Irina Lăzăreanu

Irina Lăzăreanu (Romanian pronunciation: [iriˈna ləzəˈre̯anu]; born 8 June 1982) is a Romanian Canadian model.

Early life

At age 5, Lazareanu immigrated to Canada from Romania, settling into the Montreal suburb of Saint-Hubert, Quebec with her Romanian parents. At the age of 13, she moved to London to study ballet until she was derailed by a broken knee. She met Pete Doherty at the age of 15 whom she later dated briefly and was engaged to in 2007.

Modeling career

At age 17 Lazareanu attended an open call and signed with Giovanni modelling agency in Montreal with the hopes that it would help pay rent. From then on she did the usual rounds of London and Paris, occasionally appearing in Barcelona, Australia and Madrid fashion weeks. She was chosen by acquaintance Kate Moss to model for the December/January 2005/2006 issue of Vogue: Paris, which Moss guest edited. Immediately after, she also appeared on the cover of Vogue Italia's January 2006 issue, photographed by Steven Meisel. Lazareanu has since become an increasingly popular fashion model, breaking the record for most runway work in one season.