CBS’s Joyce Lee reports, “After posing as an angel for the past 13 years, supermodel Heidi Klum is leaving her post as Victoria’s Secret.spokesperson.

“All good things have to come to an end. I will always love VictoriaWorld’s Top-Paid Models and never tell her secret,” the German-born mother-of-four said in a statement, obtained by the Associated Press, Friday.

Klum, 37, is among the most famous supermodels in the world, strutting her stuff in international catwalks and appearing in print and TV ads for fashion labels and brands like McDonalds and Volkswagen.

She landed in the number 2 spot of Forbes’ list of the world’s top-paid models, reportedly earning $6 million last year.

 Although no specific reason was given for her departure, Klum said she will focus on her other ventures, including her hosting gig on “Project Runway,” which is in its 8th season, and her new clothing line with New Balance, to be sold exclusively on Amazon.”

PICTURES: 2009 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
PICTURES: World’s Top-Paid Models

In the September 2010 issue of Vogue magazine, the “We Are The World” photo shoot aims to unite “people of the globe,” using models Joan Smalls, Jourdan Dunn, and Lais Ribeiro, among others. It was photographed by Steven Meisel for and styled by Edward Enninful. This is the same issue that Halle Berry is featured on the cover of. She is the first woman of color in over 20 years to do so for the magazine.

There’s no such thing as a summer vacation at Wilhelmina International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: WHLM) as the agency’s talent continues to work with top clients and garner success worldwide. The Women’s, Artists and Sports divisions have been a hot bed of activity all across the board.

The Women’s division continues to be buzz with activity as its many beautiful faces work their way across the globe. Some hot spots on their international travels include picturesque locales like Australia, France, Germany, Russia, Turkey, and New York. Sisters Alexandra and Theodora Richards will be featured in a fashion spread and inside story for the July issue of Australia’s InStyle. Alexandra can also be seen in the current issue of French Playboy. The eye-catching images, photographed by fashion photographer Tony Kelly, are stunning, innovative and full of energy.

Wilhelmina has not one, but two gorgeous beauties gracing various international covers of Vogue this summer. Thomas Schenk’s striking images of top model Marike Laroux, will run on the cover of Turkish Vogue while the beautiful Keke Lindgard, graces the July cover of German Vogue shot by Claudia Knoepfel & Stefan Indlekofer. Keke will also be seen in an upcoming Victoria’s Secret Pink catalogue and a fashion spread slated to run in the November issue of Allure magazine. The eight page feature was shot by famed fashion and celebrity photographer, Greg Kadel, who has worked with an array of Hollywood A-listers including Woody Harrelson, Kate Bosworth, Megan Fox, Sean Legend and Wilhelmina’s own, Theodora Richards.

Jourdan Dunn is the 19 year old high fashion model, who has graced the catwalk may times for such high fashion designers like Marc Jacobs & Polo Ralph Lauren, and was the first black model to walk a Prada runway in over a decade. However Dunn had recently taken a hiatus since giving birth to her first child last December amidst much controversy. However, save for a couple of times since giving birth last December, but she’s generally shied away from the camera, until now. It seems that she’s ready to start logging time on sets again: earlier this month, she was reportedly photographed for a September 2010 Vogue story that will also feature Stella Tennant and Liya Kebede, and today she was on set shooting a beauty story for i-D’s Fall 2010 issue (left).

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is having the best week ever! She has been signed as Megan Fox’s replacement in Transformers 3, is enjoying a budding romance with actor Jason Statham and now Rosie Huntington Whitely is fronting Burberry’s first evert fully interactive campaign.

Fans will be able to get up close and personal with the Victoria’s Secret model using motion responsive images and video that can be clicked, rotated, paused and dragged 180 degrees.

Fresh-faced Rosie, 22, strikes a sultry pose, sporting Burberry’s new collection including leather and sheepskin inspired by aviator chic, in a series of images co-starring models, actors and musicians shot by Mario Testino.

This new campaign will prove to be the first of many of its kind.

Raf Simons presented his spring 2011 menswear collection for Jil Sander, in the beautiful and lavish gardens at the 16th century Villa Gamberaia in Florence, Italy.

