She’s cool, she’s funny and she’s always impeccably dressed. Cara Delevingne seems to be the ultimate it-girl. At only 22 years old, Cara has taken the fashion world by storm and inspired endless women in the process. This girl is a modern renaissance woman. She sings, she acts, she designs handbags, and of course, she models – all while being the coolest Brit on the scene (and on Instagram).
As a child, Cara appeared in a Cadbury chocolate ad and was later photographed for Vogue Italia in 2003. Then in 2009, at the age of 17, Cara signed with a modeling agency and a year later, modeled in Clements Ribeiro and Burberry fashion shows. In 2012, she was named model of the year at the British Fashion Awards. Now, pick up any magazine and Cara will inevitably grace the pages, whether in the form of ads or articles. But, Cara isn’t your typical supermodel. She isn’t trying to prove anything with an otherworldly glow a-la Cindy Crawford and she isn’t rocking a standoffish heroin-chic look like Kate Moss (although, Kate, you will always have a place in my heart). Cara truly seems to just be doing her thing. And lucky for her, it’s working.
Cara’s talent doesn’t stop at the pages of Vogue. In 2012, she had a small part in the film adaption of Anna Karenina and a year later, she voiced the DJ of the Non-Stop-Pop FM radio station in Grand Theft Auto. Her credits are every-growing, with a thriller The Face of an Angel, a period romance Tulip Fever, a 2015 fantasy Pan, a super hero movie Suicide Squad, and most excitingly to the overwhelming teen girl inside me, her role as Margo Roth Spiegelman in the film adaption of John Green’s Paper Towns. And…her talent continues…she also sings and plays the drums. Recently, Cara recorded an acoustic cover of “Sonnentanz” with British soul and jazz singer Will Heard and teamed up with Pharell Williams to make the song “CC The World.”
Cara may be taking on the world of fashion, film and music, but she makes it clear that she still has time for fun. In the process of her fun, Cara has become the target for copious media attention, being linked to celebrities from Harry Styles to Michelle Rodriguez. When the supermodel was interview by The Telegraph, she responded to questions regarding her sexuality by saying “on that topic, I think… What do I think? I think people shouldn’t be scared of that.” She added, “I’m young, I’m having fun, I don’t want to pretend to be something I’m not. So I don’t really care on that matter. People can say what they want…” Rather than glossing over the topic, Cara merely denies it as her sole identifier. She sees her sexuality, and many other identifiers, as an aspect of her that just is.
Cara is a new kind of star. She uses Twitter and Instagram to promote her “imperfect brand” rather than to just flaunt her high cheekbones. Recall her backstage Harlem shake, which grossed over 1,000,000 hits, her tweets calling the paparazzi “assassins” or the plethora of memes she posts on Instagram. In a time of meticulously styled and perfectly presented models, actresses, and less face it – peers, Cara Delevingne gives our celebrity-grazed generation something wonderfully quirky and au natural.
Maybe, we can’t relate to Cara’s super model career, her iconic brows or her duet with Pharell. But, Cara, in many ways our peer from across the sea, is an image of what we all should be doing more of: taking the amazing opportunities that greet us, but staying goofy, fun loving and our genuine selves in the process. Cara isn’t just a super model; she’s a role model.