Odette Pavlova

Odette Pavlova works hard for her money. She approaches modeling with an unflagging attitude, the kind that separates buzz from business, and without a doubt, Odette means business. Is that not the mark of a Russian blooded model after all? Pskov, Russia to be exact, where Odette grew up with her twin sister Lia, until the age of 14. After moving to St. Petersburg the pair was discovered in a supermarket. “A booker asked if we wanted to do modeling,” Odette remembers in her telltale accent, “We tried it just for fun. We weren’t ready actually, with the language, with English. We started modeling more seriously when we were 20.” Flash forward to then and they would soon after be respectively killing it. Odette’s break came the way of an exclusive appearance for Saint Laurent’s F/W 15 show. “It was my beginning,” says Odette, “After everything changed for me!” It would serve as a luxurious lead-in for a story of successes and eventually a spot on Top 50. Now, the model need barely bat an eyelash at landing campaigns for McQ, Simone Rocha, Roberto Cavalli and Givenchy or question her popular demand with pages in i-D, W, Vogue Italia, Japan, Russia and Paris. Oh, she also has Vogue Japan and Russia covers to her name.

Though the camera loves her steely exterior, it doesn’t take much of a nudge to get her to light up and start talking about things like being a one-time Russian folk dancer. “I did the Russian folk dance when I was a child, it was so funny.” Or how she’s left handed, or enjoys drawing–or more seriously–a budding ambition to act in films: “It’s very hard. I know it’s not easy. For me the hardest thing in the movies would be the language, I have the Russian accent and sometimes it could be a problem. I just want to practice the language and maybe take some classes.” If Odette’s model moxie is any indication of her capacity for realizing goals then little seems out of her grasps. For now, though, the haunting beauty has her aims set on modeling, “ I really love what I’m doing now. Actually I will try to do more. I will do my best.”