Carine Roitfeld On Discovering The Next Big Names

There’s no question that Carine Roitfeld has the magic touch when it comes to finding fresh faces. Her most recent discovery, Gigi Hadid, has gone on to snag a string of the most coveted covers and campaigns, which culminated last month with a beauty contract with the world’s number one cosmetic brand, Maybelline New York. Roitfeld’s other finds, Lara Stone and Kate Upton, have also become fashion and beauty superstars. Here’s how she does it… 

Carine on finding fresh talents: “For me, there is nothing I love more than a new discovery: the next young model, the best new designer or photographer. It is always my pleasure to foster burgeoning talent—to help them realize their potential and grow into themselves.

Carine on her chic circle of trust: “When I find someone that I like, of course I call Karl [Lagerfeld] or Bruce or Tom [Ford] or someone else, and I tell them, it is about feeling, what I feel, what I trust and believe in, and what I want for them. And it means the world to me that they listen—that they believe in me the way I believe in these girls. And it goes both ways: an agent calls Stephen Gan and he tells me I need to meet a girl, and I listen because we both have the same beliefs and we love to think big.”

Carine on what happens next with a new face: “Some might say that to be ahead of the curve is both a blessing and a curse, because when other people catch on to your discovery, you want everyone to know that it was you who found them first. But I do not find this to be the case. I never feel more proud than when I watch one of the people I nurture find their place in the world because even when I see one of my girls in the pages of another magazine… or on someone else’s screen, I know that they are there because I did my job. And to me, that is all that matters.”

AND! Bruce Weber on Carine’s unique gifts: “I was talking to Carine and Stephen Gan about girls who we all adore. When Carine and Stephen stand up for a girl and feel totally passionate about her, I know it’s the right one. Gigi has all that femininity and warmth of the women who lived on the French Riviera in the ’50s. I think when a girl first starts, her best education and best chance at working is to do a sitting with Carine. She makes every girl feel she is on top of the world.”

PLUS! Gigi to The Daily on meeting Carine: “I went in to see Stephen and that same day he sent me straight to meet Carine Roitfeld. I honestly didn’t take it seriously. I thought, I’m going to walk into Carine’s office, she’s going to laugh at me, and I’m going to leave. That she wanted me in one of her shoots at all was just insane. The fact that they centered the shoot on me and put me on the cover [of CR Fashion Book] was even more insane.”