She\'s got the look

If you thought summer was a good time to fall asleep in fashion, wake up! The modelling super-league has been busy shifting around its key players in the nick of time for the French Haute Couture shows. If you thought Kate Moss or Lily Donaldson ruled the catwalks look again. The new line up includes a modern Russian revolution of green-eyed blonde-haired, high cheek boned \'fembots\' who are dominating the fashion scene, along with a sprinkling of super-glamorous Brazilians, beanpole Poles and - hurrah - one very important Brit. Read on to discover why the recent week-long autumn/winter season of couture shows in Paris were re-named The Attack Of The Clones (with regard to the amount of Sasha Pivovarova-lookalikes), and why the Eastern European model invasion is not quite ‘Ova\' yet...

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Raquel Zimmermann

Born in the South of Brazil to a bee-keeping dad and seamstress mum, bleach blonde (she\'s recently hit the peroxide), blue-eyed Raquel Zimmerman, was brought up on honey and exquisite hand-made clothes by her mother. She was accepted by a model agent, aged 14, and propelled to stardom two years later when Steven Meisel put the unknown Zimmerman on the cover of September 2000 Italian Vogue. She went on to snaffle endless campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Chloe, Dior, Chanel, Fendi, Prada and Louis Vuitton and is currently starring as a woman - and a man - in the Jean Paul Gaultier campaign, and very much a woman in the Gucci, Hermes and powerful black and white Giorgio Armani autumn/winter campaign shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, where she wears glossy black lipstick applied by Pat McGrath! For the past five years she has been ranked the No 1 international editorial and catwalk model in the world, commanding six figure daily rates and scoring more A-list designer campaigns and prestigious editorials than any other.  A recent TV advert for Gucci fragrance directed by David Lynch heralded another turn in her career and she is tipped to go the way of Amber Valetta and Michelle Pfeiffer and become an actress. Her legacy will be overturning the belief Brazilian means bitch. By all accounts Raquel is as polite, hard working and sweet natured as Gisele Bundchen isn\'t. She lives in New York with hubby, Brazilian fashion photographer, Ruy Sanchez Blanco.

Picture: Raquel Zimmermann backstage at Chanel autumn/winter 2009.

Sasha Pivovarova

Goofy Moscow chick, Sasha, currently commands the No 2 slot in the world-modelling superleague. Sasha, joined IMG in 2005 and was immediately (and famously) put on an exclusive contract by Svengali show producer, Russell Marsh, to open Prada\'s autumn/winter 2005 show. She then became the \'face\' of Prada for three consecutive seasons - which was totally unprecedented - and ushered in a wave of blonde, elfin-faced Eastern European \'clones\'. These are also known as \'fembots\' because they can look like robots with wide-eyed, expressionless faces and identikit long, lean frames. Ironically, having set the compass in terms of model trends, she has since moved on and matured into a top model that is considered something of a chameleon when it comes to changing her look. She has clocked up campaigns for Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Gap, Longchamp, Tiffany & Co, Anna Sui, John Galliano and currently looks super glamorous in this season\'s Chanel pre-autumn photographs. As well as modelling she is an artist. Backstage at Jean Paul Gaultier\'s couture show recently in Paris she sketched fellow models and the mad French designer himself. Her paintings have featured in French Vogue and been exhibited galleries in New York and Paris. Sasha and her photographer husband, Igor Vishnyakov, are also committed vegetarians.

Picture: Sasha Pivovarova backstage at Stella McCartney autumn/winter 2009.

Anna Jagodzinska

A little bit of notoriety never hurt anyone, certainly not a model! When a grainy 30-second Calvin Klein TV advert shot by Steven Meisel and featuring Anna, topless, apart from a pair of jeans, was banned in America in January 2009 for being too risqué, it got more YouTube hits internationally than any television commercial could have hoped for. Since making her debut (at London fashion week) in October 2003, the 21-year-old Polish model has appeared in a whopping 250 runway shows on the international circuit, including Marc Jacobs in New York, Burberry and Prada in Milan and Alexander McQueen, Dior and Chanel in Paris. This is even more impressive given the fact she took a \'gap year\' in 2006 and returned to her native Poland to finish studies (she eventually hopes to be a psychologist). She defied critics who had told her this was career suicide to stage a magnificent catwalk comeback in February 2008 where she racked up crucial shows like Balenciaga, Chanel and Louis Vuitton. A Vogue Paris cover helped make her the most requested model of the spring/summer 2009, where she did 58 shows and subsequently 12 advertising campaigns. She also appeared on the May cover of US Vogue with Anna Wintour\'s two favourites, Liya Kebede and Natalia Vodianova.

