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Andreea Diaconu's Model Behavior

From playing Tinker Bell to the cover of French Vogue, meet the world's sexiest polyglot/model

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EARTH ANGEL | Clockwise from left: The model is a street-style star, and is also the face of Gucci; the June/July 2012 cover of French Vogue featured Diaconu, photographed by Mario Sorrenti; Diaconu at age 11 in a photo styled by her mother; walking for Roberto Cavalli. Clockwise from top: Melodie Jeng/Models.com; Courtesy of Gucci; Mario Sorrenti/Vogue Paris; Courtesy of Adreea Diaconu; Firstview
 
WHEN A MODEL HITS peak fame, it often seems like an overnight phenomenon—a trend as mercurial as any in fashion. The ascent of this issue's cover model, Andreea Diaconu, a Romanian beauty, is different. Today, her image is everywhere. She is the face of Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Belstaff. Ralph Lauren has featured her in nine campaigns in the past four years. The covers of French and Spanish Vogues are just two she graced last year. But Diaconu's sudden rise is, in fact, not sudden at all—the sparky 22-year-old has spent half her life climbing the ranks of the industry.
 

She was only 11 when a local scout first approached her. "My friend and I heard about a modeling school that had a contest where the winner got 500 euros," says Diaconu. "We thought that was a lot of money, so we went to the school, and I won." Her next booking was headlining a Peter Pan–themed fashion show at the airport Radisson in her hometown of Bucharest. For 70 euros, she played Tinker Bell.

 

Agents continued to approach her parents, but Diaconu didn't give modeling another go until a couple of years later. An agent booked her for a major show in New York, but the experience was a shock. "I remember crying and crying, and everything was too big on me. I was 13. I was a beanpole." When a seamstress brought her to tears, she told her mother she wanted to go home.

Through high school, Diaconu modeled part time, but she was teased when she'd return from Paris or London with different colored hair. The international travel helped her learn five languages, though, and after graduation, she realized modeling could pay for higher education. "The plan was for me to make enough money for four years of college, and then I'd walk away."

 

She moved to New York when she was almost 20 and found quick success as a catalog model. Diaconu kept one eye on school, taking online Coursera classes in archaeology (loved it) and micro-finance (hated it). But just as she settled into the Noho apartment she shares with her boyfriend of two years, Gregory Neighbor, an ER doctor, things changed. "I had just about saved enough and was thinking of quitting, and then I got a call from my agent: ' Mario Sorrenti booked you for Italian Vogue.' "

 

The next few months were a blur. More top-tier photographers, including David Sims and Craig McDean, wanted to work with her. By this summer, she had landed the FrenchVogue cover, wearing sand—and nothing else. (As for her best feature: "I'm told it's my butt," she winks.) Now, nearly every day brings a photo shoot or a flight to get to one.

 

"Only Ms," she says. "In the past five days I've done Milan, Miami and Mexico." She smiles big when she realizes she's in another M—"now Manhattan!"

 

As for college, she still aims to get that diploma—and maybe a yoga instructor's certificate, too. In the meantime, her job has plenty of perks. Like a weekend at Costa Careyes, the resort where she stayed while on this cover shoot for WSJ. Magazine. "I asked the owner how much it would be if I wanted to rent a house here, and he looked up at me and then looked back down at what he was doing. Finally, he just said, 'No. You'd have to be very rich.' So, I guess I still have some work to do."

 

online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303933104579304763970245636

 

So she speaks 5 languages :o. Some people have an aptitude for it I guess.

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