ville spist av seg armen for å få.

- Det dreier seg om store oppdrag til massevis av dollar. World wide-kampanje for HM, som er veldig godt betalt, for eksempel. Andre oppdrag med honorarer som starter på 150.000 til 200.000 dollar og går oppover. Men Iselin har alltid vært en bestemt dame. Og nå takker hun nei.

Bruno Jamagne ved franske Women Management mener at Steiros posisjon gjør at hun kan være tilbakeholden en god stund uten å miste de fete tilbudene.

- Alle vil ha det de ikke kan få. Iselin kan holde markedsverdien oppe ved å komme inn nå og da og gjøre de aller største jobbene. Så lenge hun ikke er helt borte i fem år, går det bra.

Administrerende direktør Chris Gay ved Women Management i New York er ikke like positiv.

- Vi avslår tilbud fra de mest prestisjetunge aktørene i bransjen på hennes vegne på daglig basis. Iselin sier at hun utelukkende kan jobbe i helger, så hun er ikke akkurat veldig tilgjengelig. Jeg kan ikke si annet enn at vi savner henne.

Gay mener Steiro ikke burde gi seg helt før hun har hatt en stor kosmetikkontrakt.

- Med en kosmetikkontrakt blir hun istand til å sikre seg selv, sine barn og barnebarn finansielt for all fremtid. Som hennes agent er det klart vi ønsker henne det.

Steiro avviser ikke blankt at hun kan komme til å gjøre sjeldne gjesteopptredener som modell, hvis oppdragene bare er attraktive nok.

- Får jeg et helt svimlende tilbud som gjør at jeg kan jobbe ti dager i året og tjene en masse penger, er det ikke sikkert jeg sier nei. Men så langt har jeg prioritert skolen.

I skyggen. I hagen på Oslo Vest har Tom Sandberg endelig fått lyset han ønsker seg. Det kommer ikke til å vare mer enn maks femten minutter, så det gjelder å være rask.

- Men hun er ikke akkurat vanskelig å jobbe med, denne damen.

Sandberg dirigerer Steiro over til stolen som står på den andre siden av det lave bordet.

- Du tåler å sitte litt i skyggen også, du.

Hun gjør noe med hendene som han liker. Han ber om å få mer av det. Går ned på kne og knipser og knipser. Hun sitter helt stille. Den lange luggen som henger ned på hver side av ansiktet får henne til å se enda spinklere ut. Hun minner om en afghansk mynde, og solen har ennå ikke sunket bak taket på nabohuset.

- Vi har så mange bilder nå at jeg er sikker på at det er noen gode blant dem, sier Sandberg.

- Men jeg har lyst til å ta noen til.

Fotografen sender henne et blikk over kameraet.

- Du er ikke sliten ennå?

Mynden ser mildt himmelfallen ut.

- Nei. Er du?

Interview in English

Rare supermodel

Iselin Vollen Steiro (22) rejects job offers that would’ve given her millions on a daily basis.

In a garden in Oslo west, two people, from two completely different worlds, meet. They face each other with their feet in hoarfrosted(?) grass and gaze at each other. Iselin Steiro, Norway’s biggest model throughout the times, looks slender, cold and expectant.

Tom Sandberg, master of the greys, and leading man in Norwegian photo art, looks as if he doesn’t quite know how to tackle the situation. Her task for today is to be herself, his is to immortalize it.

- I’ll probably bring out one of those sceptical looks, Steiro says

- A look that says “I know you’re looking at me” to the camera. I think they’re nice.

Sandberg looks doubtful. Mumbles something about unnecessary guiding and about the light not being optimal. Waives her over to the veranda and points at a white plastic chair the stands by a little table. Steiro sinks down into the chair, curves her back and pull her long legs up under her and places herself in resting position.

Sandberg grabs his camera and snaps.

- Now you’re yourself! He says triumphing.

And so:

- Aren’t you?

She pulls her bangs and fixes her eyes on the lens.

- Sure. Don’t you believe me?

Quickly to the top. It’s been a few months since the last time Iselin Vollen Steiro did a job in front of the lens. A period that was all she ever did.

From fall 2004 to fall 2006 Iselin was one of the hottest name in the international fashion world. The business is still astonished about how quickly she worked her way up from the status as “New Face” to established supermodel.

The fall of 2006 she was in the position that she could choose to work exclusively with the best fashion photographers, for the biggest labels and for the most important magazines.

