I was born in Liverpool. Both my parents are English but I was raised in the French countryside and sub-urban Long Island.

Did you always want to be a model or were you "discovered".

From the time I was 12 people would say "Are you a model? Oh you should model," but I was living in the French country side, an area called Ferney-Voltaire where there was practically zero opportunity to model.  I mean, I really, really was into riding horses.  That's what I wanted to do.  When I was fifteen I moved to Long Island and when I turned seventeen I decided I wanted to try.  I went to Elite and they were like, "Sure.  In fact you can start tomorrow, "  I was like OK!  Right way,  I started doing pretty well.  I remember getting the cover of Seventeen when I was seventeen.  After that first year, the agency wanted me to go into the Elite Division which is where all the big girls were and I really couldn't understand all of this.

And then you went to Paris...

My mom was the one who was really into the runway thing.  In her words it was like, " I see you on the runways of Paris!"  She'd cut out pictures from the NY Times ... The first season I went to Paris, I got booked for Chanel and Yves St Laurent.  I was so scared.  I was thinking, "Oh my God, I want to break a leg so that I don't have to do go through with this".  I had no idea of how to walk.  The season after that I when my agency was like, we want you to do the haute coutures, I literally laughed at them but I went anyway and from the 16 castings I got confirmed for 10 shows.  I didn't understand why but that certainly gave me confidence.

You're amazing on the runway. You kinda float with no attitude, no vamping. Its just so gorgeous and graceful.

Oh, I'm so happy you said that.  Y'know that's the way I met Sibyl Buck, she came up to me after a show and said, "You looked so contented and pretty up there," and so that next day, she asked me if I wanted to stay with her in Paris. She's such a great support!  She was my first "not normal" friend.  She's the first friend I had in this business and her friendship is one of the most important relationships in my life.

That's the other thing I like about you. You're one of the more grounded models out there.  Aren't we bored with those damn profiles about ... Girl from The Midwest who comes to NY blows up and starts doing all these drugs in wild clubs. Goes over the edge...goes into rehab and spends the rest of her career trying to regain her momentum. What about the other kind of girl?  The Sane Girl?

When I was 17, I lived by myself with no curfew...in New York City with an outrageous amount of money for a 17 year old.  I've been to like 4 nightclubs in my life.  I mean you meet promoters and they're all like "Come my party". Sure.  Right! (laughter) I've never touched heroin or cocaine or any of that stuff.

Instead you do Yoga. Very Donna Karan non? And you're vegetarian. Isn't it hard maintaining your weight when you're a vegetarian?

When I first stopped eating meat, I did lose a lot of weight but as soon as your body adjusts and you begin to supplement your diet then you're fine!

So do you spend sleepless nights plotting to be a supermodel?

To be honest, when I started that was what was in the back of my mind.  I mean I used to be like...the cover of Vogue...no less.  But the more I work the less obsessed I've become about fame.  I mean I've seen what fame does to girls.  It can be a very strange experience.

Yeah but you're no longer completely anonymous Alice. I've turned my TV on and seen you on Fashion Television. You've done all the shows from Chanel back to DKNY. I've seen you in Elle and Allure and Top Model and in the paparazzi pages of Vogue.

Yeah but I don't focus on that.  I literally run when I'm doing the coutures and the TV crews are trying to get you to hang around for interviews.  I never presume that anyone knows me or remembers me.  I try to focus more on this as an experience I'm going through and not try to run ahead of myself y'know.  And this is an incredible learning experience.  Its brought me independence, its allowed me to travel, and given me a good financial base for the rest of my life.  Looking at it logically, now is the only time I can model, after this I have the luxury of exploring so many other possibilities in my life.

So what are you hoping to achieve as a model?

I don't really want to be defined by what I do for a living. Photography is totally an art.  Its about being a part of history, that's the real value of photography.  My ambition in terms of my work is to contribute to a picture, where I'm expressing something.  A picture where the girl is thinking something or feeling something . Its so easy to just stand in front of the camera looking pretty, Oh god, I'm thinking in French now. I'm attracted to... being recognized and being respected for what you do, your "metier'."

by Wayne Sterling/MODELS.com