Kate Moss Is Teens' Role Model

Despite being accused of influencing teenagers to become skinny, despite the cocaine addiction that she has struggled years before, and despite the drama surrounding her love life —

Kate Moss is the top role model for teens, especially for those who want to be famous!


In a poll conducted by website Intotheblue.co.uk earlier this month, 68% of the 1,032 16-year-olds have chosen the British supermodel as their role model. The same survey has also showed that more than half of the teenagers do not want a career — they just want to be famous.

Asked "What would you like to do for your career?", 54 percent of the teenagers have answered "Become a celebrity."

Kate Moss obviously tops the survey because of her fame. She has become brand name in the fashion industry today. Not only does she maintains a prestigious modeling career even in her mid-30s, her resume has also expanded by launching a highly successful clothing line with U.K. retailer Topshop, marketing a range of perfumes, getting deals to design collection of handbags and fashion accessories for luxury design houses, a fashion stylist, and an occasional singer, writer, and actress.

Who would have thought that this woman will rise up to become the celebrated "Kate Moss"? She has not even dream of being a model in her younger years. She still can't quite believe it, even now. She still thinks she's blagging it a bit, but nobody's cottoned on yet.

"I'm still having a wonderful time modeling. In career terms, things have never been better," the supermodel admits in her latest interview with Britain's Grazia magazine.

Recalling how she decided to give modeling a try, Kate Moss shares:

"I was only 14, so I hadn't got around to thinking about what I wanted to do. I had this lovely geography teacher, and I asked her whether she thought I should give modeling a try, and she said, 'Kate, just give it a go. If it doesn't work out, you can always go to college.'"

But contrary to the teenagers who look up to Kate Moss because of her fame, the supermodel does not like popularity. She values modeling as a career, not as a mere tool to become famous.

"Modeling has given me insights and experience that I can now use in other ways. Sometimes, I don't like (the fame), but then I've got to deal with it, so I do. You know, I just wanted to be good at my job, I never wanted to be famous, but that happens to come with it."

Size 4 Coco Rocha Asks "How Skinny Is Too Skinny?"

Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha is apparently a young achiever. Aside from rising to the top of the fashion modeling industry, she has also launched the clothing line Rococo.


Now 21, Coco Rocha is a proud size 4 and she admits she is not in demand for the shows anymore. But she does not care either.

"I don't do nudes, I don't do semi-nudes, I don't do cigarette shots. It took me a long time in the business to realize I didn't have to do everything people told me I should if I wanted a career."

Walking in Diane Von Furstenberg's fall show at the recent New York Fashion Week, Coco Rocha holds her head up high against fashion designers and fashion people who continues to abhor "fat" in fashion.

"Everybody knows that, in general, a basketball player needs to be tall and a fashion model needs to be skinny, but how skinny is too skinny?"

The young supermodel who once worked for the likes of Steven Meisel, Marc Jacobs, Jean Paul Gaultier, Chanel, Dior, Prada, and Louis Vuitton admits:

"I'm not in demand for the shows anymore. I've been told to lose weight when I was really skinny. You know what, I've stopped caring. If I want a hamburger, I'm going to have one. No 21-year-old should be worrying about whether she fits a sample size."

Coco Rocha also sees the problem in hiring runway models who are just 14 and 15 years olds and have not yet hit puberty - the type of models who "will add non-negotiable curves to their rail-thin frames."

"Girls are told they're not skinny enough, or they hear, 'She's old, she's boring, we've had her, she's not tiny anymore.' A lot of people don't take into account the vulnerability of these young girls. And the latest crop of models is not made up of adults or even sort-of adults. They are children. Point closed."

15-Year-Old Lindsey Wixson For Miu Miu

This is not a marionette. This is the 15-year-old girl from Wichita, Lindsey Wixson, who's currently fronting the spring 2010 campaign for Miu Miu.


Lindsey Wixson was only 12 years old when she decided to become a model and went to as many castings as she possibly could. Though supportive of her chosen career, her parents thought that it was just a phase she would eventually grow out. But the interesting doll-like features of this teenager was noticed by Steven Meisel. From a video that she posted on the web, she was hand-selected by the famous photographer for an Italian Vogue shoot. Shortly after, she bagged the highly coveted exclusives at Prada and Miu Miu for the Spring 2010 shows. Then she became the face of Miu Miu's spring 2010 campaign. At the young age of 15, this high school sophomore has finally made her childhood dreams come true.

In a short interview provided by W magazine, the teen model graciously shared her story:

What did your parents say when you told them you wanted to model?
"My mom was like, 'are you sure you want to do this?' She didn't know what was going on. Luckily, I had an older sister and so my parents were like, 'Teenagers go through phases and it's going to be okay.' They really have stood behind me the entire way."