On the website www.models.com, she was ranked as the worlds fourth most important top model. For a model at this level, there’s only one road: the one that leads to the top.

But then the lightning struck.

The photographers muse. Steiro didn’t want more. She had no desire to climb to the topmost league of models, she would rather go home and be a fulltime student. A collective(?) gasp in the fashion world. How could she? Steiros agencies and agents in Oslo, Paris and New York despaired. A couple years of working and she would have enough money for the rest of her life, they argued.

But according to Bruno Jamagne, booker for the French department of Women Management, the top photographers in the business were the most disappointed.

- Iselin is special. The photographers she’s worked are the Da Vinci’s of the fashion world. When she retired they lost one of their most important inspirations. One of their most important muse.

But Iselin was firm in her case. She packed her stuff and headed home, applied at NTNU and bought an apartment in Trondheim.

- It was probably a bit of an overdramatic break from my side, she says today.

- But I had felt for a while that I really didn’t want to do this more. And after I had shot the cover for Italian Vogue August 2006, I thought: “Okay, this is it. It’s enough”

Silent and mystical. As one of the worlds greatest models, Steiro has been a much longed for interviewee for both Norwegian and international media. She has chosen to remain silent.

The histories that circulate about her are therefore few and often told. “Everyone” know the she grew up far north, in Harstad, and that she was discovered 14 years old when Christmas shopping in London with her parents. “Everyone” also know that Steiro’s parents insisted that she finished high school before she could give it a shot out in the big world, and that the big fashion business’s meet with the classical beauty consequently was delayed a few years.

But then “everyone” don’t know a whole lot more. About the supermodels private life and ups and downs, there has been little writing.

Steiro is still firm on that she doesn’t want to tell about weight and pressure and the darker side of the business.

- You could talk about how the modelling business is one of the few businesses where the girls are clearly on top? There’s not many world known male models, are there?

“F*** me like a boy” One of the most important traits for a model, is to have a talent for playing characters, Steiro thinks.

The summer of 2003 she got her first instructions from New York’s fashion photographers. It was the summer before her last year of high school, and she had, under doubt, gotten permission from her parents to spend her holiday in the fashion metropolis to try the model life. A lot of the picture from this period shows a 17 year old girl with a wonderingly, almost scared, look on her face. But one film is different. On this one Steiro stares at the camera: spiteful, powerful, aggressive. Exercising a typical successful look.

- That isn’t acting, Steiro says dryly.

The gay photographer had fallen for the young models androgynous look, and really tried to make the model play on her boyish appearance the best way possible.

- He stood behind the camera and shouted “f*** me! f*** me like a boy!” I was furious. Just wanted to go home. That is what you see on the photo.

After a while it didn’t take as much for Steiro to bring out the good expressions. She started to develop a good ability.

- Thee photographers don’t really know what they want, she explains.

- They can give you a starting point, a way to stand or sit. But from there you get freedom to show emotions, to give them something that lives. You have to understand who you are on every job. Find an own identity for every assignment.

The role as a strong and sexy woman is probably the role she’s been told to act the most times.

The weird roles. But Steiro preferred the weirder concepts. Throughout her career she’s been portrayed as a transvestite whore in a trailer park. A male glam rocker in a rock band. As a patient at a mental institution. As a part of a religious sect and potential terrorist at an airport security check(?).

Namely Steiros ability to get in character is brought up by the people in the business as a part of what made her so unique. Photographers that worked with her would ask to work with her again. That landed her many of the most prestigious jobs in the business.

- How far were you willing to go to stay on the good side with the photographers?

Steiro’s eyes opens wide.

- Are you asking if I’ve slept with a photographer?!

- You can answer in general, what happens in the business etc.

- It happens more with male models, from what I’ve heard. A lot of the photographers are gay. So no, I don’t think it happens that much on the female side. She pauses and thinks.

- But you feel it straight away when a photographer’s got that look.

- What do you do then?

- It only really happened to me once. And everyone knew the photographer was a pig, so I didn’t really take it that seriously.

From Gucci to Vogue. In the model world it’s not “Suffer for beauty”. It’s “Die for fashion”.

Steiro thinks that all in all she’s taken the easy route. So it was tough the first fall in New York, when she after graduating came to town with a suitcase in her hand, and was stuffed in an apartment with 7 or 8 other maybe-supermodels, and was told that the first thing she had to go was to become drastically better at walking with high heels.

But it didn’t take long before the wind blew Steiro’s way. During the 2004 seasons she did prestigious shows like Calvin Klein and Prada, and rumours buzzed in the business about “the new girl” from Norway.

