Doutzen Kroes: World's Hottest Model from Netherlands
Doutzen
Kroes is one of the world’s fastest-rising supermodels, Doutzen recently
replaced Christy Turlington as the face of Calvin Klein’s fragrance, Eternity.
Doutzen Kroes is a Victoria's Secret Angel. She gets paid to walk around in next
to nothing and make men everywhere drool while inspiring extreme jealously in
women. She's tall, blond and Dutch. In 2012, Doutzen Kroes made $5.5 million
according to Forbes, putting her fifth on their top-earning models list. She's
also appeared in campaigns for Guccis, Verasce and Calvin Klein in addition to
being on contract with L'Oreal. Selected by AskMen.com as one of the Top 100
Most desirable women in the world.
Kroes was born on 23 January 1985 in the village of Eastermar (Oostermeer), in
the province of Friesland, Netherlands, to a Frisian family. As a young girl,
Kroes aspired to be a professional speed skater.
Kroes described herself as a "tomboy" in her youth, although she applied to
modeling agency Paparazzi Model Management in the Netherlands when she was
older. The agency sent her to New York City, and after being cast a few times by
Victoria's Secret, they asked her to try out as an "angel". When she moved to
New York from the Netherlands, she had never heard of the brand before.
Kroes has been featured on the covers of Time, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar,
Seventeen, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, W, Avantgarde, Dazed & Confused, and
Numéro. She also appears regularly in the Victoria's Secret catalog and walked
the runway of the company's fashion show in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011 and
2012. Kroes's campaigns include Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, Valentino,
Blumarine and Calvin Klein for both their 'White' label and their fragrance
'Eternity'. In 2005, Kroes was selected as "Model of The Year" on Vogue.com by
readers. She was presented on the May 2007 cover of American Vogue as one of the
“World’s Next Top Models” next to Chanel Iman among others. Along with several
of these models, she appeared in the 2008 Pirelli Calendar.
In 2006 a Frisian documentary directed by J. J. M. Jansen about a week in Kroes'
life as a model was released. It documented Kroes at Milan Fashion Week and her
thinking about the modeling industry. In July 2007, earning at an estimated
total of $1.5 million in the previous twelve months, Forbes named Kroes
fourteenth in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. In April 2008,
she was in fifth position, with an estimated income of $6 million. In May 2009
and May 2010 respectively, Forbes named Kroes fifth again in the list of the
World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.
Kroes is in the official Frisian provincial campaign for the Frisian language,
her mother tongue. At the end of August 2008, Victoria's Secret confirmed to
People magazine that Kroes was to be the newest Victoria's Secret Angel. Her
first campaign as the brand's newest Angel was "Supermodel Obsession". In
September 2009, she signed to be the new face for Swiss cashmere label Repeat
for two years.
There is a wax figure of Kroes in the Amsterdam branch of Madame Tussaud's wax
museum. From November 2009 to July 2010, she wrote a monthly column about her
life for the Dutch edition of Marie Claire. Currently, she is signed by DNA
Model Management. In February 2010, Kroes returned to the catwalk during fashion
week for Prada with fellow Angels Alessandra Ambrosio and Miranda Kerr. Prada
was praised by former editor-in-chief of Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire
magazines, Bonnie Fuller in her blog for using a curvy model such as Kroes for
the fashion show. Since 2011 Kroes has shot major campaigns for both L'Oreal and
Tiffany & Co.
On 24 November 2011, she debuted in Reinout Oerlemans', Nova Zembla, the first
Dutch 3D movie ever made. Kroes has been taking acting classes in New York City
for several years and has stated in interviews that she plans to act in more
movies to come.
Kroes started dating Dutch DJ Sunnery James in 2009. On 7 November 2010, she and
James married in Amsterdam. On 21 January 2011, Kroes gave birth to a son,
Phyllon Joy Gorré. She is actively involved with the non-profit organization
Dance4Life, which uses song and dance to educate youth about HIV and AIDS
prevention.
Doutzen Kroes speaks out against using prepubescent models on the catwalk.
