Loving Liliana .
by Wayne Sterling

What a roller coaster year, if not career, it's been for Liliana Domingues the sensational 22 year old stunner currently conquering the fashion scene. The centerpiece to Steven Meisel's Spanish inflected YSL campaign as well as the editorial queen staring starkly from the September Bazaar, the August issue of The Face as well as July's Paris Vogue. (Not to mention major upcoming stints in Italian Vogue, V Magazine and Allure) Liliana has truly come into her own in the past few months. You might be tempted to call her an overnight sensation, except in a testament to the "timing is everything" laws of fashion, it took two years for the industry to catch up with Lilana's eerily feline beauty.

While she quickly found representation and solid work early on in Europe, it was the combination of a timely haircut, a shift in the model aesthetic that started to reward girls who rode the line between sexyand edgy and the tireless devotion of her new American agency, Karin, that changed the wheel of fortune for her. To her credit, Liliana stuck it out during those lean years in London and Paris. She stayed true to herself and never developed the bitterness that can taint a young model when success isn't instant. This business tends to work on a "now or never" principle when it comes to new faces - but sometimes a girl just needs to given the time to evolve into the true beauty she was always meant to be. Liliana is your case study for that theory.

When we first encountered her in December of last year as a candidate for Model Of The Week,it was her immaculate skin, almond eyes and totally-of-the moment haircut that burnt her into memory. More than that though, what made her truly memorable was her natural elegance, her impeccable manners, and the warmth and the sincerity she directed at everyone she encountered from editors at dinner parties to messengers on the elevator.

We at MDC are thrilled to witness her explosive success and decided to check in with the girl-most-wanted to see where her head was at. Thankfully she is still quite the sweetheart, even after all the exclusive contracts and six-days a week bookings. Isn't it great when nice girls finish first!