Lara Stone

Lara Catherina Stone (born 20 December 1983) is a Dutch model. In 2012, she came in 8th on the Forbes top-earning models list.

Early life

Stone was born in the small Dutch town of Mierlo, to a Dutch mother and an English father. She was first discovered in the Paris Metro while on holiday with her family when she was 12 and took part in the Elite Model Look competition in 1999 when she was just 15. Although she did not win, she impressed Elite executives and was signed to the Elite Modelling Agency and began to model.

Career

Breakthrough, 2006–2008

Stone left Elite and signed with IMG Models worldwide in 2006. In January she made her catwalk debut when Riccardo Tisci put her in his Givenchy couture shows in Paris. Later that year she was an exclusive for Calvin Klein. 2007 proved to be more lucky when she had a big Bardot-like spread in March’s Vogue Paris, and then got the cover for their April issue. "Sometimes a girl just touches you," Carine Roitfeld, the magazine’s editor, said. The New York Times' fashion critic Cathy Horyn named her the "anti-model" in her On the Runway blog; describing her as not your typical catwalk android with her gapped front teeth, stunned expression, and Lurch walk, which can be attributed to her small size 7 feet – catwalk shoes are at least a size larger. All the buzz over Stone prompted New York Magazine to rank her No. 2 on their "Top Ten Models to Watch" for in New York Fashion Week.