– Hollands Finest –

Saskia de Brouw won Marie Claire’s Prix de la Mode for Best Model yesterday. Which I already knew, of course. Better yet. I was the one who had a top secret lunch with her agent Mo Karadag in August to see whether Saskia would even be in the country on that fateful 18 November. I think Saskia is an extraordinary model. Her quirkiness included. Which is why I’ll share with you some facts you probably didn’t know about her but which are oh so fun to know.

• Saskia used to work at a bakery’s. Which was the setting for Saskia’s phone call about her getting the mega deal with luxury bathing suit brand Eres. Saskia’s response: “I have to do a yoga exercise right now, I’ll call you back later.”

• Last New York Fashion Week, Saskia was absent. She was in a monastery participating in a Vipassana meditation in which she wasn’t allowed to speak for ten days. She didn’t care much about the fact that New York Fashion Week was taking place exactly that week. “I perform better when I’m happy.”

• Saskia is already thirty. Ancient for a model but Saskia has seized the number two in the Top 50 Models List. Soooo…

• Saskia’s boyfriend, Vincent van de Wijngaard, is a very successful photographer. He’s even represented by the most prestigious agency in New York, Art + Commerce.

• Saskia is Karl Lagerfeld’s favourite. She’s the face for many of his campaigns, accompanied him on his private jet and one time, allowed passages from her diary to be embroidered on some dresses from Chanel. Because Saskia and Karl are like this, Saskia really was our only choice to shine on Marie Clarie’s cover, dedicated to Chanel.

• Saskia has a divine body (because extremely slender yet still quite bosomy) and also a good pair of brains. And she’s creative. She graduated from the Rietveld Academie. My oh my.

• Saskia lives in Paris. Whenever she’s not walking, she’s biking through the city on her very Dutch Sparta.

More about Saskia and the ever great Chanel in Marie Claire. My final one.