Vanessa, the coolest kid in town.
By Evelyne Verpaalen
Photography by Viveca Ljung
Who doesn’t dream of being in Vogue or being the muse of Bruce Webber and have campaigns for H&M? And who has had a cast covering their broken arm ‘tattooed’ by the guys from Miami Ink?
Vanessa is just that it-girl…With her light-blonde hair and her big blue eyes: a recipe of pure model genes from a handsome German dad and a beautiful tall blond Swedish mum.
She is only eight years old, but has done things we adults can only dream of doing.
When Vanessa was only 10 months old she was already shooting her first Macy’s campaign. Not long afterwards she ‘signed’ with top-model agency Wilhelmina models and World of Kids.
Since Vanessa is very young, she has a maximum amount of days that she can work and she can’t be behind on her schoolwork, so her jobs are carefully selected: nevertheless she has done editorials for Vogue, Elle Italia, Grazia, campaigns for American Girl, H&M and shot with amazing photographers like Richard Phibbs, Koto Bolofo, Anke Menke.
Her mum Viveca knows the drills of the fashion-industry since she is a photographer herself and always made sure that her daughter enjoys her modeling career, since she often sees parents enjoying it more than the actual kids. So, no ‘Honey boo boo’ stage mum drama here. It’s refreshing to see a mother supporting her daughters career and traveling with her to all her jobs. What makes Vanessa so in demand besides her pretty features and dynamic personality, is that she is a natural. “Our last Christmas card was a collage of pictures from Vanessa making silly faces: everybody thought it was some really impressive photo shoot, but she just made them herself when playing on iPhoto. Above all Vanessa is a child, who likes to play, but she loves the camera and the camera happens to love her.
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