- The summer of 2005 I though that Okay, now I have to go for it, I’m doing good, I like this. And there were a few economical perks as well, of course.

During the show season of fall 2005, Steiro did up to 6 shows a day, and didn’t sleep more than three to five hours a night.

The effort paid of.

When the season was over she got calls from Gucci who wanted her to front their coming campaign. After that things went smoothly.

Steiro went from Gucci to Chanel to Valentino. From magazines Harpers Bazaar and I-D to French and Italian Vogue.

At one point she was a candidate for a contract with Estée Lauder. A contract that would’ve placed her amongst the worlds best paid models.

But everything modelling didn’t come as easy for the favourite of the fashion biz.

Bambi on catwalk. When the word “catwalk” is mentioned, Iselin gets giggly and a bit hectic in her facial colour.

- I always hated to go on the catwalk. I still blush when doing it. I don’t feel I have control of the situation.

The worst thing Steiro has done on a catwalk is to choose the wrong exit. Lost a shoe. Showed a breast unintentionally. But she can live with that. What bothers her is that she can’t do the kitten like soft movements that has named the walk.

- My way of walking is best described as marching. But luckily I was long viewed as very androgynous, a hard type. Therefore I did little typically sexy shows. I mostly did the classical ones, where you put one foot in front of the other. Balenciaga for instance. You’re supposed to go crash, crash, crash over the floor. It’s my favourite show. I was good there.

- When I go catwalk I don’t see anything. I hear the music and the rhythm I’m supposed to follow, and the voice inside my head that says: “Oh no, I forgot the turn”. “I’m going to step on my dress” “Remember to stop!”. It’s really not that glamorous.

After thing for long, Iselin remembers one positive thing about catwalking

- Sometimes I hear my name whispered in the darkness as I walk past. If someone there wonders who the model is. Then I’ll hear, very faint, “Iselin”, “Iselin”. That can be a little good.

Model myths. And then we’re back to the big question. When everything was going so well, and the career was so bright, what trigged the dramatic feeling in Steiro that she just couldn’t take it anymore, the fall of 2006?

- When you ask like that I feel I’m a little bit afraid to be portrayed as bitter.

- Why?

- There’s so many stories in the media that’s quitting because they’re burnt-out and broken-down(?). Or pregnant. That’s like the two reasons why people quit. It wasn’t like that for me.

The darkest of the model myths dates back to the 90s.

- The history about champagne and cocaine and models so high they fall of stage comes from that period. But in the end of the 90s they had a big clearing out of all those things, and things are different now. There’s as much drugs in the modelling business as there are in all other businesses. It’s a spare-time activity. There’s nobody dealing drugs backstage like people think. Most models are aware of the fact that they have a job to do, and you can’t do that being high.

Weight pressure. There’s one myth she can’t reject though. You get skinny of it.

- Models sleep little and eat little, that’s just the way it is. Specially during show seasons.

For a long while she lived of the adrenalin she got from travelling the world, doing shows and getting photographed.

- But when all those things starts getting routine, then you notice that’s it’s tearing on your body. Your body begins to struggle.

- Have you kept the weight you had when modelling?

- I don’t want to talk about weight. But okay, I’ve gained. Lots of kilos.

She emphasizes that is wasn’t the weight craze that made her retire.

- I’ve always viewed modelling as an intermediate stage(?). And now I’d reached a point where it didn’t stimulate me any more. I wanted to study. Wanted to hang with friends. I simply wanted an everyday life. Don’t underestimate everyday rituals.

made by me

Thank you sooo much miss! It must have taken ages! Someone at tfs said that she's gone from the modelling world for sure now!

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Interview in English

Rare supermodel

Iselin Vollen Steiro (22) rejects job offers that would’ve given her millions on a daily basis.

In a garden in Oslo west, two people, from two completely different worlds, meet. They face each other with their feet in hoarfrosted(?) grass and gaze at each other. Iselin Steiro, Norway’s biggest model throughout the times, looks slender, cold and expectant.

Tom Sandberg, master of the greys, and leading man in Norwegian photo art, looks as if he doesn’t quite know how to tackle the situation. Her task for today is to be herself, his is to immortalize it.

- I’ll probably bring out one of those sceptical looks, Steiro says

- A look that says “I know you’re looking at me” to the camera. I think they’re nice.