Guy Trebay gave an honest and raw description of the show for the New York Times, stating, “On the night of the Sander show, the chromatic spectrum also included a stagy charcoal storm sky that eventually came through on a threat to soak the guests. It was against this backdrop that Mr. Simons sent a parade of pale skinny white men parading through the shrubbery, bony limbs clad in shorts and shirts and jackets in an array of unnatural hues.

There’s a distinction worth noting here between designers like Mr. Simons sending their curious formalist exercises down the garden path and the expectation that consumers plan to follow them there. When Mr. Simons designs fluorescent shirts in hot pink paired with orange trousers or electric blue lab coats or floral prints that bring the word housemaid to mind, he is probably not doing so for men that even fashion editors refer to as “real people.””

Ouch. The show did not seem to reflect fashions that men would be comfortable wearing, however, to each his own!

Ajak is the newest gorgeous high-fashion model to hit the runways as of late. The Sudanese beauty has been taking the fashion world by storm in 2010. Ajak became the first black model to walk for Chloe in more than nine seasons. She began her career modeling for smaller NYC designers like Brian Reyes, Dennis Basso, Sophie Theallet, and eventually snagged a spot with Bennetton’s spring campaign, shot by photographer Josh Olins, which became her big break.During her second stab at Fashion Week, she was confirmed at Isaac Mizrahi and Marc by Marc Jacobs, which led to a surprisingly successful run in Paris, walking for Jean Paul Gaultier, Lanvin, Maison Martin Margiela, and Givenchy, among others. At this rate, Ajak might just channel the career of her role model and fellow Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek. Congratulations Ajak!

Read NY Mag’s full interview….

The most anticipated fashion week south of the equator Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Brazil proved to be a ‘haute’ week from Jun 9th to June 14 2010.

Brazil’s designs for the 2010-2011 summer season included the inevitable sexy bikinis – as well as intricate and beautiful headdresses capturing the cutlure of the country. Some of the worlds hottest models strutted their stuff down the elaborate catwalk draped in some of the most finest couture.

Gisele Bundchen, the Brazilian beauty and the world’s highest paid model,made her first catwalk run since giving birth to a baby months ago with her husband, U.S. football player Tom Brady. She returned to the runway to present Colcci’s Summer 2010/11 line.

Hot celebrity and socailite Paris Hilton also hit the runway in Sao Paulo, presenting the Triton Collection.

It has only been about six months since she gave birth, but that didn’t stop Gisele Bundchen from wowing the crowds on the catwalk recently.

The supermodel took to the runway as part of Sao Paulo Fashion Week in her native Brazil and as we’re sure you’ll agree, she looked as stunning as ever!

Modeling for the label Colcci, which she has worked with before, the 29-year-old donned a series of gorgeous outfits, many of which included semi-transparent sections of patterned, voile-like material.

According to Brazilian newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo, Gisele said: “I was very nervous. But I am very happy, everything went right.”

Read more…

ESSENCE and Elite Models have named Norwalk, CT, resident Nataya Smalls as the winner of the “ESSENCE It Girl” model search contest, it was announced today. Smalls, 20, will receive a one-year contract with Elite Model Management, and will be featured in the September 2010 Fall Fashion issue of ESSENCE magazine.

The ‘Essence It Girl’ was a contest created by Essence.com and Elite Model Management to attempt to try and find a beautiful African-American “It” girl, to create some ethnic diversity on the runways.

The 5 finalists were sent to a modeling “boot camp” in New York City, and the contestants were judged on a variety of subjects including wardrobe challenges and runway coaching. Judges included the popular NeNe Leakes, from the Real Houswives of Atlanta, and actress Malinda Williams. The boot camp was also documented on a exclusive web-series called “Making of an It Girl” shown on Essence.com

“ESSENCE and Elite are pleased to name Nataya Smalls as the winner of our ‘It Girl’ model search contest,” said Emil Wilbekin, managing editor, Essence.com. “We chose Nataya because she most represented the ESSENCE brand, and we know that she has the potential to become a real contender in the fashion world. ESSENCE has had a long history of launching the careers of some of the biggest names in the modeling industry today, and we are proud to have a hand in the start of Nataya’s career.”