Laetitia's Biography

Prenames:

Laetitia Marie Laure

Last Name:

Casta

Date of birth:

May 11th 1978

Place of birth:

Pont Au De Mer, Corsica, France

Height:

5'8"

Stats:

36"-24"-35"

Hair:

Light Brown

Eyes:

Gentle Blue

Nationality:

French

Agency:

Madison Agency, Paris

Martial Status:

Single

Laetitia was discovered by a Madison Agency scout in 1993 while at the beach with her family at age 15. She made her first appearance in the modeling industry soon after when Paul Marciano selected her for a GUESS?™ advertising campaign. (Shot by Neil Kirk in Jamaica, October 1994.) She has done many GUESS?™ campaigns since then as the "Guess Girl." ("Stretch" shot by Dewey Nicks in Palm Springs, Florida and Laguna Beach, California.)

When she isn't busy with her modeling career, she lives in Paris with her parents, an older brother, and a younger sister. Although she plans to keep modeling for as long as she can, she is interested in getting married and raising a family. In an interview with Top Model, she states confidently; "I'll have my first baby before I'm twenty five." She would also like to raise a lot of animals.

She will be co-staring with Gerard Depardieu in an upcoming movie, "Astérix et Obélix," currently in post-production and due to be released in the U.S. this year. Her first acting venture!

Partial Resumè:

**Covers:**
Cosmopolitan, October	Italy
	Cosmopolitan, August	U.S.
	Elle, October	Australia
	Elle, March18	France
	Elle, May 6	France
	Elle, July 29	France
	Elle, June	Greece
	Elle, September	Hong Kong
	Elle, May	Italy
	Glamour, February	U.S.
	Mademoiselle, January	U.S.
	Mademoiselle, November	U.S.
	Seventeen, April	U.S.
Cosmopolitan, March	Australia
	Cosmopolitan, April	Spain
	Cosmopolitan, September	U.S.
	DS Magazine, March	U.S.
	Elle, June	U.S.
	Elle, July	U.S.
	Elle, October	Australia
	Elle, October	U.S.
	Elle, April 7	France
	Elle, June 9	France
	Elle, August 18	France
	Elle Top Model #16, July	U.S.
	Glamour, March	U.S.
	Glamour, July	U.S.
	Mademoiselle, March	U.S.
	Marie Claire, July	France
	Marie Claire, September	U.S.
	Marie Claire, November	U.S.
Cosmopolitan, May	Holland
	Cosmopolitan, May	U.S.
	Elle, January	U.S.
	Elle, May	U.S.
	Elle, May 4	France
	Elle, May 11	France
	Elle, June	Australia
	Elle TopModel #21, April	U.S.
	Marie Claire, April	U.S.
	Marie Claire, June	Germany
	Marie Claire, June	U.S.
	Photo, May	Italy

Marie Claire April

**Advertising Campaigns:**
Brunello Cuchinelli Cashmere
Chanel Allure (Fragrance)
Dana B. & Karen
Escada Sport
Frederica
Giorgio Armani
Givenchy Fleur d'Interdit (Fragrance)
GUESS?
Isacc Mizrahi
J. Crew
L'Oréal
Pantene
Ralph Lauren
Victoria's Secret

**Fashion Show Appearances:**
Fall/Winter	Ready to Wear Christian Lacroix and Vivienne Westwood
Spring/Summer	Ready to Wear Junko Shimada, Lolita Lempicka, & Vivienne Westwood
Spring/Summer	Haute Couture Jean-Paul Gaultier
Spring/Summer	Colette Denigan

Colette Denigan

**Television Appearances:**
"The Secret of Victoria's Secret"
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special

SI Swimsuit Special 1998

NRJ Radio Interview

**Other Appearances:**
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

SI Swimsuit Edition 1998

SI Swimsuit '98

Articles:

Article From GUESS? Webpage: Model Biographies

Standing 5'8" with her long dark blonde hair framing her alluring face and bright blue eyes, Laetitia Casta could stop a clock. Voluptuous, youthful and sensual, she is the essence of the GUESS? image in its advertising. Born and raised in Normandie and Corsica, France, in the middle of an animal-filled forest, Laetitia has a down-home charm that's truly infectious. Her discovery by Paul Marciano, the president and creative director of GUESS?, Inc. has brought her international exposure and worldwide recognition.

