Ekaterina Kiseleva has been one of the hottest models on the runways these past few seasons. Hailing from Siberia Russia, she has worked for the likes of Missoni, Balenciaga, Marc jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Calvin Klein, Versace, Donna Karan, Proenza Schouler, Thakoon, Narcisco Rodriguez and Vivienne Westwood just to name a few.
Ekat took some time off her busy schedule to talk to tso...
1. Hello Ekat, how are you? What are you up to?
Hey :)
I got reeeaaaally busy at the end of this year, flights between Tokyo and NY.
Had celebrated my 21st birthday in NY :) on 22 November
2. How did you begin your career? What's your discovery story?
My mum looooved to take pictures and videos of me and my brother when we were young, I have a huge collection at home lol. That's how I began to play in front of a camera....but I never wanted to be a model, I was a ballroom dancer... I always had a problem with a partner because I had grown fast and was tall for my age.
Each year in our city we have a beauty competition, I was 14 and I wanted to try out, I love competition :) (fighting haha)
One of the judges of that competition was a director of a big model agency in Moscow and she invited 5 girls for a photo shoot , I was one of them.... it was the summer 2002 and I went to Moscow after those days, it started a whole new story of my life....
3. What has been you favourite job so far?
Just had a shoot for i-D magazine in London, I love to work with english teams, they have a new fresh eye on fashion - i think so...
Shot for Velvet in NY in Chelsea Hotel , if you know what I’m tallking about ;) this place is crazy, to understand you need to see it... in this hotel, every room is different, paintings and posters all around the halls... many famous musicians, artists have lived there and still do....
4. Any designers you wish to work for?
I had the chance (luck) to work with big designers like Francesco Costa - Calvin Klein , Frida Giannini - Gucci , I did looks for them while it was exclusive for a show . You can see how a piece of material becomes art on you.
When you do shows you have casting where you try outfits for the runway. Then you have fittings, by that time you see all the hard work of all the designers.
I loooove Balmain I want to work with them...and I never did Chanel, I would love to work with them too
5. Where do you call home?
NY East Village, East side of London town, Paris under the Eiffel tower (haha i wish)... but really my home is all the world. I can't choose, for now...
6. What's your personal style? What are your favourite designers?
It's hard to talk about style , for me I haven’t found my personal style yet, I’m trying some thing new all the time and seasons changing style and I’m growing and starting to try many new things which I would have never wore before....
Now my style icon is Emmanuelle Alt, the best stylist of French Vogue :)
Couple of favorite designers : Balmain , YSL (forever), Alexander Wang, Balenciaga, Rick Owens, Alexander McQueen
8. Any beauty secrets/must have products?
Beauty secrets are easy: healthy food, 7-8 hours of sleep and of course you need to feed your skin with vitamins: the environment is bad now if you live in a big city like NY, always traveling around the world is affecting your skin too.
I love the skin care of Shiseido, I like to try some new stuff too.
9. Have you received any cool gifts from work?
Sometimes you get gifts but not often, the best gifts I had ever received is a Balenciaga bag after I did their shows I was soooooo happy, Marc Jacobs had paid the models by clothes (we could take a couple of things from previous collections or samples) some designers do that :) :) :)
10. What would you be doing if you were not modelling?
It’s hard to say now, but if my life wasn’t this way I would go study in university in Siberia, probably in the black oil business, that's what we all do in Siberia haha
But I'm glad.... now I see so much, I have met so many interesting and amazing people, I'm learning about everything, everyday.....I have an open mind now and I don't know who iIwant to be in life (I still keep that a secret inside me lol) I will as much as I can, I will
11. What's next for you?
Haha that's a funny questions for me, I make plans of what I want to do but I never plan what will be in a couple of days or months .... I only know that it's gonna be new day tomorrow, new sun, new feelings ... I'm an optimistic person.