Toned, tall and super fit Angel Doutzen Kroes has spoken out about designers
hiring child models ahead of London Fashion Week. The Dutch Victoria's Secret
star is shocked by how young some of the girls walking the runway are, and says
the sample clothing sizes are so small and unrealistically proportioned that
many professional models can't wear them. She told The Telegraph newspaper: 'I'm
not a sample size at all. At some shows I know they have been using very young
girls who have not gone into the change of the body yet - no hips, no boobs. I'm
28 and I've had a baby
'I have a woman's body, and once in a while you run into the fact that things
are not fitting the way they should be. But I joke about it and say "What
13-year-old girl is wearing this?" 'If they think I'm too fat, I'd rather not do
the job - because I am super healthy and fit and I'm so happy the way I am.'
While the blonde bombshell - who has a two-year-old son, Phyllon, with her
husband Sunnery James - is a fan of using social media to connect with her fans,
Doutzen is worried she could be responsible for instilling body insecurities in
teenagers.
She mused: 'Social media is a tool you have to use. I enjoy reading what people
have to say and answering... but I feel I'm such a big part of that insecurity
that some girls might have because of my job, that girls think they have to be
that picture. 'And even boys, they think that that picture exists and it's so
frustrating because I don't look like that picture - I wake up not looking like
that picture.'
Many famous models began their careers at very young ages, before their bodies
had been through puberty. Kate Moss was discovered aged just 14 by Storm model
agency and her waif like prepubescent figure is credited with starting the size
zero craze in the fashion industry. Today many models begin their careers as
young as 13, being signed to large agencies and kept on the books until they
finish school and are old enough to legally start working as a full time.
Doutzen recently showed off her toned physique in a risque fashion shoot in
Interview Magazine. She posed naked alongside Miranda Kerr, 30, Toni Garnn, 21,
Alessandra Ambrosio, 32, Candice Swanepoel, 24, Namibian model Behati Prinsloo,
24, and English model Jourdan Dunn, 23, with her modesty protected only by
careful lighting and a fur throw. Discussing what makes women sexy on the shoot,
Doutzen said: 'When you are comfortable with yourself, you exude an aura that is
sexy.'
Ten years ago, when Kroes was a wide-eyed 18-year-old country girl, she had
barely ever left her village of Eastermar in Holland. She had sent some
photographs of herself to a model agency in the hope of getting a bit of extra
pocket money, and was signed up immediately.
'I felt super-young coming from the north of Holland, and I went to Amsterdam
only once before I went to New York. It was a really big adventure to go there.'
Her first big break was when Steven Meisel shot her for the cover of Italian
Vogue and - apart from a nine-month break after she had Phyllon - she hasn't
stopped working since.
She had little interest in how she looked or what she wore when she was growing
up. The woman whose thick glossy hair was to become worth millions of dollars to
L'Oréal says that as a teenager she barely knew what a hairdryer was. She was
born in Friesland, a rural province with a population of less than 650,000 and a
lot of cows and windmills, and its own language. Kroes still likes to speak West
Frisian, though obviously not when she's shooting with Mario Testino. Her mother
was a nurse, then a teacher, and her father is a psychotherapist. In the 1970s
they were both champion speed skaters.
Kroes, 28, and her sister, Ren, 26, a nutritionist, were brought up in typically
rustic Dutch style: skating, cycling and eating healthy food.
'I biked to school every day, about 25km there and back. My mum would say, if
you go on your bike it will make you stronger. I think it did. I see a lot of
Dutch women on their bikes with their kids and their groceries and it makes me
happy to see that it's how we are, and how I was raised. In the countryside I
was always outside, kind of like a tomboy.'
They didn't have central heating, and their father would spend the summer
chopping wood for the fire in the winter. Her mother grew their own vegetables
and would always have earth under her fingernails. 'I never even thought about
my looks. We didn't have social media so we couldn't look at other girls and
pictures from magazines. We didn't really buy a lot of magazines; my mum and dad
would just read papers. It was a different world, I realise now.'
Her world now revolves around her family, her regular work commitments, her
fitness regime (Victoria's Secret requires her to be 'bikini-ready' all year
round), her work with the charity Dance4Life, and her 635,000 followers on
Instagram. When she posted a picture of herself on her husband's shoulders at
the Tomorrowland electronic music festival in Belgium over the summer, she had
more than 47,900 'likes' within 48 hours. While she admits that she couldn't see
the point of making snapshots of her life public via social media at first, she
now embraces it fully - and enjoys the interaction it gives her with her fans.
