When Rianne Van Rompaey was 17, and her agent requested her about her goals, she didn’t maintain again: {a magazine} cowl, a Hollywood film. “And possibly after that,” she recollects answering, “I’ll begin a restaurant.” Although her response had a hoop of teenage naïveté to it, the Dutch mannequin, now 26, has checked journal covers off her record and is working towards the Hollywood half, taking appearing lessons and looking for the appropriate mission.
Costume, Free Folks, $98.
Costume, $3,190, gloves, $770, Fendi.
Once I meet her at her company in Amsterdam, you’d by no means have the ability to inform, from her low-key demeanor, that she’s recent from Chanel’s couture runway. In her house base, she’s blissfully removed from the style business bubble. (“Dutch folks, bless them,” she quips. “I’m in my pajamas on my bike day-after-day.”) After virtually 9 years within the business, “I’ve relaxed into it,” she tells me. “I’ve realized that my physique doesn’t need to look a sure approach, and my face doesn’t need to look a sure approach. I don’t need to be good. That made me take pleasure in it a lot extra.”
Robe, Gucci, $5,500. Earring, Lazypoint.
That wasn’t all the time the case. At 18, she was handpicked by Nicolas Ghesquière to stroll his extremely anticipated debut present for Louis Vuitton. “I went from this highschool child to being on high of the business inside at some point, principally,” she recollects. “It’s an unbelievable and weird option to begin your grown-up life.” After feeling considerably misplaced at first, she now adores the best way she will get to stretch her appearing muscle tissues on set. “Placing on these characters can be a option to shield myself,” she says. “As a result of it’s a job the place it all the time feels such as you’re solely ever pretty much as good as your final shoot or present.” Her dream function? Somebody who is just not stunning. “As a mannequin,” she says, “I’ve been taking part in the function of the beautiful lady for thus lengthy. I might like to play components the place I’m falling aside, bodily and emotionally.”
Costume, Lanvin.
Bra, $45, NKDYOU. Pasties, Neva Nude, $25. Earring, Lazypoint. Choker, Isaac Manevitz for Ben-Amun.
Having traveled the world for work, Van Rompaey acknowledges her privileged place. She seems on the refugee disaster dominating the information and finds one ingredient lacking: empathy. She is working with the Dutch group VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (Refugee Work Netherlands) to fulfill refugees and take heed to their tales. She explains how, one story at a time, she desires to make the world just a little bit kinder. Then she pauses, laughs, and jokes: “And that is how I’m going to save lots of the world. Then I’ll open up that restaurant.”
Lead picture: Prime, Loewe. Slipdress, $95, bodysuit, $60, bra, $45, NKDYOU (worn all through). Pasties (worn all through), Neva Nude, $25. Choker (worn all through), Isaac Manevitz for Ben-Amun.
Hair: Didier Malige at Artwork Accomplice; make-up: Fulvia Farolfi for Chanel;
mannequin: Rianne Van Rompaey at DNA Fashions; producer: John Nadhazi at VLM Productions.
This text seems within the October 2022 subject of ELLE.
Noëlle de Leeuw is a contract author primarily based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her work has beforehand been printed in titles as Harper’s Bazaar Netherlands and Food52. When Noëlle isn’t writing, she will be discovered cooking pasta for buddies or rewatching her favourite romcoms for the umpteenth time.