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Esther Cañadas

By Sara Templeton

Not to be confused with Esther in Canada, which is a real place, Esther Cañadas is in fact a top model.

She has strutted the catwalks for such well-respected fashion houses like Dolce & Gabbana and DKNY and has been blessed with extraordinarily good genes, stating that she doesn't make a regular habit of exercising or dieting.

The silky smooth model got her big break after placing first in a competition set up by a domestic Spanish magazine for teenagers, and hasn't looked back since.

Esther was born in Spain, on March the 1st, 1977, in a place called Alicante in the Costa Blanca region. Had Esther had her own way, she would never have been a Victoria's Secret lingerie model, but her mother of all people persuaded her to give modeling a go, stated the model: "I wanted to be a criminologist, my mom was always telling me that I should be a model."

When she was still at school Esther fought for justice and wanted to be criminologist, but after winning the magazine contest she signed with the Take 2 Agency and was quickly shipped off to South Africa for her first job.

After her stint on the African continent, she moved back to Spain and settled in Barcelona. At this stage in her life she treated her modeling career as just another job, something that would help her pay the bills and have a bit of fun, but before long she grew to enjoy her work.

By 1996 the Spanish model was on top of her game and decided to make the big move to the Big Apple. Whether its rumour or truth, we can't be sure, but sources suggest that in just two days in America Esther Cañadas had secured work with more than a dozen designers.

Testament to her serene beauty, she worked with many designers and signed to be the star of advertising campaigns for the likes of DKNY, Mossimo, Victoria's Secret, J Crew and Atelier Versace.

In 1997 the model with the luscious lips appeared on the covers of many beauty magazines looking like a million dollars (that was jewellery), which included the Spanish editions of Elle and Vogue and Italian Marie Claire.

As for fashion shows, Esther perfected her sophisticated strutting style on the runways for design houses like Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Calvin Klein and the unmistakably fashionable Oscar de la Renta.

In 1999 Esther married Dutch model Mark Vanderloo and has since been doing much more than just modeling the latest fashions from Milan, Paris, Japan and New York. She has a keen interest in helping out many charities, lending her recognisable face to help those less fortunate than herself and has even appeared in the odd movie - The Thomas Crown Affair being the most memorable.