'It's a tool you have to use. I enjoy reading what people have to say and
answering - I can't answer everything but especially when I'm talking about
menus for my son, I have so many people who love what I give him.' She makes him
incredibly healthy meals such as tofu marinated in garlic, turmeric and ginger,
and her sister, who also lives in Amsterdam, makes him sugar-free cakes. At some
point, there will probably be a cookbook.
Despite her healthy-eating messages, Kroes is aware of the extra pressure
Instagram puts on young women. 'I feel I'm such a big part of that insecurity
that some girls might have because of my job, that girls think they have to be
that picture. And even boys, they think that that picture exists and it's so
frustrating because I don't look like that picture - I wake up not looking like
that picture.' Occasionally, she will post a picture of herself on a beach
without make-up, but she says that people want the fantasy.
Kroes says she started building her social media to help promote the work she
does for Dance4Life, a charity devoted to sex education and teaching safe sex to
young people around the world. 'I think it has something to do with being Dutch
talking about sex in an open way. I have friends around me who have sex with no
condoms and I think it's crazy.'
She has been to Philadelphia to talk to - and dance with - children in one of
the city's most deprived schools, as well as to Tanzania and Thailand. While
children in Tanzania are not aware of who Kroes is, when the teenagers in
Philadelphia found out she was a Victoria's Secret model, they suddenly took a
renewed interest in what she was telling them about safe sex. 'These kids who
were looking really bored and falling asleep suddenly became fully engaged. It's
amazing what Victoria's Secret can do.'
It's also amazing what a profile Victoria's Secret has given models such as
Kroes and her fellow Angels (who include Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima and
Karlie Kloss), who are on contract with the underwear brand which last year
recorded sales of more than $6.12 billion.
'For the show, there is no retouching,' Kroes said. 'We can't escape from the
truth. There are millions of people watching - and even people watching live -
so it's really important to work out a lot, which I do, and I definitely change
my diet. Diet is 70 per cent of what your body looks like. You can work out all
you like but if you don't eat well… I stop drinking [alcohol] a month before the
show and no sugar. I still eat carbs because to have just protein and vegetables
for me, it doesn't work. But I eat one potato with some fish and greens - very
basic and happy food.'
Exercise is part of Kroes' daily routine. She has a personal trainer, the former
boxer Michael Olajide (if you want to see them in action, there is a series of
videos on YouTube that will inspire you to work on your abs like nothing else)
and she is also working with Mary Helen Bowers, the founder of Ballet Beautiful.
'She comes to my place [in New York] and she does Skype sessions. Ballet is
amazing for a woman's body - you work on the little muscles. I like the
combination between both boxing and ballet. It's very extreme.'
Despite her regime, Kroes is no size zero. And nor does she want to be. 'I'm not
a sample size at all,' she says. 'At some shows I know they have been using very
young girls who have not gone into the change of the body yet - no hips, no
boobs. I'm 28 and I've had a baby. I have a woman's body, and once in a while
you run into the fact that things are not fitting the way they should be. But I
joke about it and say, "What 13-year-old girl was wearing this?" If they think
I'm too fat, I'd rather not do the job - because I am super-healthy and fit and
I'm so happy the way I am.'
Doutzen
Kroes is one of the world’s fastest-rising supermodels, Doutzen recently
replaced Christy Turlington as the face of Calvin Klein’s fragrance, Eternity.
Doutzen Kroes is a Victoria's Secret Angel. She gets paid to walk around in next
to nothing and make men everywhere drool while inspiring extreme jealously in
women. She's tall, blond and Dutch. In 2012, Doutzen Kroes made $5.5 million
according to Forbes, putting her fifth on their top-earning models list. She's
also appeared in campaigns for Guccis, Verasce and Calvin Klein in addition to
being on contract with L'Oreal. Selected by AskMen.com as one of the Top 100
Most desirable women in the world.
Doutzen recently showed off her toned physique in a risque fashion shoot in
Interview Magazine. She posed naked alongside Miranda Kerr, 30, Toni Garnn, 21,
Alessandra Ambrosio, 32, Candice Swanepoel, 24, Namibian model Behati Prinsloo,
24, and English model Jourdan Dunn, 23, with her modesty protected only by
careful lighting and a fur throw. Discussing what makes women sexy on the shoot,
Doutzen said: 'When you are comfortable with yourself, you exude an aura that is
sexy.'