Mind the Gap - Lara Stone

Her signature gap-toothed smile, curvy figure, large bust and fierce gaze make Lara Stone stand out from the sea of slim prepubescent models. With one of the most recognizable faces in the business, Lara has become the in-demand model of the moment and the muse for top designers Tisci and Karl Lagerfeld.

Lara Catherina Stone was born in the Netherlands in 1983. She began her modeling career as a teenager after being discovered in a Paris Métro on vacation with her family. In 1999, she entered an Elite Model Look contest and though she did not win (surprisingly!), she impressed Elite executives enough to have them sign her to their agency.

Success did not come easy for Lara, she struggled for several years as a model—booking small catalogue work with hardly any major editorial or runway experience. Frustrated, she decided to sign to International Model Management (IMG) in 2006. After making the switch, her career quickly skyrocketed and she was soon opening for Givenchy’s haute couture show in Paris.

Today, Lara has walked the runway for practically every leading European house, including Chanel, Fendi, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Prada. She has become an instant favorite for designers such as fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld who was quoted as saying, “She made shape trendy and invented a kind of new girly femininity.”

Proving to the world that women with a curvy silhouette have a place in the modeling industry, Lara has appeared in several advertising campaigns; H&M, DKNY Jeans and Givenchy (for 5 consecutive seasons) to name a few, and has been featured in almost every high-end fashion magazine.

Lara has become an unstoppable force. In 2010 alone she, not only graced the cover of Vogue Paris for their 90th anniversary issue, but also received the “Model of the Year” award from the British Fashion Awards and signed to be the face for all three of Calvin Klein’s ad campaigns, ultimately catapulting her to supermodel status alongside Kate Moss and Christy Turlington.

This year we can expect even more great things from Lara as she returns as the face for Calvin Klein’s Spring 2011 collection and has been rumored to appear alongside Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller in the much-anticipated Zoolander 2. Lara Stone is the queen of poses, but can she master Blue Steel? We will soon find out!