So after doing a few smaller shows in New York; how did you open Prada?
"Well, I don't really know! I think it had a lot to do with the Italian Vogue buzz. I was very, very, very lucky."

What was it like meeting Miuccia?
"It was great — and intimidating. You see her accomplishments and see why where she's gotten to be where she is. She knows what she wants. I aspire to be like her."

How does it feel to be the face of Miu Miu?
"I was so excited. I mean, knowing that they don't normally have a one-girl campaign, I was just shocked. It was really nice because rather than being just one actress or one celebrity, it was just me! I really love the brand. I remember clearly seeing the Kirsten Dunst 2008 campaign in all the fashion magazines and how it was all about Miu Miu."

We heard that on the set of the W "Run of Show" story you asked for a bra when wearing a see through top. A lot of other models wouldn't have done that.
"I'm 15 and even though I freaked a little, I know for a fact that my mom would freak ten times as much. I just couldn't be flashing everyone out there."

How have the boys at school responded to your career?
"I think they're more interested. Before a lot of guys were intimidated, but now they're just like, 'Hey, how you doing?'"

Are you dating anyone right now?
"I'm not. I think it be really horrible since I'm always traveling. I would just have to up and leave for a month and then come back and be like, 'Hey! I had to kiss a boy in a shoot! I'm sorry! Haha!'"


A press release about the Miu Miu spring campaign calls Lindsey Wixson the "embodiment of a free-spirit on the cusp of womanhood." We say she's really very, very lucky. And yeah, those legs will totally go the distance!

Tyra Banks Launches Plus-Size Teen Model Search!

Tyra Banks raises a new challenge for the fashion industry as she launches the first-ever modeling competition for plus-sized teens!


"Tyra's Fiercely Real Teen Model Search" searches the country for plus-sized girls aged 13-19 and between 5'9" and 6'1".

"I've always felt it was my mission to expand the narrow perceptions of beauty; through America's Next Top Model, True Beauty and The Tyra Show I challenge industry and universal standards by featuring and celebrating non-traditional beauty, and stressing that true beauty is both inside and out," says the supermodel of fierceness.

The modeling competition will not air on TV but will be launched exclusively on The Tyra Show website where the young curvy models will be presented to the community.

But wait there's more!

The winning plus-sized teen model will get 1-year modeling contract with Wilhelmina modeling agency, a fashion spread on Tyra's MagaLine (to be shot by the supermodel herself), a cover photo with Tyra Banks on Tyra's MagaLine, and a spread in a major fashion magazine.

For all the effort, Tyra Banks says:

"Plus-sized tends to have a negative connotation and I want young girls to realize that what's considered plus-sized is the average American woman. That woman is healthy, fit and beautiful. Adolescence is such an impressionable time in a young woman's life, and I hope this contest helps teen girls discover their own beauty from the inside out."


For more information about this casting, please go to the New Faces Casting Calls page and click on "Tyra's Fiercely Real Teen Model Search."

Karlina Caune Is The New Ford "Supermodel of the World"

Teenaged model Katrina Karlina Caune won the 2010 Ford Supermodel of the World contest.



The 16-year-old girl from Latvia emerged victorious among the 36 young aspirants who joined the final competition in Sao Paolo, Brazil where they spent five full days of photo tests, walking lessons, samba lessons, interviews, casting calls, modeling workshops and judging with Ford Model licensees.

With very pale skin, black hair and piercing blue eyes, Karlina's beauty vowed the scrutinizing audience which include Ford Director Caroline Poznanski, Ford icon Chanel Iman, V Magazine publisher Stephen Gan, philanthropist Katie Ford and Brazilian celebrity Marcelle Bittar.

But what made Karlina won the competition was her runway-perfect poise and smart attitude that have really stood out throughout the event. She walked away with a $250,000 contract with Ford Models.

Runner-ups Charlene Almarvez from the Philippines, Isabelle Storck from Sweden, Olivia Majour from the USA, Maryna Linchuck from Belarus, Grace Hurley from Australia and Bruna Tiedt from Brazil were also awarded with Ford modeling contracts.

Ford Models "Supermodel of the World" is the largest and most prestigious international modeling competition established by Eileen Ford in 1980. The competition boasted more than 60,000 contestants from over 40 countries worldwide. Famous celebrities who made major jump-start in their career through the competition include Adriana Lima, Lindsay Lohan, Kirsten Dunst, Jennifer Connelly and Chanel Iman.

Karlina Caune, alongside the six runner-ups, were expected to walk in haute couture fashion events including the upcoming Fashion Week's Fall collections this 2010.

