She is tall, sleek and slim. Frida Gustavsson is a model guess probably most people who see her as we enter at Berns in Stockholm – the home of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week – to do this interview. But what makes the play she has become one of the world’s most popular models in recent years, she did not answer.
“I was never the prettiest girl in class. But I do have a look that works on image and on the catwalk.”
As a young Frida Gustavsson bet on athletics. She was promising häcklöperska, trained five times a week and won a number of SM in the relay with his club Bromma IF.
“I grew up in a sports family. My father was a handball goalkeeper and both my brothers athletes great. But when I was 14 I fell unhappily in a stern race and broke his femur and both arms. It would mean a year of rehab training to come back and it Pallade I do not. So then I put off. ”
Another elite career loomed. Frida Gustavsson was only twelve years old when a man from a modeling agency came up to her first time and asked if she wanted to try your luck as a model.
“I was at Ikea with my dad. Then I thought just that it was scary and we said no,” she says.
Two years later, the age of 14, she was again approcherad by a model scout from the Stockholm group.
“The time I went shopping in Hennes & Mauritz. Then I was more receptive. I had stumbled into fashion and would just start studying fashion and design in high school. But with the Stockholm group we decided that I should wait to begin modeling until I turned 15, “she says.
Model career began with a femveckorsvistelse in Japan.
“It was a good way to start. I went there on summer vacation and earned good money. In Japan, they are very caring and organized. Every girl living in a hotel and you will be picked up by private chauffeur who drives one to the shoot are. ”
A year later, just turned 16 years old, was Frida Gustavsson her big break when she opened Valentino’s show at haute couture week in Paris in autumn 2009. This led to a shoot for Italian Vogue, and then exploded it. The following season was Frida Gustavsson one of the most requested models in the fashion houses views during fashion week in Paris, Milan, London and New York.
“It was crazy. I walked 62 times my first season. The season after, I think it was the 75th I worked more or less around the clock. There were times throughout the day and at night I tried clothes for the next day. I would never pallet to work so today, but then I knew nothing else. When I came back to Stockholm I slept in type two days. ”
That school work was suffering perhaps not so surprising. Still managed to Frida Gustavsson taking his degree in fashion school St. Martin’s in Sundbyberg this summer with Distinction in several subjects.
“The runner-up in high school, I was only three days in school. It worked anyway because the teachers were kind and let me do most of the school at a distance. I studied on flights and hotels and mailed in his duties.”
With secondary studies completed is now Frida Gustavsson focused on her modeling career. She is now an established name on the model of the sky and has taken over the role from Caroline Winberg as Sweden’s most sought after model. At the industry site Models.com is Frida Gustavsson world’s 20th most popular model. No other Swedish listed.
“Today it myself with and decide which job I should take. Last season I did about 30 shows and it will probably be something similar this season. I may not be included in all cities, but it’s definitely New York and Paris. And Stockholm, I hope so clear on also, that I really, I just get it together with my schedule. ”
What does the Stockholm Fashion Week for you?
“This is where it all began. This is my eighth season at Berns, so by now I know almost everyone attending. This is where I make it fun and to meet some of my best friends. There is no based my career, but if I can help get some more attention to fashion week and Swedish designer, I do like it. It is also fun to see what new people and brands that come up. ”
In early modeling career did Frida Gustavsson up two goals: to make a haute couture show for Dior and the plates for American Vogue. The goals she has met several times over.
“I’ve done Dior couture views six seasons now. As a boy dreams of getting to test drive a Ferrari, it would all fashion-conscious girl’s dream to wear a couture gown from Dior. Wearing a dress that can cost upwards of 3 million, which has 15 feet trailer and taken thousands of hours to create an unreal feeling. ”
Frida Gustavsson has also become something of a muse for American Vogue’s legendary fashion director Grace Coddington, whose tandem with the game even more legendary editor Anna Wintour was portrayed in the acclaimed documentary The September Issue last year.
“Like everyone else in the industry, I have always looked up to Grace Coddington. She creates works of art and spend time and energy to tell a story. To be involved in the process is fantastic. I have come with the dinners where Grace told about his matchless life. She started as a model in the 1960s and since then she has worked with all major photographers and models, “says Frida Gustavsson.
She has been involved in virtually every issue of American Vogue last year. She declines to almost all other editorial fashion jobs.
“May you be with regularly in American Vogue, there is no more need to be with someone else. It is a luxury that few are privileged.”
Why shoot for Vogue gives hardly any compensation at all – yet it is the job that all models want.
“Being a member of American Vogue is the best advertising you can get as a model. That is how best to raise your market value for commercial jobs. There are many cash customers who want Vogue models, “says Frida Gustavsson.
“Money Jobs” that’s what she and her booker calls the job that she only takes money. She can then take a daily fee of up to 20,000 euros, 200,000 dollars. And it’s only for the effort. In addition to the royalty when images are used.
“Typical cash jobs are campaigns for Asian customers and catalogs for major clothing chains and department stores,” she says.
Once offered Frida Gustavsson over a million dollars for a day job – and turned down.
“Yes, it may well seem crazy. But I and my booker has a long term plan for my career. There are different stages of a model’s career. In the beginning you have to be seen everywhere. Now I have established myself at a level where you have to appear in the right places and say no to much. In a few years, I am perhaps not as relevant anymore and then it’s time to make more money job. That’s how you get the most out of a modeling career. ”
In addition to the image-enhancing fashion magazine jobs and money jobs are advertising campaigns for major fashion houses. These jobs provide both kredd and very well paid. Frida Gustavsson’s largest mission to date is that she was a member of the global campaign for Prada’s winter collection. Right now she is up to date in the spring campaign for including Mulberry, Sportsmax and Tiger of Sweden.
What Frida Gustavsson earns in a year she would not say, but that there is an annual salary that would make most publicly-CEOs green with envy is obvious. As a 18-year-old millionaire, the world is her workplace and world celebrities, abstinence is Frida Gustavsson’s life far from an ordinary Swedish teenager.
“You fly business class, will be picked up by chauffeur and gets invited to celebrity parties. I have seen many girls sucked up in the world. They spend their money on cars and expensive handbags, and live a jetsetliv. For me, it was important to keep feet on the ground and not my whole identity to be that I am a model. It is also one of the reasons that I chose to stay in Stockholm. ”
Despite her young age she appears as a very mature as a person.
“I’ve been taking care of myself since I was 15 years. It meant that I grew up early, “is her own explanation.
A year ago, bought Frida Gustavsson own apartment in Vasastan in Stockholm – and paid the full amount in cash.
“I do not spend as much money, without investing the most in the future. Right now I have to buy a lakeside site on an island in the Stockholm archipelago, where I will build a summer house when I get older. ”
“I also own some stocks and mutual funds, but the stock market is right now it feels better to invest in property and land,” she says.
Frida Gustavsson also rents an apartment in Manhattan, New York along with his best friend, the Polish supermodel Monika “Jac” Jagaciak (ranked eight in the Models.coms list of the world’s hottest photo models).
“I work a lot in New York and it’s nice to have your own place instead of staying in a hotel. But I am free, I would be in Stockholm. Stockholm is my home and my security. I really enjoy when I’m at home, then I would rather spend time with my family and my boyfriend. ”
