Timeless Beauty: ‘Special’ Tribute to Laetitia Casta

-Updated for Laetitia Casta’s Birthday 5/11/2021

Born in Pont-Audemer, Normandy, France in a rural countryside, Laetitia Casta, guided by virtues of love, creativity, beauty, and passion, would not only go onto to be a national symbol for her country, but an actress and model that broke norms, questioned prevailing thoughts of the day, and became an inspiration to countless the globe over.

Yet before international stardom, Laetitia spent her childhood in the woods, getting her clothes dirty, taking swims in the river and play-fighting with her older brother. As a tomboy, at school, Laetitia could only admire her crushes from afar as she had no idea how to communicate her feelings to boys.

Even with being tomboy who spent her time in the outdoors and dirt earth, Laetitia dreamed of a more fantastical reality outside of her beloved woodlands and animals:

“When I was young all I did was dream, dream, dream. I felt like a ghost, invisible. I lived in my own fantasy world. I just wanted to be alone and to be close to nature, play in the woodland with the frogs and animals. In my world, everything was beautiful. Maybe that’s why I took to modelling, so that I could carry on playing the characters in my imagination. I was so shy outside, but on the inside I was like a volcano.”

I’ve been living without you
I know all about you
I have run you down into the ground
Spread disease about you over town

I used to adore you
I couldn’t control you
There was nothing that I wouldn’t do
To keep myself around and close to you

Laetitia began to take modeling jobs in secret. Word got out and other girls following in Laetitia footsteps would be dismayed when they didn’t get the job, Laetitia would simply respond, “It’s not about beauty.”

In 1993, at the age of 15, Laetitia was vacationing with her family at a beach in Corsica when a photographer named Frédéric Cresseaux from Madison Models happened to notice her and invited Laetitia’s father and her to Paris.

Not too long after the encounter, Laetitia went to her first casting call with her father. But before she stepped through the door, her father took her aside and said, “You’re my daughter, and for me you are the best and most beautiful. But for other people, maybe not.” “He didn’t want me to get hurt,” says Laetitia, “he didn’t want me to dream too much.”

When Laetitia walked inside, she was blown away by the other beautiful women and felt insignificant in comparison. “So I go up, and I see all these girl,” says Laetitia. “And I say, ‘What I am doing here?’ I feel like a big sausage! I was with my big eyes looking at those beautiful girls — this kind of girl that if you saw on the street, you are like, ‘Wow!’

— and I said, OK, Laetitia, be strong, be strong.’ I think I have to try something else. I think I have to try something else. I have to give something that someone else doesn’t have. Be open, be sincere. So for me it was to maybe give — maybe gonna sound stupid for you — but give some love.” She smiles. “And I’m very lucky, they pick me.”

Laetitia did her first runway for the French designer Jean Paul Gaultier. Laetitia never wore makeup before hitting the runway. She even screamed when she saw herself in the mirror for the first time. “I looked at myself,” she says, “and I was scared. Because it was not me. Something changed. It was something new — a woman.”

By the age of 16, Laetitia’s life had all the hustle and bustle of a full fledged fashion model, already having her first three covers in a single month while constantly traveling and doing shoots. Her parents allowed Laetitia to model full time and leave school because they didn’t want her to regret the opportunity.

Laetitia’s father gave her a speech and made her promise to work hard, stay at home, and stay nice. Laetitia flew out to America to meet Ralph Lauren in a conference room before a mass of marketers and planners. “Laetitia could hardly speak English,” recalls Richard Phibbs, one of the first American fashion photographers to work with Laetitia.

Even back then, Ralph said Laetitia would be a star. The designer asked Laetitia to turn around so the room could get a better idea of her proportions. “Do you know how hard that is?” Phibbs says. “It was like twenty-five sets of eyes staring right at her. She did it with such a kind of grace and sweetness. Most people would have buckled.”

Viva La Vida

By the time she turned 20 and only four and half years into her modeling career, Laetitia was already a household name, she appeared on more than 50 magazine covers, became a brand ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, was featured in campaigns for GUESS? Jeans, walked the the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in consecutive years, and appeared in SI Swimsuit and in Rolling Stone consecutively.

Laetitia also had the honor of walking in Yves-Saint Laurent’s 40^th anniversary show. The two would have a long, endearing friendship until Yves-Saint Laurent’ death in 2008. Even today, Laetitia cherishes and thinks fondly of Yves-Saint Laurent:

“I had no clue what feminity was when I started in fashion. In fact, Yves Saint Laurent was the first person who made me feel like a woman. He asked me, “What do you want to wear?” Nobody had ever asked me that before, so I said, “OK, I want to wear a dress with flowers,” as a child would say, a bit ridiculous. And he made the most beautiful dress for me, covering me in roses for his 1999 show.’