Picture: Anna Jagodzinska backstage at the Valentino autumn/winter 2009 show.

Natasha Poly

Best known for her unfeasibly long legs, her sexy catwalk strut (which is being compared with legendary runway veteran Naomi Campbell), and sharp cheekbones, this 24-year-old Russian hails from the rather unfashionably sounding town of Perm. Natasha (real name Natalia Polevshchikova) is one of dozens of \'ovas\' hailing from the former Soviet Union who are taking the frock world by storm. In her breakthrough season, autumn/winter 2004, she catwalked her way through 54 international shows, followed by two consecutive covers of French Vogue and then became the \'face\' of Gucci by Gucci perfume photographed by Mario Testino. The following year sticky-thin Natasha wowed the audience at the Victoria\'s Secrets fashion show - famous for using girls-with-curves like Heidi Klum - with her sexy sashay and ability to strike a pose as convincingly as any Bond Girl. She then clocked up campaigns for Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli and Gucci. Last year, following the season where she opened and closed major shows including Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang and Chanel, she appeared in campaigns for Jil Sander, Givenchy and Gucci. She also did her fifth French Vogue cover and had an entire issue of Russian Vogue dedicated to her. She is currently one of the faces of Gucci for autumn/winter 2009 photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

Picture: Natasha Poly backstage at the Pucci autumn/winter 2009 show in Milan.

Lara Stone

This gorgeous gap-toothed blonde originally hails from the picturesque Dutch village of Mierlo. She was discovered on the Paris Metro by a model scout when she was 12 and ran in the Elite Model Look competition aged 15. Since relocating to the Big Apple (she signed with IMG New York in 2006) she has racked up countless campaigns (for Givenchy, Levis, Calvin Klein Jeans amongst others) and consistently works with Steven Meisel on leading editorials for Italian and French Vogue - partly because of her incredible body, slim but curvaceous. February 2009 saw Carine Roitfeld dedicate the entire issue of Paris Vogue to her, proof, if needed, that she had hit the huge time. Born to a Dutch mother and English father, she speaks several languages and spends her time flitting between Paris and New York. Despite being an ancient, 25, she was one of the brightest stars of the recent autumn/winter Paris Haute Couture season. Here, she was chosen by Karl Lagerfeld to be his bouffant bride in the Chanel show Wearing a frilly tutu dress, white tights, bonnet and booties, she didn\'t look too happy. Perhaps it was because despite being a statuesque 5ft 11in, she has teeny size five feet and most shoe samples are size seven (40). She has been known to strut down the catwalk chanting the mantra, \"Do not fall, do not fall.\" Autumn/winter campaigns include the luxury swimwear label Eres, and Italian brand, DSquared2, created by Madonna\'s great buddies, the Canadian twins, Dan and Dean Caten.

Picture: Lara Stone backstage at Balmain autumn/winter 2009.

Anja Rubik

Polish-born Anja started modelling in her school holidays aged 14 when she attended a posh high school in Paris. Blessed with near-perfect skin, long blonde hair and a 5ft 11in frame, she waited until her studies were finished before she began hoovering up designer campaigns and covers. She might look new to you but in fact has been around for almost a decade. Having appeared on covers internationally including Numero, French Vogue, French Elle and Nylon and walked the catwalks of Givenchy, Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, it wasn\'t until she became the face of Chloe perfume in 2005, the same year she also starred in a Jimmy Choo campaign shot by Mario Testino, that she went from model, to supermodel. Subsequent campaigns included Balmain, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, Bottega Veneta, Roberto Cavalli, Gap and with newly short hair in spring/summer 2009, Giorgio Armani. Anja, who has a striking jawline, is particularly popular with photographers. She continues to be championed by fashion greats including Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Nick Knight, Solve Sundsbo, David LaChapelle, Craig McDean, Ellen von Unwerth, and Mert and Marcus. She has been chosen to break the new Gucci campaign, which features a handful of the leading models of the season.

Picture: Anja Rubik backstage at the Stella McCartney autumn/winter 2009 show.

Karlie Kloss

This 17-year-old dark blonde American is being tipped for great things. Discovered aged 13 on a charity runway in St Louis by a model scout from Elite, the classically trained ballerina who has an edgy rock chick quality to her and a look of a young Jane Birkin, also has natural grace, which becomes apparent on the catwalk. She walked for numerous A-listers on the international catwalks when she made her debut age 16, including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Givenchy, Gucci, Valentino and Versace. Patrick Demarchelier, who photographed her for the cover of Teen Vogue along with Chanel Iman, is mentoring Karlie, who was born in Chicago and is now based in New York, as are most influential photographers. For the coming autumn/winter 2009 season she has snatched a few campaigns off some older rivals including Chloe, Lacoste and Sportmax. She will also star in a new campaign shot by Juergen Teller of the Lola fragrance by Marc Jacobs. One of Karlie\'s bessie mates is British rising superstar, Jourdan Dunn. Both Karlie and Jourdan are crazy about fashion and noted for their personal sense of style. Watch out Agyness!

