Anna Ewers exploded on to the scene in 2014, courtesy of her now good friend Alexander Wang. He saw the German-born beauty’s unforgettable face on a blog and told his long-time casting director, Anita Bitton, to track her down to take a starring turn in his first show at Balenciaga. And what an unforgettable face it is: the 23-year-old’s feline eyes and full lips are crowned by flaxen hair. Plus, she’s got a dynamite body.
Since that debut, the fashion industry has been under her spell; she dominates magazine covers across the world, and shoots campaigns for fashion’s biggest brands. In 2016 alone, she’s been enlisted as the face of Calvin Klein, Miu Miu, Alexander Wang, and now Hugo Boss. She takes a seductive turn as the face of the brand’s new scent, BOSS THE SCENT for Her. Anna stars in its accompanying campaign, which was shot by i-D’s Female Gaze Issue cover photographer Inez Van Lamsweerde. We got up close and personal with Anna in New York to find out more about the woman that is quickly becoming one of the most iconic faces in fashion. Here are nine things you need to know about Anna Ewers…
1. She keeps her style pretty simple.
“I’m most concerned with comfortable. I like jeans and a sweater. Then I like to wear a special shoe or a special bag to jazz it up.”
2. The scent that makes her reminisce the most is…
“Fresh cut grass in the garden. I grew up in the countryside, in a little village that’s outside of Freiburg. There’s only 4,000 people living there, it’s tiny. We have a big garden, and right in front of my house are open fields and vineyards. In general, I like scents that are warm and rich.”
3. Her secret talent is…
“I grow tomatoes in my backyard and I love cooking too. I made Spaetzle once, but I don’t know if I would do it again. I cook for 10 people, and do dinner parties where I am in the kitchen for eight hours!”
4. Her New York hideaways are…
“I go to Prospect Park. I go to upstate New York sometimes. I like to walk around; even if it’s in the city, I like being outside walking around, discovering new things.”
5. She can always spot her fellow Germans in New York.
“I can always tell who’s German. They’ll have a backpack and hiker shoes in the city because they’re going sightseeing. They always look very practical and have a map.”
6. Her guilty pleasure is…
“My friends and I love Germany’s Next Top Model. We meet on Thursday nights and all watch it together. Some of the things I definitely couldn’t do, like walking for one hour on a treadmill in high heels!”
7. The hardest thing about modeling is…
“Traveling. I see both sides: sometimes it’s a lot, sometimes I fly like three times a week and it gets tiring because of all the jetlag and time changes. But then you get rewarded when you go to places like Kenya or Jackson Hole, which I went to recently, because you see such beautiful scenery.”
8. The most memorable part of her career so far is…
“My first big job was when I met Alexander Wang for his first Balenciaga show, and that was kind of a turning point in my career. I shot the Prada campaign with Steven Meisel and since then, it’s been going really well for me! Me and Alex are great friends now; we go out to party a lot. I think he’s an amazing designer, he’s very talented!”
9. On whether she’d do the standard model to actress transition…
“I just want to be happy and enjoy what I’m doing. I mean, I just will see what happens.”
Credits
Text Lynette Nylander