Do you have an opinion?
A mind of your own?
I thought you were special
I thought you should know
But I’ve run out of patience
I couldn’t care less

We were both so shy and sensitive. ‘We held on to each other from drowning.’ I miss him very much, because you don’t have many people like that in your life. One, if you are lucky. My favourite memories are of laughing about his dogs, sitting on his knee, flying to New York with him… But I feel him still, here, all around me. Not a ghost, but his spirit, his energy.

Herb Ritts, Karl Lagefeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent, and Ralph Lauren took a natural liken to Laetitia. Yves Saint Laurent even considered her to be one of his creative muses. In 1999, Laetitia was bestowed with the most impressive honor of all, when French mayors decided she would serve as the new bust of Marriane, which is one of the most endearing symbols of the French Republic.

In that same year, Laetitia made her foray into cinema, appearing in movies, TV shows, and plays like Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar, The Blue Bicycle, and Ondine. She was also recognized at the 22nd Cabourg Romantic Film Festival and received the Golden Swann Award for Best Actress.

Do you have an opinion?
A mind of your own?
I thought you were special
I thought you should know

At the peak of Laetitia’s career she was viewed as something of an oddity, a bit of rebel, and a free spirit. For one, she stood at 5’7″, the average height for models is around 5’9″. Laetitia was also a curvaceous marvel witch ran counter to the anorexic and anemic models that began to become fashionable in the 90s and 2000s. Laetitia was even regarded as “the antidote to the Kate Moss waif.”

Not to mention, Laetitia was a proud foodie before it was even a thing. David Lipsky remarked: Unlike many people in her profession, Laetitia eats: hamburgers, mashed potatoes, chocolate especially. “Sometimes, when I’m with other models and someone doesn’t eat, I feel sympathetic,” she says. “Because it’s like a circle — when you love food, you love life; when you love life, you love to do love. I love those things.”

Laetitia also has a bubbly personality and is a free spirit. When she was younger, she would dance in supermarkets, fling water balloons from her hotel balcony in New York when she got bored. She even invited a homeless man to dine with her once in London as he was walking by the restaurant.

–She has long chestnut hair and a wide face — when she smiles, it goes as round as a tomato.

Writer David Lipsky recalled how People were perplexed at Laetitia’s happiness: People will read about her and say, “Why’s she so happy? I don’t like Laetitia Casta.” But Laetitia disagrees. “Why I shouldn’t be happy?” she asks. “Because everybody’s not happy? I don’t understand that, either — and I have a big French mouth.”

Laetitia was also a rebel as a supermodel and a nonconformist. She never let her height and curvy figure deter her from becoming a model. She even refused to straighten her crooked teeth just for the sake of her career, stating, “I like my crooked teeth.” Although she was highly valued by the Victoria’s Secret brand, she parted ways with them when they just wanted her to be relegated to a sex symbol, despite Laetitia being very opinionated.

I used to amuse you
I knew that I’d lose you
Now you’re here and begging for a chance
But there’s no way in hell I’d take you back

Although Laetitia was initially a critic of the #METOO Movement, she has since taken a more sympathetic position, urging for balance and understanding on both sides:

“There’s a lot of talk nowadays about desire and about the way that men view women. Of course, we can’t tolerate any lack of respect – that kind of behaviour must be denounced and punished by law – but I’m not comfortable when things get censored. It doesn’t have
to be ‘us’ versus ‘them’, we can work together,” she places her hands flat, with the tips of her fingers touching. “I believe very strongly in femininity and masculinity, it’s about finding the balance. When people talk about desire, they’re usually referring to male desire. We don’t hear enough about women’s desire… It’s as if desire was a purely masculine attribute.”

Laetitia immensely loves children and being a mother. “I eat what I want, give birth to children – everything is like a normal woman.” She was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador on December 9, 2016, where she aids children living in conflict areas. She also made a documentary about children of immigrant parents in France and their travails.

“It’s exasperating to see how the adult world pressures children, says Laetitia, “We have to let them find their own inner force. I always tell children to define themselves in terms of themselves and not in terms of others.”

From an awkward tomboy who played in the woods with her older brother who struggled to express her romantic intentions to male classmates, to one of the most celebrated supermodels ever, Laetitia broke the norms for being a supermodel and icon while elevating notions of inner beauty, creativity and intellect.

It’s almost a parody in and of itself that Laetitia ever became a model. She never fit any conventions, she still doesn’t and that’s probably what made her truly ‘special.’ She had her own idea of beauty and it resonated with others. She had her own idea of happiness and she was happier for it. She wasn’t afraid to love and was loved in kind. She had her own ideas and beliefs, and you couldn’t help but respect her for it.

Do you have an opinion?
A mind of your own?
I thought you were special
I thought you should know
But I’ve run out of patience
I’ve run out of comments
I’m tired of the violence
I couldn’t care less

Like Laetitia once said to a classmate who wanted to model, but found it more difficult than expected, “It’s not about beauty.” What is it about? Laetitia pauses. “From inside.”