Veronica Webb : Veronica’s Secret - a BOOKLET exclusive with one of the world's black top models

Paris has a lot of stories to tell, and some are nicer than others. This one is nice. We met up with a woman who has both a beautiful face and a beautiful story. A story that is like a fairy tale. From cashier to catwalk. From the catwalk, under the wings of one of the most important people in fashion. Ladies and gentlemen: Veronica Webb.

How did it all happen? Where did it start?
I moved to New York when I received a scholarship for Parsons (Parsons the New School for Design is a famous design school in New York) and worked as a part-time shop cashier. A French hairstylist discovered me, and then, before I knew it, I was in Paris, where I then met Azzedine Alaia, who took me under his wings. Here I am now, 24 years later.

So your career began in Paris?
I only worked briefly in New York. I had always wanted to go to Paris. As soon as I had $100 in my pocket I bought myself a ticket, and off I went.

And it seemed to work out very well.
Exactly. Besides which, I didn’t have much of a choice. I didn’t have any money left, so I had to earn money if I wanted to go back home.

Very successfully, I would say. You were one of the first, if not the first, black model to sign a major international beauty advertising campaign?
It’s strange to talk about it after all these years. You are right, I was one of the first – and it isn’t so long ago either. How long actually, 18 years I think. It seems like yesterday. But today, with Obama as a presidential candidate and Will Smith saving us on the 4th of July… it all seems like such a long time ago. After all, the first ever Black issue of Vogue was only published fairly recently. Yet as we are still talking about the same subject, it probably isn’t as long ago as I had hoped.

Read the interview and wow the shoot in BOOKLET #9.