Ssnowboarding, boxing and meditation: by training body and mind Shirley Mallmann finds her balance. «I live in Brazil with my family, I love animals and spend a lot of time in the countryside. It’s what makes me happiest.”
My aunt loved fashion. As a child I read magazines with her, dreaming of having those clothes photographed. We played at catwalks with her dresses and shoes, it was so much fun!” says Shirley Mallmann, 47 years old, the first Brazilian top model to establish herself on the international scene.
Born in 1977 in Santa Clara do Sul, a small agricultural center in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, it grows surrounded by nature, among hills and green expanses. The far-sighted teacher who, in a modeling school, noticed a strong potential in her, introduced her to an agency. «I fondly remember my first job, in a television commercial. The first show? In New York for Anna Sui. On the catwalk there were all the great top models: Naomi, Kate Moss… at that moment I thought: “Wow, I’m really here!”». It was the beginning of a dazzling career that took her to the covers of Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Numero, and in the advertising campaigns of the biggest international brands.
Born in 1977, Shirley Mallmann was an iconic face of the 2000s. Today he cultivates his passions for sport and reading
and nature. And it is committed to the defense of the oceans VITOVI jacquard fabric jacket. Photo: Andrea Gandini
The turning point came with Ellen von Unwerth, who discovered her in Sao Paulo. «Working with her made my international career take off. For me, she is like a godmother. We understood each other immediately and started working well together. I didn’t speak English at the time, but that’s how we communicated by speaking German. Immediately after that shooting he booked me for American Vogue in New York. I took my passport and left: in the first years we did many jobs together and I learned a lot from her. I will always be grateful to her.” In addition to her, Shirley boasts another great mentor: Helmut Newton, who notices in her that unmistakable aura of a statuesque, austere, sensual woman.
«It was incredible. He taught me a lot: the light, the poses… he loved strong women and, on set, he would say phrases designed to provoke a reaction from me. It was almost like acting, very different from anything I had experienced before. But he was also a true gentleman. Sitting down to dinner with him and listening to his stories was wonderful.”
The meeting with Steven Meisel was also importantwho chose her for a Dolce&Gabbana campaign. Then Herb Ritts, with whom he shot the Pirelli calendar. «But Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld also played important roles in my career. And many others: it is difficult to say which meeting was the most decisive. I’ve been lucky to work with so many amazing people.” Not just photographers: Shirley is in fact known for having posed for the advertisement of Classique, Jean Paul Gaultier’s first very famous perfumewhose bottle took up the bust of a female silhouette in a corset. «Jean Paul is extraordinary. A true visionary, always ready to push the limits and support his ideas. Filming that campaign was inspiring. The concept, that of a boy transforming into a girl, was innovative and fun, a bit shocking for the time. I have always liked working on projects that leave their mark and make us reflect.”
If as a child she dreamed of becoming an architect, cutting out plans for houses and apartments from newspapers, today, after fashion, Shirley’s passion is for studies and disciplines related to well-being and health, «to understand how to keep myself fit and in balance: if I had to choose another path, it would be in that direction».
Mother of two children aged 23 and 18, she remembers the years in which, as a mother and model, everything revolved around them: fewer shootings and business trips to alternate with her father. «They were my priority. Now that they are grown up, we like to go to the beach or snowboard together, which is my favorite sport. Since I’ve become a mother, thinking back to the age I was when I started travelling, I couldn’t imagine them traveling around the world alone so young! Yet, when I did it, everything seemed normal to me.”
Today the family lives in Brazil, near his home country. Spending a lot of time in the countryside, the top model admits, is what makes her happiest: a love for the environment that has made her an ambassador of Sea Shepherd Conservation Societyan international movement for the protection and conservation of the world’s oceans and marine wildlife.