Unseen Nadine
Model Nadine Leopold lives a stone’s throw from the parks (Green, Hyde, St James) in a prestigious apartment block in Mayfair – arguably London’s most salubrious postcode.
Once we’ve navigated the revolving doors and concierge we’re offered a seat in the calm and stately foyer. Soon Nadine bounces out of the lift to join us; it’s a week since her HFM cover shoot. “I can’t wait to see the magazine,” she nods sincerely when we shake hands.
She’s impossibly tall, with an insanely clear complexion, permanent smile and cute freckles on her nose. She sits down, manoeuvring her long legs onto the couch into a side cross, and we congratulate her on her top.
“It’s just Zara,” she announces (but it looks designer), she’s also wearing Frame jeans and animal-print mules by Proenza Schouler. “I mix it up,” she tells us, laughing.
Originally from Wolfsberg, a small town in Austria, Nadine’s life changed almost immediately when, aged 14, her parents suggested she earned some extra pocket money by modelling and she was signed by an agency on the spot.
‘I JUST TOOK MY CHANCES. IT WAS RISKY BUT AT THAT POINT I DROPPED EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED MY DREAM’
“It became my full-time job really quickly. My first shoot was for a magazine in America, it was just four pages, but straight after that IMG Worldwide signed me and, when I turned 17, I decided to do it full-time. I was travelling way too much to do both.
“It was really tough. At first my parents gave me home schooling, but it didn’t work. I’d be given books and told, ‘In six months you’ll have a test’. I just thought, this isn’t going to