Sandberg looks doubtful. Mumbles something about unnecessary guiding and about the light not being optimal. Waives her over to the veranda and points at a white plastic chair the stands by a little table. Steiro sinks down into the chair, curves her back and pull her long legs up under her and places herself in resting position.

Sandberg grabs his camera and snaps.

- Now you’re yourself! He says triumphing.

And so:

- Aren’t you?

She pulls her bangs and fixes her eyes on the lens.

- Sure. Don’t you believe me?

Quickly to the top. It’s been a few months since the last time Iselin Vollen Steiro did a job in front of the lens. A period that was all she ever did.

From fall 2004 to fall 2006 Iselin was one of the hottest name in the international fashion world. The business is still astonished about how quickly she worked her way up from the status as “New Face” to established supermodel.

The fall of 2006 she was in the position that she could choose to work exclusively with the best fashion photographers, for the biggest labels and for the most important magazines.

On the website www.models.com, she was ranked as the worlds fourth most important top model. For a model at this level, there’s only one road: the one that leads to the top.

But then the lightning struck.

The photographers muse. Steiro didn’t want more. She had no desire to climb to the topmost league of models, she would rather go home and be a fulltime student. A collective(?) gasp in the fashion world. How could she? Steiros agencies and agents in Oslo, Paris and New York despaired. A couple years of working and she would have enough money for the rest of her life, they argued.

But according to Bruno Jamagne, booker for the French department of Women Management, the top photographers in the business were the most disappointed.

- Iselin is special. The photographers she’s worked are the Da Vinci’s of the fashion world. When she retired they lost one of their most important inspirations. One of their most important muse.

But Iselin was firm in her case. She packed her stuff and headed home, applied at NTNU and bought an apartment in Trondheim.

- It was probably a bit of an overdramatic break from my side, she says today.

- But I had felt for a while that I really didn’t want to do this more. And after I had shot the cover for Italian Vogue August 2006, I thought: “Okay, this is it. It’s enough”

Silent and mystical. As one of the worlds greatest models, Steiro has been a much longed for interviewee for both Norwegian and international media. She has chosen to remain silent.

The histories that circulate about her are therefore few and often told. “Everyone” know the she grew up far north, in Harstad, and that she was discovered 14 years old when Christmas shopping in London with her parents. “Everyone” also know that Steiro’s parents insisted that she finished high school before she could give it a shot out in the big world, and that the big fashion business’s meet with the classical beauty consequently was delayed a few years.

But then “everyone” don’t know a whole lot more. About the supermodels private life and ups and downs, there has been little writing.

Steiro is still firm on that she doesn’t want to tell about weight and pressure and the darker side of the business.

- You could talk about how the modelling business is one of the few businesses where the girls are clearly on top? There’s not many world known male models, are there?

“F*** me like a boy” One of the most important traits for a model, is to have a talent for playing characters, Steiro thinks.

The summer of 2003 she got her first instructions from New York’s fashion photographers. It was the summer before her last year of high school, and she had, under doubt, gotten permission from her parents to spend her holiday in the fashion metropolis to try the model life. A lot of the picture from this period shows a 17 year old girl with a wonderingly, almost scared, look on her face. But one film is different. On this one Steiro stares at the camera: spiteful, powerful, aggressive. Exercising a typical successful look.

- That isn’t acting, Steiro says dryly.

The gay photographer had fallen for the young models androgynous look, and really tried to make the model play on her boyish appearance the best way possible.

- He stood behind the camera and shouted “f*** me! f*** me like a boy!” I was furious. Just wanted to go home. That is what you see on the photo.

After a while it didn’t take as much for Steiro to bring out the good expressions. She started to develop a good ability.

- Thee photographers don’t really know what they want, she explains.

- They can give you a starting point, a way to stand or sit. But from there you get freedom to show emotions, to give them something that lives. You have to understand who you are on every job. Find an own identity for every assignment.

The role as a strong and sexy woman is probably the role she’s been told to act the most times.

The weird roles. But Steiro preferred the weirder concepts. Throughout her career she’s been portrayed as a transvestite whore in a trailer park. A male glam rocker in a rock band. As a patient at a mental institution. As a part of a religious sect and potential terrorist at an airport security check(?).

Namely Steiros ability to get in character is brought up by the people in the business as a part of what made her so unique. Photographers that worked with her would ask to work with her again. That landed her many of the most prestigious jobs in the business.

- How far were you willing to go to stay on the good side with the photographers?

Steiro’s eyes opens wide.

- Are you asking if I’ve slept with a photographer?!

