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Carmen Kass

By SARA TEMPLETON

Estonian-born Carmen Kass is probably most famous for her Christian Dior advertising campaign, "J'adore", where she swans about in what we're supposed to believe is liquid gold (pictured: right).

Beyond the liquid gold and sweet smelling fragrances, Carmen wasn't exactly a slow learner. Born on September the 14th 1978, in Tallinn, Estonia, she was crowned Miss Paide (a regional beauty contest) as a very young teenager, and was subsequently signed by "Baltic Models".

At the age of just 14, Carmen was approached by an Italian model scout while shopping. The intelligent young model-in-the-making was ecstatic about the scout's invitation to Milan, and at that point she knew where her future lay.

Originally she'd wanted to contest the Miss Estonia title, but when offered a trip to Italy she jumped at the chance.

Just when she saw her dreams being fast-tracked, Carmen's mother stepped in and said no to the deal, as would most parents if their 14-year old daughter was to be whisked away - alone - to another country for the purposes of photography and catwalk modeling.

In the end, Carmen's determination got the better of her and she forged her mother's signature and set off to Milan to begin her professional modeling career in earnest.

Carmen had learnt a lot in the fast-paced world of Euro-fashion, and by the age of 18 (1997) she was living in Paris where she landed the covers on fashion magazines Vogue and L'Officiel, which boosted her profile significantly.

By age 20, her face had adorned the covers of UK magazine Image, French-based Numero France, the American edition of Vogue, not to mention Australian Elle.

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She was also a regular in the American fashion fave, Harper's Bazaar, where she has worked with world-famous photographers like Peter Lindbergh.

The 179cm tall Estonian model also drew favour in big advertising campaigns, being the face and body behind products for Versace, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and Chanel.

In 2000, she took out the VH1/Vogue's "Model of the Year" award, which was won by Gisele Bündchen the year before, and has since been awarded to Karolina Kurkova among others.

She'd also completed her fair share of fashion shows, and proved to be a hit among the leading designers, with her beauty, grace and confidence. Carmen had since marched down catwalks for the likes of Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Gianni Versace, Gucci, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Louis Vuitton, Oscar de la Renta and Christian Dior to name but a few.

At last count, Carmen Kass was living in New York, contracted to the agency simply named Women, while City in Paris and Storm in London make up her three major agencies.

Interestingly, she purchased a large share in the modeling agency that started it all off for her, Baltic Models, and in her spare time Carmen Kass reportedly indulges in a spot of chess and enjoys horse riding too.