Top Model Warns Teenagers On The Downside Of The Industry

Now at 26, top Scottish model Lauren Tempany is already an experienced catwalk diva. She has been in the modeling industry for 12 years; has modeled for top designers like Alexander McQueen and Giles Deacon, has been featured in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar (then Harpers and Queen), has shared a catwalk with Kate Moss, and has hung out with Agyness Deyn and Alexa Chung.


But just like every successful models in the industry, Lauren Tempany has also met hardships especially when she was just starting with her career.

She was only 14 years old when discovered from a Clothes Show roadshow in 1997 and had three top modeling agencies fighting over her. Her first modeling job was for a perfume aimed at the teenage market.

One of Lauren Tempany's greatest challenge as a struggling model included dealing with the media and the stalkers. The Scottish model shared that she had been too candid with the media interviews that accompanied her early model shoots, not realizing that her words would come to haunt her back — she became a victim of a stalker. The model revealed her early struggles in an interview with Edinburgh newspaper The Evening News:

"Some of the early interviews I did revealed a bit too much about my home and family life, and someone was able to trace where I lived and began making loads of dodgy phone calls. We had to change all of our phone numbers. I've always tended to just blurt things out when I'm talking to people without realizing some of it might make it into the papers, but I've now learned to be a bit more careful."

Though being careful is Lauren Tempany's advice for models especially for those who are just starting out, she also believes that there is nothing endemically wrong in the modeling industry and becoming a model at 14 does not necessarily mean that one becomes a target of stalking.

"When I was first approached at the age of 14 my family were a bit dubious, but they did their research and discovered they were all legitimate agencies. However, I would advise aspiring young models to only sign for big modeling agencies because it's tough getting jobs. The smaller agencies don't get a look in and there are some people who are out to exploit you, but get nasty people in all professions though, not just modeling."

Prior to Lauren Tempany's telling of the struggles she encountered in the industry, there have been other models who stepped out to talk about the downside of modeling including 70s star Robyn Peterson and model-turned-filmmaker Zara Ziff. Recently, Indian-born fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander has been sentenced to a minimum of 59 years in US prison for sexually assaulting aspiring models as young as 14. The designer is known to dress a number of celebrities including Paris Hilton and Mary J Blige.

Warned of the downside of her profession, Lauren Tempany still finds modeling as a noble career. Though there are few obsessives along the way, she has met many wonderful people in the industry and sure finds fun in the glamorous world she walks in. She has traveled many countries to shoot for magazines, commercials, and catalogues.


Taking pride in her modeling profession, Lauren Tempany shares, "The industry comes in for a lot of unfair criticism but I've met some fantastic people while modeling, and my experience over the last 12 years has been overwhelmingly positive."

Believing that her star will soon be outshined by younger models, Lauren Tempany also sets her plans for the future while still enjoying the glitz of her career:

"Modeling really is a young person's game. I don't really have a clear idea of where I'll go after this but I'd quite like to get into film and costume, working in the wardrobe department of movie productions, but right now I can't ever see me turning down a job. I'll probably still be doing granny catalogues when I'm 60."

Coco Rocha: The Bouncy Teen Canadian Supermodel

Aside from her rising career in the fashion world, the 19-year old Canadian teen supermodel Coco Rocha is also known for her signature bouncy, confident gait.


Coco Rocha was scouted at 14 during a Highland dancing event in Vancouver. Guess who singled her out for a modeling career? The controversial but undeniably one of the most successful and beautiful supermodels to date – Naomi Campbell!

Naomi Campbell told the young Coco Rocha "I like your walk." It was the beginning of a phenomenal modeling career for the raven-tressed beauty of angular features and pale complexion.

Nearly six-foot, Coco Rocha's bouncy, confident gait becomes her signature as a model just as Gisele Bündchen is known for her hair or Kate Moss for her personal style.

As a sensational teen model, Coco Rocha has already landed the covers of Italian Vogue and American Vogue, which has named her as one of the Top 10 Models of 2007. She has also been featured in countless editorial spreads and runway shows, including Highland dancing in full regalia for Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Being featured in Gaultier has greatly helped her career. As for her dancing, the young model confesses, "I hear comments like, 'Oh, it's a dancer. Oh, it's Coco!' It's good to be able to show I'm not just a model who knows how to walk in heels."

Today, the teen supermodel already owns a Manhattan pied-à-terre, and a luxurious Blackberry cellphone which only a few girls her age can afford.

Coco Rocha has been in recent fashion weeks in London and New York, but as she visits her nativeland for the L'Oréal Fashion Week, the bouncy teen Canadian supermodel just wants to keep things light:

"It's important. Its nice to come home and - I don't want to say 'be a celebrity' - but be able to say Canadian girls make it out there."