- You can answer in general, what happens in the business etc.

- It happens more with male models, from what I’ve heard. A lot of the photographers are gay. So no, I don’t think it happens that much on the female side. She pauses and thinks.

- But you feel it straight away when a photographer’s got that look.

- What do you do then?

- It only really happened to me once. And everyone knew the photographer was a pig, so I didn’t really take it that seriously.

From Gucci to Vogue. In the model world it’s not “Suffer for beauty”. It’s “Die for fashion”.

Steiro thinks that all in all she’s taken the easy route. So it was tough the first fall in New York, when she after graduating came to town with a suitcase in her hand, and was stuffed in an apartment with 7 or 8 other maybe-supermodels, and was told that the first thing she had to go was to become drastically better at walking with high heels.

But it didn’t take long before the wind blew Steiro’s way. During the 2004 seasons she did prestigious shows like Calvin Klein and Prada, and rumours buzzed in the business about “the new girl” from Norway.

- The summer of 2005 I though that Okay, now I have to go for it, I’m doing good, I like this. And there were a few economical perks as well, of course.

During the show season of fall 2005, Steiro did up to 6 shows a day, and didn’t sleep more than three to five hours a night.

The effort paid of.

When the season was over she got calls from Gucci who wanted her to front their coming campaign. After that things went smoothly.

Steiro went from Gucci to Chanel to Valentino. From magazines Harpers Bazaar and I-D to French and Italian Vogue.

At one point she was a candidate for a contract with Estée Lauder. A contract that would’ve placed her amongst the worlds best paid models.

But everything modelling didn’t come as easy for the favourite of the fashion biz.

Bambi on catwalk. When the word “catwalk” is mentioned, Iselin gets giggly and a bit hectic in her facial colour.

- I always hated to go on the catwalk. I still blush when doing it. I don’t feel I have control of the situation.

The worst thing Steiro has done on a catwalk is to choose the wrong exit. Lost a shoe. Showed a breast unintentionally. But she can live with that. What bothers her is that she can’t do the kitten like soft movements that has named the walk.

- My way of walking is best described as marching. But luckily I was long viewed as very androgynous, a hard type. Therefore I did little typically sexy shows. I mostly did the classical ones, where you put one foot in front of the other. Balenciaga for instance. You’re supposed to go crash, crash, crash over the floor. It’s my favourite show. I was good there.

- When I go catwalk I don’t see anything. I hear the music and the rhythm I’m supposed to follow, and the voice inside my head that says: “Oh no, I forgot the turn”. “I’m going to step on my dress” “Remember to stop!”. It’s really not that glamorous.

After thing for long, Iselin remembers one positive thing about catwalking

- Sometimes I hear my name whispered in the darkness as I walk past. If someone there wonders who the model is. Then I’ll hear, very faint, “Iselin”, “Iselin”. That can be a little good.

Model myths. And then we’re back to the big question. When everything was going so well, and the career was so bright, what trigged the dramatic feeling in Steiro that she just couldn’t take it anymore, the fall of 2006?

- When you ask like that I feel I’m a little bit afraid to be portrayed as bitter.

- Why?

- There’s so many stories in the media that’s quitting because they’re burnt-out and broken-down(?). Or pregnant. That’s like the two reasons why people quit. It wasn’t like that for me.

The darkest of the model myths dates back to the 90s.

- The history about champagne and cocaine and models so high they fall of stage comes from that period. But in the end of the 90s they had a big clearing out of all those things, and things are different now. There’s as much drugs in the modelling business as there are in all other businesses. It’s a spare-time activity. There’s nobody dealing drugs backstage like people think. Most models are aware of the fact that they have a job to do, and you can’t do that being high.

Weight pressure. There’s one myth she can’t reject though. You get skinny of it.

- Models sleep little and eat little, that’s just the way it is. Specially during show seasons.

For a long while she lived of the adrenalin she got from travelling the world, doing shows and getting photographed.

- But when all those things starts getting routine, then you notice that’s it’s tearing on your body. Your body begins to struggle.

- Have you kept the weight you had when modelling?

- I don’t want to talk about weight. But okay, I’ve gained. Lots of kilos.

She emphasizes that is wasn’t the weight craze that made her retire.

- I’ve always viewed modelling as an intermediate stage(?). And now I’d reached a point where it didn’t stimulate me any more. I wanted to study. Wanted to hang with friends. I simply wanted an everyday life. Don’t underestimate everyday rituals.