Mariacarla Boscono
Fashion has always run through her veins, although she has “never felt a beautiful model”, as she declared in an interview for Vogue Italia. One of the most paid Italian supermodels ever, Mariacarla Boscono is undoubtedly a particular beauty out of canonic standards, and maybe this was just the key to her success.
Born in 1980 in Rome, daughter of a couple of entrepreneurs who founded the Italian brand Saucony, Mariacarla Boscono approached the catwalks when she was only 17, after a photographer, friend of her parents, had noticed her beautiful and particularly strong features. The encounter with the most famous models’ manager Piero Piazzi was the key move that brought Mariacarla Boscono to the crest of success. The young girl began signing contracts with the major fashion agencies in Milan as well in New York, becoming one of the most important Italian fashion models of the world.
1997 was the year of the debut of Mariacarla Boscono on the Milanese catwalks, modeling for Alberta Ferretti and Laura Biagiotti. She soon became the protagonist of many international runways, chosen by the major fashion houses all over the world. Guy Laroche, Karl Lagerfeld and Fausto Sarli were just some of the fashion designers who wanted the Italian supermodel. By the beginning of the new millennium, the name and, most of all, the face of Mariacarla Boscono appeared in the advertising campaigns of Dolce&Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Blumarine, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Bulgari and many, many others.
The Italian top model has been sought-after by every famous fashion maison of the world. She has walked down the catwalks of Milan, Paris, New York, London for names like Valentino, Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani or Comme des Garçons, one of the names that brought her to international success in the first years of the Italian fashion model’s career. Dozens of covers were dedicated to her by the most known fashion magazines of the world: Flair, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and Elle to name just a few.
She belongs without any doubt to the “new generation” of Italian supermodels. In 2003 she was photographed by Bruce Weber for the Pirelli Calendar next to Eva Riccobono. They were the first Italian fashion models after Monica Bellucci to appear in the famous pages of the worldwide spread calendar, which “hosted” her image also in 2004 and 2009.
In recent years, she was voted to be one of the 50 most important supermodels of the world, and the renowned magazine Forbes placed her on the top of the chart of the most paid top models of the globe in 2005. Mariacarla Boscono is a true record-woman, having modeled for over 70 shows in three weeks, flying from Milan to Paris and New York. When the drug scandal hit the famous top model Kate Moss, Mariacarla Boscono was there to replace her. She was chosen by the American designer Stella McCartney to appear on the TV spots and the advertisement campaign of the collaboration between her and the megastore H&M. She was also the face associated to the “Opium” fragrance by Yves Saint Laurent.
But Mariacarla Boscono is not only a beautiful Italian fashion model, she is also a talented theatre actress, as demonstrated in many performances in which she plaid the role of protagonist. Her debut came in 2006, in New York, when she plays Solange in “Le serve”, directed by Jean Genet. Her stage career include also “Donne per Shakespeare” by Imogen Kush, which is making tours all over the world, reaching even the Nuovo Teatro Colosseo in Rome.
Who could have thought that the little “Calimero”, named after the little black chick of the cartoons by her own family because she was the only one who had brown eyes and hair while everyone else was tall and blond, was destined to become one of the most popular Italian supermodels, and her strange, simple and strong face to be seen on the magazines of the whole world? Well, if someone didn’t believe in her, it has come the time to change their minds.