There is a certain kind of girl fashion needs. Or at the very least, loves. She is the rock-chic, spiky haired punk princess glaring out of cutting edge editorials in all her tough beauty. She reminds punters of vintage rockers like Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde and Siouxie Sioux. In many ways French legend, Elizabeth Dijan, one of the greatest fashion editors of all time, 'founded' this kind of girl. In her very influential early 80's fashion magazine "Jill", Dijan managed to hitch the then new punk rock revolution to the time honored tradition of Parisian chic.

This season's edition of that tradition is a nineteen year old Belgian stunner named Anouck Lepere'. But beneath the rock cool of her hard edged surface is a lot more than meets the jaded eye.

The interesting thing (and this is essential to pulling off the goth-chic/punk princess look) -is that Anouck is from that school of models who never really set out to be a model. "Really? How did all this start?" muses the raven haired beauty as she sits in a downtown photo-studio dutifully being made up. "I was in school. I'm studying architecture in Antwerp. At my school its a small world. Everybody is social with everybody. A few of my friends were in fashion. Some of them were showing in Paris and asked me if I wanted to walk in the shows there. So I did" Talk about understatement. What Anouck declines to say is that these friends were such bright young fashion lights as Dries van Noten, Oliver Theyskens and W&LT. Exposure in shows of that caliber naturally led to a perfect bit of casting, her very appropriate walk through the Fall 2000 Chanel show.

But one would imagine that architecture schools impose a pretty tough schedule. How could a modeling career mesh with those demands? "Actually I took a break. It's a seven year program but I'm going to take a year off and explore this but afterwards I'm definetly going back!" But from studying the dynamics of constructing buildings to making pouty faces for the camera is quite an emotional (not to mention intellectual) leap, but it is one with a motive on Anouck's part. "When IMG approached me, part of what interested me was the possibility of coming to New York and exploring this city. That was the great thing about modeling that attracted me, the chance to travel and see how people in other places put their world together. It's a chance to educate my eye and see the world on a whole different scale."