At age 15, Laetitia's interest in modeling was sparked when she was discovered by a photographer while laying on a beach with her family. While on a trip to Paris shortly after, Paul Marciano selected her to make her debut with GUESS? in an advertising campaign shot by Neil Kirk in Jamaica in October 1994. Since then, she has worked for GUESS? in many campaigns as the GUESS? Girl. Now 18, her latest GUESS? campaign, "Stretch," was shot by photographer Dewey Nicks, in beautiful Palm Springs and Laguna Beach, California.

When her hectic schedule allows, Laetitia enjoys car racing with her friends, traveling, cooking with her mom and spending time with her 7 year old sister. She also has a brown belt in Judo. She feels that her experience with Judo has helped her in her modeling career to have control, to set limits for herself, to not be aggressive and to think with her mind not with her emotions.

For now, Laetitia "would like to continue modeling for as long as [she] can", but she is interested in getting married and having a family someday. She said that acting is also something that she would be interested in doing in the very near future. Confident and self-assured, her motto remains, "If there's someone knocking at my door, I will open it."

Interview from Elle Top Model #16

- How does it feel to be so beautiful?

I've never asked myself that question. It's a plus, of course, to be thought beautiful. But it didn't occur to me when I first started. I had never imagined being a model. My parents never told me that I was more beautiful than anyone else, and that I could or should do this job. In any case, beauty is not really important, it's charm that counts. What's inside of you has to show through.

- So, on top of everything else, you like to charm people?

At school, I was always the one who made my friends laugh, and I was the one who got into trouble! At that time, when I was twelve or thirteen, I had a real hang-up about my nose, and I only wore jeans and shirts.

- You were a bit of a tomboy?

Yes, and it's only when I started modeling and posing for photographers that I became more reserved in my behavior, and more feminine. That was when I started to really appreciate beautiful things. I loved changing clothes all the time!

- Are you crazy about clothes now?

Yes, changing outfits puts me in a good mood! It's like a new day. I love to shop. Not necessarily for expensive stuff: It's fun to go to sales and flea markets, and to bring back bits and pieces from different places. It creates memories!

- Do you travel a lot?

Yes, and that's why I always take a few favorite items of clothing with me wherever I go. I have a pair of striped knee-length pants that I love, they're so comfortable. I'm not myself in the clothes I have to wear for photographs, I'm playing a role. But when I get back into my own things, it's like being back at home.

- Is beauty care as important to you?

My mother taught me to pay attention to all that, and to look after myself. When I travel, I always take specific products along. I like to have my things with me.

-So, what's in your makeup bag?

The products I use are not necessarily the same brand. They happen to suit my hair, or my face, and they are generally very ordinary. To remove makeup, I use a baby bath lotion, which I buy at the pharmacy. I apply it to my face with a very pure, soft cotton wool, the usual cotton pads for removing makeup literally scratch my face! My skin tends to get dry, so I apply a very light cream, by Avene. For my lips, which are also often dry, I use a cream which contains vitamin A. Also, I always carry a spray bottle of Evian spring water.

- You don't use a body lotion?

Yes, I use one by Neutrogena. They have excellent products that are specially adapted for sensitive skin. I also always have shower gel with me wherever I go.

- And for your hair?

I prefer baby shampoo, but I change shampoos often, because I believe that you shouldn't get your hair accustomed to the same product. I mix the shampoo in my hand with a little water, and I wash the roots only so that the tips don't get dry.

- How often do you wash your hair?

Every two or three days. Then I apply a conditioner, rinse it off, and leave it to dry naturally: To avoid damaging my hair, I don't ever use a hair dryer. When my hair looks really tired, I buy shea butter and give it a "mask." I leave it on for a while, with my head wrapped in a towel, then rinse it out.

- You cut your hair recently. Did that take courage?

Well, I still can't believe that I did it! I was asked to cut it for an Elsève campaign, a very well-paid contract, which not too many girls get the chance to do. So I told myself that it didn't matter, and that it would grow back. When I got home afterwards, though, I wasn't happy at all; it felt so strange not to be able to run my fingers through the hair. And the next day, when I woke up and remembered, my heart gave a little squeeze. It felt as if a part of me had been cut away. But the hair is growing back, and it's a change.

- Are you disciplined about what you eat?

Yes, in that I believe in sitting at the table and eating everything, like everybody else! I enjoy eating for the sake of eating. I travel all the time, and it's obvious that how you eat is very important: It gives you energy and strength, and helps to prevent you from getting sick! The girls who don't eat are always tired. I eat whenever I'm hungry or whenever I feel like it.

- Do you eat specific kinds of food?

