Supermodel
The Angel Next Door All it takes is a flash of her dimples for the world to fall at Australian Supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel Miranda Kerr’s feet. Here’s why...
B
orn in Sydney in April 1983, Miranda Kerr grew up in the small town of Gunnedah, New South Wales. Miranda and her younger brother, Matthew, had a simple upbringing. The now famous supermodel is often quoted in various interviews as saying that she spent her childhood, “racing motorbikes and riding horses on her grandmother’s farm”. Growing
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up, she admits her early life was, “very grounding ... there wasn’t any pretentiousness and no one really cared what you were wearing. You could just be you.” Later, the family moved to Brisbane because the parents – Therese and John Kerr – wanted to give their children a chance to experience the city life. When she was only 13, Miranda entered a modelling competition with teen magazine,
Dolly’. Her classic good looks and easy-going nature ensured that she won the competition. However, her debut in the modelling word was not all smooth sailing. Critics raised a furore about her age, which most people felt was too young to be held up as an object of beauty. But Miranda disagreed, “All the media attention on my Dolly cover shoot was absolutely ludicrous. I don’t think it would have mattered how old I was, they would have still made it out to be something it wasn’t. I was more concerned about Dolly magazine’s reputation. I was fine, I just didn’t take any notice of it all.”
“All the media attention on my ‘Dolly’ cover shoot was absolutely ludicrous. I don’t think it would have mattered how old I was, they would have still made it out to be something it wasn’t.” Right or not, the media attention ensured that Miranda soon become a household name in Australia. She signed on to Chic Management’s Sydney Division. She modelled primarily for popular surfing brands, including international chains such
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Supermodel “I believe it is nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice. I honestly try to live my life everyday from the point of view of gratitude and appreciation.” as Billabong, Tiger Lily, Roxy and One Teaspoon and soon she was well known throughout Australia and Asia. To further her career as an international model, Miranda moved to New York and signed on with Next Modelling Agency in 2004. She explains what it felt like living in New York, “Living in New York was a little daunting at first but now I truly love it. It has its own heartbeat and it is an interesting place filled with interesting people.” It seemed that New York reciprocated her love too. Miranda started off doing runway appearances and was soon booked for campaigns with major brands such as Baby Phat, Alex Perry, Levis, L.A.M.B, Anna Molinari and many more. She was also appearing in magazines of international acclaim such as Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and the Australian Vogue. However, her true big break came in 2006, when the model signed on with Maybelline New York. The campaign ran in internationally famous beauty magazines such as CLEO and Elle. In 2007, the model was offered a contract with Victoria’s Secret Angels, becoming the first Australian to be offered that honour, while joining a long list of legendary models who had been Angels before her. These included Heidi Klum, Izabel Goulart and of course, the woman Miranda herself replaced; Gisele Bundchen.
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Miranda also became the new face of Clinique Happy and signed a lucrative (six figure!) contract to become the new face of Australian department store David Jones. Today, Miranda is well known internationally, both for her breathtaking beauty and her diverse portfolio. Yet, success at this grand scale did not come easy. Miranda says, “Nothing is easy, especially in modelling. There is an enormous amount of rejection in this industry and you have to be really strong to withstand it. If it is your dream then believe in it and follow it and don’t lose sight of yourself in the process. To be your absolute best you need to look after your body, treat it with respect and give your body everything it needs, nutritionally, emotionally and physically. Your body can’t shine on the outside unless it is healthy on the inside.” In fact, inner health is one of the model’s top priorities. She truly does believe that inner beauty reflects on a person’s outer beauty, and that nothing can be more important than taking care of your ‘inner self’. She says, “I believe it is nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice. I honestly try to live my life everyday from the point of view of gratitude and appreciation. I practise Nicheren Buddhism, chant regularly, meditate and do yoga regularly. Inner peace and inner beauty is very
important to me.” Perhaps all this focus on health has paid off. Miranda is beloved throughout the world. She is often liked to past industry beauties such as Audrey Hepburn, Elle McPherson and was listed in May 2010 as one of Forbes’ Top Ten Earning Models. She is also Orlando Bloom’s girlfriend (could we be more jealous?) So what does one do when they have wealth, beauty and a gorgeous boyfriend to boot? Well, if you’re Miranda, chances are you’ll sit back and relax in your track suit, “I love wearing trackies to lounge around the house in and the strange thing is, it doesn’t matter how many new ones I get I still tend to feel most comfortable in my old ones.” Ah, Miranda, trouble is, you’d look gorgeous in a potato sack! Now, if we sat around in our trackies.... Well... never mind. Perhaps celebrity photographer Russell James says it best, “We love her because she has the most incredible girl-next-door look and she’s also insanely beautiful. It means women are not intimidated by her looks and guys think they might be able to talk to her. It’s a fantastic combination ... people want to be around her; she’s fun on a shoot … and she’s not stupid, which can be a very annoying trait among some models.”
All it takes is a flash of her dimples for the world to fall at Australian Supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel Miranda Kerr’s feet. Here’s why...
We’re not sure about the whole not being intimidated bit Russell, but we’ll vouch for the insanely beautiful part!!
“We love her because she has the most incredible girl-next-door look and she’s also insanely beautiful.”
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