INNI’S IT FEBRUARY GIRL: 5 Reasons why Natalia Vodianova may be the coolest supermodel yet

To the uninitiated, Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova may be better known as the face behind Calvin Klein’s advertisements since 2003. Billboard images of her posing for the brand’s series of clothing, fragrances and lingerie, among her many other notable achievements, are testament to not just to her success as a model, but also to an incredible journey – a journey beginning in Gorky, Soviet Union in 1982. 

Here are 5 reasons why:

1. She grew up poor, and had to fight to survive from an early age, qualities which are admirable in their own right

1. Born to a poor family, Vodianova helped her mother selling oranges by the roadside for a living – a twelve-hour work day in the bitter cold of minus-25-degrees Celsius – while her mother worked fours jobs for nearly 24 hours a day.

2. Her sister, born with autism and cerebral palsy, had to be taken care of.

3. Amidst these desperate circumstances, Vodianova’s want for a better life for herself and her family saw her attending a casting call at the encouragement of her then 22-year old model boyfriend. This early initiation into the world of modeling and fashion instead became the very means where she soon grew to recognition as one of the most notable faces of the trend of European and Russian ‘waif’ models.

4. She soon signed hugely lucrative contracts with Calvin Klein and L’oreal.

2. She is intensely and intimately connected to suffering in the world (and not in terms of doling out cliche platitudes)

While her successes meant that she could now provide for her family, her empathy for others never diminished with the newfound comfort. In a startlingly horrific school-hostage crisis in Beslan, Russia in 2004, the deaths of 380, mostly children, gripped her, and prompted her to reflect that “[she] was wrestling with how [she] went from the bottom of society to the top of financial security. That feeling of unfairness upset [her]”.

From there, the idea for Naked Heart, a charitable organisation for children, was conceived. 

Established in 2005, by 2006, the first play park was built in Nizhny Novgorod, 5 minutes away from where Vodianova grew up. By 2009, 40 play parks were built in 30 cities.

Hear more on her founding story:

3. She believes in safe spaces of PLAY for children (yes you heard us right)

1. She believed that creating safe spaces of play for children was key to overcoming the grief, loss and death that so descended from the tragedy.
2. Naked Heart Foundation was established to provide children with “safe outdoor play facilities [which would] redefine their city landscape and act as a form of therapy”.

4. Play was a creative force to be harnessed

Citing the American psychiatrist Stuart Brown who posits that “play allows us to develop alternatives to violence and despair”, Vodianova believed that play had a creative, psychological potential to develop positive qualities in children at an early age.

5. She’s a mother (and an unapologetic role model at that)

Responding to the question on a portrait of her breastfeeding: “Do we really need to see it?”

Vodianova’s response cuts through with grace and elegance: "Yes... because if we continue to treat it as a secret art form, reserved for private rooms and hushed conversations, it will remain a taboo. It will become lost in the passage of time, further misunderstood and out of reach for future mothers."