No. I live with my parents, and have a younger sister and a twenty-one-year-old brother. We're all at the table together, so I can't help but eat like them. Mealtimes are occasions to relax and be with the family.

- What's your favorite dish?

I like everything; vegetables, fish, meat; although I'm not crazy about red meat. I love cake and cookies. I adore rice pudding with custard, which my mother makes. She also makes caramel custard, delicious!

- Cakes and cookies aren't a usual diet for a top model.

I'm only eighteen. Why should I make myself miserable? Little by little I'll pay more attention. But I have a round body anyway. I've always been curvy. We'll see later...

- Do you exercise?

I jog from time to time, and I walk a lot, which gives me energy for traveling. I also sleep a lot. But, actually, I'm quite hardworking. I can sleep until noon, but when I'm on a shoot, I can get up at 4 a.m. and stay up long past midnight.

- I'm sure that there are lots of girls who want to look like you. What about you? Did you ever identify with someone famous?

Real beauty is to be true to oneself. That's what makes me feel good. There are lots of women, though, whom I adore. Like Brigitte Bardot in her early years. What I admire is that when she first started, she truly created an image of her own. What she did in her time was really daring! I haven't ever seen her in...And God Created Woman, but I've seen the photographs, and they are gorgeous! I also like Frida Kahlo for her personality and her courage. Both those women have real style, and lots of temperament!

- Like Brigitte Bardot, you're very sexy. You have a fantastic bust!

I tell people that my breasts are "Made in Normandy," from butter and creme fraîche! [laughs]

- How do you feel about showing them in photographs?

It doesn't bother me. Nudity is a natural state. It's when you hide your body that the whole issue becomes vulgar. We should be free with our bodies and be responsible. It sounds easy for me to say that, but I have flaws, like everyone else.

- What flaws?

I have lots. My teeth, for example, aren't perfect. And my feet look like little sausages! But I can live with that! [laughs]

- How do you feel about about cosmetic surgery?

I'm not in favor of it at all. I would think that it's like having a foreign body in your own. The best thing is to remain how you are. Nothing is more beautiful than what is natural. And beauty never belongs to anyone anyway, it passes.

- That's a nice way of putting it.

It's true though. Beauty comes and goes. Sometimes, you're in love, and after you've made love, you are very beautiful. But those are only transient moments. That's life.

- Would you stop everything you're doing to have a baby?

Yes. If having a child meant leaving it with a nanny while I traveled, I wouldn't want to have one. A child isn't a toy!

- So there will be little Laetitias?

Yes, and little Napoleons! [laughs] I'd like to have a first child while I'm young, and my last one some-what later. Like my mother: She had my sister when she was thirty-six. And I'd like to have three or four kid s, because I adore them. I've always known that I was made to have children. To be able to have a child is a great piece of luck. It's so beautiful, a child with the person you love.

Interviewer: Caroline Van de Velde

Article From Elle Top Model #16

Like Bardot, Laetitia Casta has an insolent beauty with just a hint of childishness, and a feline charm that involuntarily draws the eye. Her persona conveys no sense of a prefabricated im age, or of a dressed-up doll. On the co ntrary, much of her appeal lies in the very real, individual personality that she is able to project on the page.

Meeting Laetitia for an interview requires focus: It would be easy to do nothing but look at her. We wanted, however, to find out more about this young model, who compelled British designer Vivienne Westwood to comment: "I don't believe in God, but when I see Laetitia, I might change my mind." And the renowned French photographer Dominique Issermann--another woman who is used to looking at models, and who doesn't frequently express undue enthusiasm--has called her "the most beautiful girls in the world."

In the U.S., Laetitia is beginning to be spoken of as if she were a recent manifestation of the innovative French spirit that produced the high-speed TGV trains. Ever since she was featured in the now-famous GUESS? campaign, "the new Brigitte Bardot" has been racking up covers and contracts on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the ballroom-size booking room of the Madison agency in Paris, Véronique Tuil, the booking director, and Valérie Sarfati, a booking agent, revealed some additional insights about their protégée's evident assets: "Her freshness, her sensuality, and her figure are in sharp contrast to current standards," remarks Valérie. "To find a successor to Stephanie Seymour for the Elsève campaign, L'Oréal saw hundreds of girls. It took two years to find Laetitia!"

The two women describe Laetitia as "a pearl"; a variety of which had all but vanished from fashion magazines when she began to model. Perhaps a reflection of economically gloomy times, magazine pages at that time were peopled with the pale, doleful-eyed waifs who had replaced the sexy stars of the '80s.

