Isabelle Boughner, shot by Steven Wetherbee

Height: 5’2″    Age: 14    Based in Atlanta, Georgia

Another Cindy Crawford clone! I say “another” because Cindy’s daughter Kaia is a mini Cindy. But I think Kaia and Isabelle were somehow separated at birth; it’s hard to tell which looks more like supermodel Cindy! Not surprisingly, Isabelle’s mom was a model as well. I just happen to know she has two tall parents and a big growth spurt on the horizon, so look for her on the catwalks in a few years! Well, that is if she has time for Fashion Week. Isabelle also is an amazing musician, singer, and composer. 

See what all the buzz is about: What a beauty!

Check out: Isabelleboughner.com

Remember, your model search submissions are still eligible for next month!

Don’t forget to “like” the page of your favorite Model of the Month

Should I forego college in favor of maximizing my prime modeling years?

It’s a question I hear a lot. I’m one of the rare few who graduated from college before I got into a serious modeling career. By 22, though, I knew my supermodel potential was pretty much zilch. Here’s my snarky reply to a Tear Sheet reader facing the dilemma of choosing one over the other: Modeling vs. School.

Tyra Banks at Harvard

And here are some surprisingly well-educated supermodels (many of whom went to school after their covergirl years): 10 Beautiful Brains

My advice? If you are signed with a strong agency and are getting a lot of work with big photographers, doing big shows—showing great promise—then perhaps postpone college for a year. But don’t wait until you’re 30. You won’t be hanging in the dorms then and having the classic college experience. It’s not worth trading, even for a Vogue cover.

Sign up for my free monthly Modeling Newsletter

Enter the Modeling Mentor Model Search!

Models Should Not Take Criticism Personally!

To get an idea of just how direct the attacks on a model’s personal appearance can be, here’s a scene from my book that recounts a particularly harsh assessment of my backside…

I was booked to model workout attire in a photo studio in the Bavarian boonies. Six looks and as many hours into it, the shoot seemed to be going well. Then the fashion stylist handed me a hot pink g-string leotard and white tights. “It’s a close-up, from the back,” she said. I cringed.

The photographer shot Polaroids and paused to watch the colors morph into an image he hoped would reveal a lovely heart-shaped rear unlike the sub-par specimen before his lens. I held my breath. After much pacing and pained analysis, he tacked the pictures to a bulletin board and asked me to look at them.

“Zee, look, here,” commanded the photographer, vigorously tapping his finger on the Polaroid of my leotard-clad rump. “Zis is not gute!”

I looked at the two blobs of lumpy dough, kneaded into white tights and cleaved by a swatch of hot pink butt floss. The cheeks of my face flushed to a similar shade.

“Zis, I cannot verk vith zis,” scolded the photographer as he used his finger to put exclamation points on my other cheeks, recorded in all their droopy glory. “Sabina, call the agency,” he said to the stylist. “I need a different model. Zis one can go home.” He stomped off down the hall.

Wow, harsh, right? I had two choices: (1) be mortified and book a ticket home, where I would find a job in which my tush would not be a factor in success, or (2) realize everyone—models included—have flaws and the rude critique related to the product Jill Johnson, not the person Jill Johnson. I went with option 2 and, during my long career, I never encountered white tights and a g-string leotard again. Phew.

A better bootie:

Cindy Crawford Shows Off a Heart-Shaped Asset

Squats, anyone?

Don’t forget to ENTER the Modeling Mentor Model Search for a chance to be the first semi-finalist in 2013 and be seen by the movers and shakers in the fashion industry! Rear views not required.

Subscribe to my free monthly  Modeling Mentor Newsletter and be the first to see the winners!

1.  Cindy Crawford. OK, she didn’t graduate from college. Cindy left during her freshman year to pursue modeling. But, any high school valedictorian who earned a scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern deserves a spot on this list.

Cindy Crawford

2.Lily Cole. Last year, she graduated at the top of her class at Cambridge, where she studied art history. She got a “double first” (a rare honor in England) despite a double workload of classes and modeling assignments.

3. Christy Turlington. The supermodel graduated cum laude from NYU in 1999, with a B.A. in Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy. Now she is at Columbia pursuing a Masters in Public Health.

Christy Turlington

4. Tyra Banks. The model-turned-TV host/producer graduated from Harvard’s Executive Education Owner/President Manager Program in February, giving her Ivy League alumnus status.

Tyra Banks at Harvard

5. Brooke Shields. The Calvin Klein kid who modeled practically since the day she was born took a break from her acting career to attend Princeton in the 80s. She majored in French Literature.

Brooke Shields

6. Iman. The Somali supermodel did more than break down racial barriers in fashion. She studied political science at the University of Nairobi and speaks five languages.

Iman

7. Sasha Pivovarova. The Russian beauty studied art at the St. Petersburg Art Institute before becoming a model.

Sasha Pivovarova and her art

8. Sara Ziff. The model who co-directed the documentary “Picture Me” and recently launched The Model Alliance graduated magna cum laude from Columbia, with a degree in political science.

Sara Ziff at Columbia

9. Sophie Patitz. The younger sister of supermodel Tatjana, Sophie had a stellar modeling career in the 90s but always dreamed of saving animals. She graduated from University of London’s Royal Holloway College with a degree in zoology last year and now works for International Animal Rescue.

Sophie Patitz (Pollmann) at Royal Holloway

10. Jill Johnson. A little known model who embarked on her career after graduating with honors from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Jill has a B.A. in English Literature and now writes for some little known blog. (She would not consider herself a “Beautiful Brain”—more like a haggard mom with a sieve-like memory—but she was struggling to fill the #10 spot.)

