Joan Smalls

Head held high, legs that go on forever, a feline allure... the Puerto Rican Joan Smalls is on her way to seducing the fashion world. Her elegance, chiseled face and hypnotic regard could not have gone unnoticed by the journalists and designers.

The universe of fashion is not known for being particularly open to diversity -- far from it. So when an exotic beauty succeeds in finding herself a place on the catwalks as well as in the high-end ad campaigns, she immediately draws attention.

Joan Smalls - born Joan Rodriguez - grew up in a modest family in Puerto Rico. When she learned via the E! Entertainment television channel how much a model could earn, the adolescent saw above all the possibility to make enough to support her family. With her naturally slender physique, Smalls thought she had a chance to make it in the business.

She decided to move to New York in 2007 to follow her dream. She signed up for psychology classes in order to make good use of her time while waiting for casting responses. In the streets of New York, her sunny beauty did not pass unnoticed; she was picked up by an Elite talent scout and was quickly offered a contract.

Like a good number of her co-disciples, she was offered jobs that had little to do with the fantastic image she had about modeling. She posed for catalogs, walked for small labels, became the face of the sportswear label, Ports 1961, then played an extra in a Ricky Martin video... disappointing results for Smalls who had dreamt of conquering the fashion weeks and the world.

It was only in 2009 that things began to pick up speed, when Smalls decided to change agencies for IMG. Confident in their new recruit's potential, IMG introduced her to Riccardo Tisci. He immediately fell under her charm and asked her to walk exclusively for Givenchy for the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week in January 2010. Smalls could not have asked for better vote of confidence.

People in the business began to take serious interest in the slender Puerto Rican. In February, she walked for some of the biggest houses, from Gucci to Burberry Prorsum to Prada and Yves Saint Laurent. She lined up shootings for Vogue Italy and Germany, with Steven Meisel and Patrick Demarchelier as photographers respectively. In June, André Leon Talley categorized her among modeling's rising stars.

Smalls' career seems to be on the right path. Three years ago, she was posing for the Nordstrom catalog; today, she poses for the Gucci and Givenchy campaigns. Today, although she does not have the same demands on her time as Raquel Zimmerman, Smalls has nevertheless become a bankable model.

Condé Nast considers her sufficiently bankable to give her several appearances in their magazines (seen here and here). Stefano Pilati offered her a chance to open for Yves Saint Laurent for the last Parisian fashion week. Finally, her bank account has recently allowed her to make one of her dreams come true: buy a new pick-up truck for her father...