That state of affairs, however, couldn't--and didn't--last forever. Women tend to want to see models that they can identify with as well as admire--a factor that the androgynous, asexual look of the grunge era took into little account.

While Laetitia certainly fills these requirements, one of her strengths is that she doesn't fit fashion's standard physical categories. It's not customary in this profession to see five-foot-seven-inch top models, but, paradoxically, it's precisely the lack of a couple of inches that has helped Laetitia get ahead of her beautiful colleagues. This may seem strange, but it's not entirely surprising in a world where criteria for beauty are notoriously unstable. With her relatively small stature and feminine curves, Laetitia sometimes looks like a creature from another planet next to other tall, rake-thin models--but it's a look with enormous appeal.

When Laetitia suddenly appears in the booking room, sliding on the parquet, bestowing kisses upon the small team of Madison agents, the smile on her face is like an intimation of happiness for those about to cross her path: She radiates cheerfulness.

Before anything else, she first picks up her fan mail. Some overly insistant fans, she reports, propose immediate matrimony; others are more romantic and will suggest a glass of champagne; most often, the letters are purely curious, asking questions like "Do you make a lot of money?" or "Where do you live?"

This kind of public attention has been a factor for almost four years now, so Laetitia knows how to insulate herself from the pressure. Her agency, Madison, also helps by acting as a second family who will take care of her and provide advice. Madison knows how important Laetitia's fame is for them, but they also know that the young model needs to be protected from the stress, fighting, and dangers of sudden limelight that have often destroyed promising talents. ( The film industry, for example, has been beckoning, but will have to wait a while.)

Laetitia has another guardian angel--her father--who watches over her, and his two other children with the tenderness and concern typical of a Corsican parent. He is proud of her success but always on guard on her behalf.

"My father came with me to my first meeting at Madison," Laetitia explains, looking delicious in her black 501 jeans, a white Prada ribbon in her hair. "He trusted me, but, as he often tells me, he doesn't want anyone to hurt me. I always remember a beautiful thing that he once said to me: 'There isn't a minute in the day that I don't think of you, that I don't fear for you. I want you to be strong, because I won't always be there.'"
After her discovery as a model at fifteen, Laetitia embarked on a new life, leaving behind everything that was familiar to her--bedroom, favorite teddy bears, her family, and classmates.

"It's dangerous to start so early," she says. "I went away with people who I really did not know. I had to grow up fast. I had a credit card at fifteen."

As a result, she says, she holds on tightly to her most precious possession--that part of childhood that lives deep in her heart and in her eyes. When she is bored and far from Paris--her favorite city in the world, where she would like, someday, to have "an all-white, minimal" studio--Laetitia calls her mother on the telephone to tell her how much she misses her. Or she leaves her hotel room, where she tends to feel confined, to talk to the night staff ( once falling asleep in the early hours of the morning alongside the switchboard operators ).

Unpredictability is apparently a significant part of Laetitia's temperament. Her agency still tells the tale of how she showed up one day holding a duckling in her arms. Madison is a welcoming place, but the agency drew the line at playing farmer, and the bird was shipped off to Laetitia's grandmother. ( Laetitia also likes tarantulas and pigs, but hasn't, as yet, brought any along to work with her. )

For the TopModel interview, she insists on going to the nearby Parc Monceau, explaining that she's an outdoor girl who only feels truly comfortable in natural surroundings--the kind in which she plans to settle down one day with "a husband for life," a flock of children, and lots of animals.

What about boys right now? "To me, the way someone talks, walks, or moves is what makes him handsome. I'd like to fall in love, but I'm in no hurry. It's better to wait than to waste time on relationships that have no future." Declaring herself definitively opposed to short-term relationships, she says that she takes things as they come, and states with quiet certainty, "In any case, I'll have my first baby before I'm twenty-five."

There's something touching about Laetitia's pronouncement under the flowering chestnut trees in the park: It's the resolution of a young woman who has grown up too fast, but who nonetheless understands the value of things.

It's revealing to hear what book this young globe-trotter carries with her as she moves between casting sessions, photo shoots, and fashion shows. Enfantines ( meaning "childlike" ) was written by Valery Larbaud, a great French writer who died in 1957--many years before Laetitia was born. Talking to the young model, however, it is clear that the Laetitia who has so enraptured the world of fashion and beauty could easily substitute for one of the author's fragile, delicate, and dangerously sensual heroines--for whom "the door to dreams is open day and night."

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