With Paris, London, Milan and New York
tucked neatly under her belt, Katryn Kruger is fashion’s newest favourite face.
Sarah Koopman falls for the charms of the fresh-faced and friendly 17 year old
from cape town with the rapidly rising star
Katryn
Kruger
In less than two years after being scouted in
Canal Walk after church on a Sunday afternoon, Katryn Kruger has become the
girl everyone is clamouring to work with. Her bold eye-brows and big bright
eyes, strong, fine features and porcelain skin initially got her signed with Y
Models in Cape Town. Just two stock image shoots for photo libraries later, IMG
Models International took her on board and before she knew it she was on the
runways at London and Paris Fashion Weeks. Her third job? The Prada
spring/summer 2012 lookbook ad campaign shot by renowned fashion photographer
steven Meisel – a job she booked without a casting. But even with this
whirlwind introduction to the fashion world that has pegged her as a face to
watch, there isn’t a diva tendency in sight. Petched in the make-up chair
furiously typing away on her iPhone, she is unfazed by the hustle and bustle of
the studio warming up for shoot day. The industry secrets pop up as soon as
make-up artist Sylvie Hurford gets to work. Nipple cream as lip balm? ‘they use
it at all the shows,’ Katryn says. ‘You can only get this one in Paris, you
have to try it,’ she insists, pulling a well-worn tube out of her bag.
She is clearly an old hand at this. ‘Backstage
is all about waiting,’ she says. ‘We have to arrive up to four hours before a
show, for hair and make-up and final fittings.’ So it’s not all glamour then?
She giggles before saying, ‘Not at all! We work really hard and people don’t
realise just how difficult this job can be. The hours are inhuman and it is
emotionally and physically tiring. A lot of people think we walk around in
heels all day and are pampered. It’s really nothing like that. We have to look
after ourselves most of the time.’
What about backstage backstabbing? ‘Being
backstage is fun. It’s not bitchy or competitive, as I would have expected. We
spend hours backstage before a show, so we all end up laughing and joking, and
become friends.’
From castings to fittings, rehearsals and
finally the shows, the fashion week experience is exhausting. ‘I spent two
hours after [walking for] Valentino getting me eyebrows dyed back after they
were bleached. It was quite emotional – I love my eyebrows!’ It helps, Katryn
says, to be surrounded by people who understand what she is going through, and
finding familiar faces, regardless of where in the world she finds herself.
‘the industry is relatively small,’ she says, ‘and you see the same models, the
same make-up artists and the same producers wherever you’re working. We’re like
a pack of nomads traveling around for two months.’
There
were times when I didn’t know which city I was in
Finding and forging bonds has suites this
homebody well and helped her adjust. ‘I have friends now!’ she says laughing.
‘People don’t believe it, but I’m actually quite shy. I only have two best
friends, De-Vene and Stephanie. They are the only ones who try to understand
and who know how crazy my work gets, because I’m able to tell them. No one else
really gets it. ‘Preferring a night in and time spent with family over being
out and about, the travelling can be taxing on the young model. ‘There were
times when I didn’t know which city I was in. You get off the plane, into a
building, do the job and then move on to the next one.’
