With a majorly popular (and sometimes controversial) twitter presence, Sports Illustrated model Chrissy Teigen is having a moment. Cosmopolitain booked her for a three-cover June 2014 issue following her SI Swim cover, and now she’s booked the XOXO campaign.
WWD chatted with Teigen on set for XOXO’s fall ad campaign.
Here are our highlights:
Over the years, Teigen has done campaigns for such brands as Billabong and Rock & Republic, but her big break came when she started modeling swimsuits for SI. Teigen became an SI swimsuit model when Brooklyn Decker and Andy Roddick came backstage at one of Legend’s shows to say hello. “They knocked on the door of the trailer and I immediately connected with Brooklyn, and John connected with Andy, and we decided we had to double date,” she said. A few weeks later, someone e-mailed her from SI and said Decker referred her. At the time, Teigen was with a smaller agency doing “catalogue-type stuff where you wouldn’t even see my face. To get Sports Illustrated after that kind of stuff is pretty crazy,” she said.
Asked if she considers herself a role model for young women, Teigen said she believes she is. “Being in Sports Illustrated and a swimsuit model, it’s interesting because people assume that men love you and want to look at you and ogle you, but I’ve always had a strong female fan base and I’ve always really loved my girls. I’ve always felt like the oddball with the sexy models, because I never have thought of myself as sexy,” she said.
Teigen said she met Legend on a video shoot. “It was my one and only video. I was one of the only ones who would do it for free. He was in a suit and I was in lingerie. When you’re from meeting like that, it’s bound to happen,” she said.
But one place you’ll probably never find her is on the runway. “I wish. It would be kind of hysterical. I think I’m a little too short. I’m 5-8. That’s my excuse for never getting called for it.”
