FASHION Magazine

by Laura deCarufel

Long one of this country’s most precious natural resources, A-list Canadian models have long appeared in the pages of FASHION. Before the current crop of one-name faces—Coco, Heather, Stam—there were Yasmeen (Ghauri), Yasmin (Warsame) and Shalom (Harlow), who shot one of her first covers for FASHION in November 1990. Twelve years later, we termed her “the perfect model… She can make you desire whatever she is wearing.” High but well-deserved praise—Harlow’s longevity and impact are assured. More obscure are models like Marley Crosby, who graced the cover of FASHION three times in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and Donna DeMarco, the boutique owner–turned–model who elicited this rapturous tribute in 1981: “She is the model over whom Canadian designers quarrel—each wants her to be his and his alone”—which also reveals something about that era’s gender divide. Tasha Tilberg appeared on our cover in 1996, Tricia Helfer in 2000. In 1999, Daria Werbowy launched her career in our pages, then appeared as a blonde two years later, before entering the fashion stratosphere. But what makes Canadian models so successful? Elmer Olsen, the über–modelling agent, had a response in May 2005: “Every agency in Paris says, ‘Oh, we love the Canadian girls, because they are so friendly and so nice and so wonderful to deal with.” They’re pretty, too.

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