Ingrid Seynhaeve

By Sara Templeton

The story of Ingrid Seynhaeve, who is today one of Belgium's more famous identities, is quite an interesting yarn. Moreover, it's a real-life story that proves sometimes, just sometimes, mothers don't know best...

Unlike a lot of top models in the past, Ingrid prefers to keep her private life exactly that - private, so details of her early exploits remain somewhat sketchy.

What we do know is that Ingrid was born in a fairly small Belgian township, and by the time she was 16, she was taking a lot of interest in the opposite sex - and vice versa.

At the time, her mother was all too aware of this and believed that Ingrid was spending too much time with the boys, and not enough time with her studies.

As such, it is reported that she took her blossoming young daughter to the hairdressers to cut off her hair in an attempt to drive away the slavering hordes of hormonal males.

Some say she wanted her daughter to have a buzz cut, while others are more of the opinion that she was just hoping to get her a shorter and less aesthetically pleasing style.

Anyway, when she arrived at the snip and clip, Ingrid's hairdresser was so taken aback with her beauty that he reportedly refused to cut her long blonde locks, instead asking her to appear in an advertisement for his salon.

You can imagine how pissed off mummy-dear would have been, wanting to censor her daughters stunning looks, only to be told she's going to be looked at by an even wider audience.

So, Ingrid's hair stylist took her to a photographer in Brussels, who was quick to recognise her potential and recommended she apply to a modeling agency, which she did.

During the next two years - her final two at school - she juggled her studies with her new-found love of modeling, and it all came to together in spectacular fashion when in 1991 she moved to New York to represent her country in the Elite Look of the Year contest. She took out first prize and her recognition in the fashion industry surged.

As part of winning the contest, she scored a contract with Elite Modeling, who helped find her work on runways across the globe and during this time she studied new languages to help her in French and English speaking countries.

She worked with labels including Carolina Herrera, Joan Vass and Ralph Lauren, and then in 1993 appeared in the pages of the annual and much-anticipated Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

In 1995 she scored a lucrative gig with Guess?, was flown to Hawaii and photographed by acclaimed fashion photographer Dewey Nicks. As her star kept rising, Ingrid's appearances in the glossy magazine increased, and she even scored a coveted contract with Victoria's Secret, a perennial favourite with the Americans.

Today Ingrid has residences in both New York and Paris and when she gets to travel home to Belgium she visits her family, which includes her horse, and enjoys playing the piano and shopping. She has appeared in two recent French movies and has aspirations to crack Hollywood.