Jill, post-graduation pre-mom (i.e. a lifetime ago)

Gisele and Baby Benjamin Brady

Gisele Bundchen had a water birth at home in Boston in December 2010. She made the decision to go this unconventional route after watching Abby Epstein’s documentary, The Business of Being Born. The film, executive produced by Ricki Lake, explores the history of midwives and OBs and highlights the risks (and absurdities) of the modern approach to childbirth.

Cindy Crawford had both of her children at home (Presley in 1999 and Kaia in 2001). She always thought she would go straight for the epidural until a prenatal yoga teacher opened her mind to the idea of natural childbirth.

Miranda Kerr had a drug-free childbirth last year. She admitted having her 9 lb. 12 oz. son was incredibly painful (Gisele, in contrast, said her labor “didn’t hurt in the slightest”). Kerr was determined, though, and is proud she got through it.

Two of my model friends had water births (one in England, at a birth center, and then at home; and another at a birth center in Upstate New York).

Based on their experiences and three months of research for a childbirth article I wrote while pregnant with my first baby (Happy Birth Days), I left my OB at Yale Medical Center and opted for no epidural with a midwife at a birth center in St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut. What I’d learned touring hospitals and birth centers, interviewing scores of doctors, mothers, and midwives, and reading stacks of books and articles, made it clear that I would be in better hands there and much less likely to end up having major surgery to deliver my baby. The 50-minute drive hardly mattered in a 17-hour labor.

While I have to side with Miranda re. labor pain—contractions are a 20 on the 1 to 10 pain scale—the actual birth, on a birthing stool, measured well within the bearable range.  (I found the birthing tub uncomfortable so I didn’t use it, but I had the option.)  I had no stitches and was walking around, euphoric, 30 minutes later. The baby never left our side, we had a one-on-one nurse all night, and the pediatrician fell into the relaxed pace of the mellow environment when he examined our new son right there on our family bed. Relatives enjoyed the homey kitchen and family room area. If there had been an emergency, the regular maternity ward was twenty feet away. (Unfortunately there are only a handful of birth centers within hospitals left in the U.S., and sometimes the term “birth center” is misleading and just refers to the maternity ward.)

After the birth of my twins by cesarean in ultra-medical Spain, I had an easy—if you can use that word in conjunction with childbirth—VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) with the same midwife. I am so thankful to the model friends who first alerted me to the scary direction the medical world is going with something that is a natural process. The cesarean rate in the U.S. has climbed from 5% in 1970 to over 30% now. A new site offers cesarean rates by hospital and state: cesareanrates.com  Some hospitals listed have cesarean rates as high as 72%!

On the flip side, taking the risks of having a baby lightly is just as foolish as going with an OB who is “quick to cut.” Pregnancy and childbirth without adequate medical support (or a sound backup plan should complications arise at home) is very risky. Women in Third World countries face this reality every day. Kudos to supermodel Christy Turlington, who is working to make motherhood a joyous, not potentially deadly, prospect for all women:

Kaia posing for Versace

Kaia, seen here posing for a Versace campaign at age 10, is the spitting image of her chestnut-maned mom, Cindy Crawford. Having her first gig for the Italian powerhouse is not too shabby. However, Cindy has put a hold on her daughter’s career—too much, too soon (at least for Cindy Inc’s wholesome following, if not for the worldly supermodel herself).

The family is open about Cindy’s line of work, though, which is healthy. If kids go visit dad at the office, why shouldn’t they see what mom’s workplace is like? Actually, the family even shot a commercial together. When Kaia and her brother Presley (age 12) heard their parents discussing using child actors as their pseudo kids, they nixed the idea. They wanted in. Good sign; I’d say a kid who didn’t want to be on TV is jaded. But as far as pursuing modeling seriously, Kaia may have to wait until 17—about  when mom started. “If she’s 17 and wants to try it, of course, what can I say?” says Cindy.

Cindy Crawford and family

The last two times I ran into her, back in the dark ages before airbrushing was the norm, the live version could compete with the photo version. Outside the Portapotties at New York Fashion Week in 1994, the real Cindy looked just like the Cindy Inc. we know and love (was she Cindy Inc. yet back then?). As we stood side by side washing our hands, I wanted to tell her, “Wow, Cindy, you look exactly like Cindy.” But that would have made me seem like a wide-eyed fan from Middle America, not a fellow catwalker (I was but not at all in her league). Instead we smiled pleasantly at each other, as you do during those awkward ladies room moments.

Soon after I saw her at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, filming Fair Game. (I was posing in a cheesy editorial for Cosmo). She looked great there too, but looks didn’t quite carry the movie. It was a big flop, but Cindy gracefully accepted the limits of her talent and found success elsewhere: as a spokesperson, fitness guru, beauty mogul, furniture designer, mom, enduring model (she appeared on the cover of Vogue Mexico just last year).

Other lessons that can be culled from Cindy Crawford’s career:

1. Embrace your uniqueness. Some people wanted Cindy to remove her mole. Like Lauren Hutton who told her agent she would fix the gap in her teeth but never did, Cindy resisted. Good thing, cuz her beauty mark became her trademark.

2. Beautiful does not equal ditzy. Cindy graduated valedictorian from DeKalb High School in Illinois and won an academic scholarship to study Chemical Engineering at Northwestern. Fortunately for the fashion world, she was discovered by famed photographer Victor Skrebneski and dropped out after one quarter.

3. Beautiful does not equal skinny. Cindy has always had sexy curves. If only there were more Cindys out there on the runways today!

4. Even if posing may seem like a shallow activity, the fruits of a model’s labor can make a profound difference in the world. Cindy’s little brother died of leukemia when she was ten years old. She has turned her sexy calendars into medical research dollars for that cause. She is also actively involved in the Ronald McDonald House  and California Wildlife Center and has supported numerous charities over the years.

Stay tuned for some mom wisdom from Cindy later this week…