Picture: Karlie Kloss backstage at the Etro autumn/winter 2009 show in Milan.

Jourdan Dunn

The success of this 19-year-old model from London is unstoppable. Six months after being discovered in Primark in 2006, she had walked in the Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren shows in New York and notched up her first campaign for Benetton shot by fellow Brit, David Simms. In February 2008 she unwillingly created world headlines by becoming the first black model to walk for Prada in a decade. In July 2008 she appeared on the cover of Italian Vogue\'s black issue shot by Steven Meisel and starred in editorials for British Vogue and Elle. Her second campaign, for Topshop, came out last August, the same month she appeared in an editorial fashion spread photographed by cutting edge Emma Summerton, who also shot her for the September cover of i-D. Jourdan, who can look slightly oriental, Middle Eastern or Asian, and either very youthful or sophisticated, was a star at the international spring/summer 2009 catwalks, walking for A-listers including Chanel, Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Giambattista Valli and Thakoon. For the autumn/winter 2009 shows, she walked in 61 shows including Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Dior and Dolce & Gabbana. \'Hawkers\' outside and around the catwalks are also constantly snapping her because of her kooky fashion sense. As well as an ambition to be a top model she\'d love to try her hand at being a fashion editor too? And why not.

>Picture: Jourdan Dunn backstage at Dolce & Gabbana autumn/winter 2009.

Caroline Trentini

The elf-like Brazilian blonde could pass for a Russian... if it weren\'t for her boobs. Most recently she was the star of the lingerie-themed Christian Dior haute couture show posing in a black satin pointy bra that heightened her cleavage and orange puffball skirt. More often booked for her incredible body as well as her beautiful face, in March, she proved Brazilian girls also look great out of swimsuits, when she posed on the cover of the March issue of Elle Brazil, in Russian-themed clothes inspired by the pre-autumn Chanel collection. Trentini was discovered aged 13 by the same scout who found Gisele Bundchen. A year later she moved to New York and in 2003 landed the Marc by Marc Jacobs campaign shot by Juergen Teller. In 2004, she made her catwalk debut in Paris where Anna Wintour noted her sexy swagger. In 2005, she opened the Marc Jacobs show in New York and modelled for Victoria\'s Secrets, two events that catapulted her to stardom. She subsequently got booked for all the major fashion glossies including Vogue, Elle, Harper\'s Bazaar and Numero and notched up a few more campaigns - namely Balenciaga and Gucci.

Picture: Caroline Trentini backstage at the Matthew Williamson spring/summer 2009 show in New York.

Vlada Roslyakova

Are you ready for the next \'ova\'? Vlada, real name Elena, had to change her surname when she discovered she shared it with (at least) one other Russian model. Born in Omsk, Siberia, the petite-framed blonde appears to have been cloned from Sacha Pivovarova, (or Emma Ward or Natasha Poly or Caroline Trentini, or even a young Michelle Pfeiffer even). The thing is, once you\'ve seen Roslyakova\'s legs, which go on forever, or her doll-like face and perfect skin, you see what all the fuss is about. Since her catwalk debut in 2004, this girl has walked for everyone from Prada to Chanel. Karl Lagerfeld choose her to be the look book girl in his Haute Couture 2008 show claiming she epitomised what fashion is about at this precise time. Some claim she, not Pivovarova, provided the inspiration for his hugely influential pre-autumn 2009 Russian Pre-Collection. He recently replaced Gemma Ward with Vlada for his own brand, Karl Lagerfeld. Other fashion notorieties that are loving Vlada right now include Carine Roitfeld, Alexander McQueen, Terry Richardson, Craig McDean and Patrick Demarchelier. \"The thing about Russian girls,\" explains Jane Duval, the influential model scout who discovered Alexa Chung, age 15, \"is that they were made to model. Their bone structures are balanced and their bodies are perfect for clothes fitting. Photographically, they look great from every angle and they are really calm, well-mannered and professional.\"

Picture: Vlada Roslyakova backstage at Christian Lacroix autumn/winter 2009.

See more model month features:

Top 10 greatest fashion models of all time

Fashion face-off: Eva Herzigova vs Claudia Schiffer

Supermodel quiz: Which supermodel are you? Find out...

Want to become a model? Check out these agencies...