The early days of Miranda Kerr's life were spent in the quieter areas of Australia's New South Wales state. Along with her brother, Matthew, Miranda enjoyed a childhood instilled with grounded family values and filled with leisure activities like motorbike racing and horseback riding -- all of which would keep her sane later on upon entering the crazy world of modeling. After moving to Brisbane and enrolling at All Hallows' School, Kerr had her eye on a career in nutrition, but a national modeling contest soon changed everything. In 1997, Miranda Kerr was persuaded to enter a national competition sponsored by the Australian-based magazine, Dolly. At only 13 years old, she was an underdog, but when she emerged victorious, her selection brought a wave of controversy with it. As the winner of the competition, she earned a shoot with the magazine, but Australian fashion observers were dismayed that the magazine would feature a model who was so young. Despite her youth, Kerr was wise enough to note that bad publicity can sometimes lead to good publicity, so she completed the shoot and later shrugged off the controversy by saying, "Dolly is a magazine for teenage girls, not for old men. And I was fully clothed!"
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Following her shoot for Dolly, Miranda Kerr continued in her regular schooling while modeling on the side. Tragedy struck as she was on the cusp of high school graduation when her boyfriend died suddenly, but Kerr persevered and landed back-to-back modeling contracts with local branches of Chadwick Models and Chic Management. These contracts allowed her to add to her professional branding by working for Billabong, a national surfing company that featured her in ads for One Teaspoon, Roxy and Tigerlily among others. The increased exposure in her country and abroad encouraged Kerr to travel to Paris for a gig with Ober Jeans and permanently move to New York in 2004. After inking a new agency deal with Next, she made an instant splash as a magazine model for Harper's Bazaar, the Italian edition of Glamour and Vogue in Australia while taking on runway and ad assignments for brands like Levi's, Rock and Republic, and Heatherette.
Miranda Kerr's next series of career steps greatly upped her awareness and influence in the American fashion industry over the next several years. A 2006 appearance on the reality show, Project Runway, was instrumental in landing her a deal with cosmetics giant Maybelline New York. The contract put her face into top-shelf industry mags like Elle and Cosmopolitan and also garnered her a spot in the photogenic catalogue for Victoria's Secret. The latter project led to two notable deals with the ever-popular lingerie producer -- first as Alessandra Ambrosio's replacement to front PINK and then as the newest Victoria's Secret Angel in 2007, in place of Gisele Bundchen. As the first Victoria's Secret Angel from Australia, Miranda Kerr would participate in the company's annual runway celebrations and gain additional magazine placements for publications like FHM. Her stock would also increase from big-money ad contracts with Arden B, Clinique and David Jones, an Australian fashion outlet that hired her to replace fellow Aussie, Megan Gale.
miranda kerr's accidental youtube scandal and Prada assignments
The increased worldwide exposure of Miranda Kerr -- which also included the Kanye West-Pharrell music video, "Number One," and a Victoria's Secret Angels-laden guest spot on the Neil Patrick Harris favorite, How I Met Your Mother -- helped vault her into the top 10 of Forbes' highest-earning models. Her financial success allowed her to branch out into new industry directions like the 2009 launch of Kora, her own organic skin care brand, and the preparations for her first book, Treasure Yourself. In the same year, Miranda Kerr would her magazine dominance as a cover model for Australian editions of Rolling Stone and Harper's Bazaar, as well as the German and Spain issues of Cosmopolitan and GQ, respectively.
After posing for the 2010 Pirelli Calendar, Miranda Kerr's pop culture status as a hot modeling commodity and top-level beauty was further cemented when Australian financial employee, David Kiely, was captured on television looking at her pictures while his coworker was being interviewed. More than 1 million YouTube views later, David Kiely earned a suspension and Miranda Kerr became more popular than ever (her Google searches doubled). After she publicly voiced her support for him, David Kiely got his job back and the model resumed her lucrative career with two high-profile Prada bookings for the company's fall and winter lines -- which would also feature American model Angela Lindvall and Victoria's Secret Angels Alessandra Ambrosio and Doutzen Kroes.
In May 2010, Kerr was listed number 9 on the Forbes Top 10 Earning Models. miranda kerr becomes a MILF
In September 2010, Kerr landed two editorials and one feature in US Vogue's September Issue. She recently became the first-ever pregnant Vogue cover girl when landing the cover of Vogue Australia while 6-months pregnant with her son, Flynn Christopher Bloom, born on January 6, 2011.
Talk about getting back in the game, in March she hit the catwalk for Balenciaga's Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear collection as part of Paris Fashion Week -- just two months after giving birth. All we can say is, Orlando, you're one lucky guy.
