• Remember When Models, Not Celebs, Were on Magazine Covers?

  Flypaper - Stuck on Style - Found Oct. 14, 2009 ... magazine newsstands, it was Bridget Hall's, Kirsty Hume's, Nadja Auermann's, Tatjana Patitz's, and Yasmeen Ghauri's mugs that winked, pouted...

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Yasmeen Ghauri (Urdu: یاسمین غوری ; born March 23, 1971) is a Canadian model. A popular runway model, Ghauri is best known as a former Victoria's Secret Angel.

Early life

Ghauri was born in Montreal, Canada to Pakistani Moin Ghauri and German Linda Ghauri. While her father was an Imam, a Muslim cleric for the Islamic Community of Quebec, her mother was opposed of her pursuing modelling as a career. Early on in her life, Ghauri had a troublesome childhood and was tormented by her classmates at school.¹ This led her dissociate from children from her age group and she joined older children in her neighbourhood instead. Yasmeen was reportedly working at a McDonalds restaurant at the age of 17 when she got noticed by Edward Zacharia, artistic director of the Platine Coiffure, a hair-salon in Montreal. She was walking outside the salon when Edward caught sight of her and brought her in to Joseph Del Tortoon, the owner of the salon. He had been working with models for the past 12 years and knew instantly Yasmeen could be one of the very best.¹

At the restaurant where she worked, she often turned up dressed in black from head to toe and was named Employee of the Month.² People would usually cite her as one with a rebellious nature.¹ Zacharia and Del Tortoon soon transformed her into a fashion-smart teenage urbanite. They told her to join an agency in Montreal where her modelling career took off. Zacharia arranged photo shoots for Ghauri to appear on some postcards, some of which featured her topless with her hands covering her breasts at the corner of St Lawrence Boulevard, Montreal. The postcards were never distributed because her father disapproved of them. At the same time there was a shift in the mentality of the people in the fashion industry and where once the all-American models were the only contenders, more ethnic inclusions to the catwalk were more than welcome. Yasmeen's coffee-coloured skin, brown hair and brown eyes were a perfect fit. She would henceforth be called an 'exotic' beauty, something Ghauri would humbly not want to associate with her name. She met Carol Bernardi six weeks after she was discovered who found her work at local shows in Montreal and who later introduced her to managers of the New York-based Next Management Co.

While she was off pursuing her new-found interest in modelling as a career, her father was seriously unhappy with it. He had gotten divorced in 1980 and Ghauri lived with him. When all hell broke loose, she decided to move to New York, where she was lucky enough to model for Versace in 1990. Here she was noticed by the fashion police, critics and labels alike.¹ She was soon praised for her poise and an exaggerated walk on the runway that earned her the title 'the panther'. New York Times quoted her walk as a 'ball-bearing swivel of her hips'.³ Moreover, Ghauri was named backstage as having the body of death, describing how curvaceous and womanly unachievable she was. Her popularity on runways for collections and couture shows grew even more. Her appearance on the catwalks prompted part of what is now termed in fashion as the 'Canadian invasion'.⁴

Career and achievements

Ghauri became the sweetheart of the New York and Paris fashion scene. She enjoyed fame in the early 1990s when she landed her first major cover with Elle in January 1990. Soon afterwards, she became the face of both Chanel and Jil Sander. By the end of 1990, she had appeared twice on the cover of French Elle in July and December. In September, she graced the catwalk for Gianni Versace's show in Milan and by the next month she was walking for Chanel, Helmut Lang, Jean Paul Gaultier and Lanvin shows in Paris. Her success was duly noted and she became the face of Christian Dior and Anne Klein in 1991. In January alone, she was photographed by Steven Meisel for the cover of Italian Vogue and appeared in the Harper’s Bazaar editorial. Towards the end of the year, she appeared in the British and the Italian Vogue editorials. Photographer Patrick Demarchelier who photographed her for the Italian issue called her his favourite subject.²

1992 was to be her year in modelling when she landed a contract with Victoria’s Secret and became a face of Valentino couture and Versace. Later she walked the controversial Gianni Versace 'Bondage' show in Milan which made fashion critics take serious note. Demarchelier photographed her again with Walter Chin for the Italian Vogue towards mid-1992.

Ghauri became the face of Hermès and Lanvin in 1993 and was photographed by Gilles Bensimon for Elle. Her most controversial appearance followed in May 1994, when she did a feature for Playboy. Soon after appearing on the covers of the Italian Marie Claire, British Vogue and then Harper's Bazaar, she appeared in the documentary Unzipped by Isaac Mizrahi on August 11, 1995. She later walked the 1996 annual Victoria’s Secret show as well as the spring Christian Dior, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier shows in Paris and retired in 1997.

Retirement

When Ghauri stepped out of the Yves Saint Laurent show in 1996 at the last minute, speculations arose that she might be retiring. She planned on pursuing a degree in business¹ upon the advice of her stepbrother Ralph, a law firm executive and a real-estate businessman.⁵⁶

Ghauri has a daughter, Maya, and is active with fund-raising events, most notable of which have been the charity for saving Germany's famous Black Forest.⁷

References in other media

Ghauri was the model after which the character of Jasmine was created in the comic book series Jonathan Steele. Just like the real person, the comic book character is a former model, born in Montreal from a Pakistani father and a German mother⁸.

References

External links

• Yasmeen_Ghauri at Fashion Model Directory
• Yasmeen Ghauri at the Internet Movie Database