“Don’t be shy but keep it classy.”
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With a face out of a Renaissance painting and the longest legs in town, Hanne Gaby is the only model who could successfully style out a walking cane in 2 inch studded winkle-pickers and adidas gazelles. Like any typical teenage dreamer, Hanne Gaby Odiele didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up but enjoyed a good rock festival and at 17, stylist Tom Van Dorpe spotted her lengthy limbs at Novarock and recognised her extreme cupid’s bow lips, big blue eyes and shaggy blonde mane as those of the next super. The same year she made her debut on the luxury runways of Marc by Marc Jacobs, Rodarte, Ruffian and Thakoon in New York and landed editorials in Vogue Italia and British Vogue. A car accident at the end of 2006 left both her legs broken but Hanne’s story only got more inspiring when she bounced back, worked her crutches with some boho, sports edge outfits and walked the catwalks at Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, YSL and Balenciaga. Today the 24-year-old Belgian beauty can be found hanging out with Kasia Struss and Jacquelyn Jablonski at Coachella, dressed in denim for the Diesel ads or looking like a Sixties sweetheart in the Moschino campaign.
With thanks to the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn.
Text: Felicity Kinsella
Film and Photography: Barbara Anastacio
