DesPardes feature
Since her teenage years, Yasmeen has been through enough experiences that have enabled her to transform, both mentally and financially, into an independent and highly successful woman. There is something to be said about perseverance, and Yasmeen certainly has it.
Why is she famous?
This millionaire model has been posing since her late teens with her face on magazine covers across the U.S. and Europe. Although she is still in demand for runways, she has been shying away from the limelight lately. Yasmeen Ghauri is the perfect example of 90’s model.
Discovered at the age of 17 in Canada, she quickly became one of the most sought after models in the world, appearing regularly in Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated, and working for the top fashion houses of Oscar de la Renta and Chanel.
“There are thousands of girls out there who could be doing my job.” -Yasmeen Ghauri.
This beautiful 31-year old Victoria’s Secret model was born into a strict family, in Montreal, Canada . At the age of 17, she was discovered by Montreal hairdresser Joseph Del Tortoon. At the time, she was working in a McDonald’s, and was described as a rebel who dressed completely in black, from head to toe. Part of her success has been her exotic look, the result of a mixed marriage; her father is Pakistani and her mother is German. Yasmeen came along at the right time, when the fashion industry was looking for more than the typical american blonde.
AT 5′10″, she has an incredible physical presence. As a teenager, she described herself as an ugly duckling, but time has certainly changed that statement. Imagine, she even thinks her butt is too big. Yasmeen, we can show you big butts. She was a rebelious teenager, which gave her the tough attitude she needed to make it in the fashion world. She once said, There are thousands of girls out there who could be doing my job. She realizes that models tend to be forced to have short careers, and therefore believes that as a model you need to [Make] as much money as possible.
Unlike other models, she also wishes for a return to old-fashioned beauty and glamour that help women dream, not look down on themselves. That’s what we call a winning attitude. She quickly created a persona for herself in an industry filled with gorgeous, competitive women, by developing an exaggerated runway walk, a distant stare, and a refusal to smile. The sex appeal of her strut comes from both her look and her attitude
Yasmeen was at one time making millions of dollars a year through the extensive ad campaigns she was working on, but having a daughter forced her to take a temporary sabbatical from the fashion world. Despite the rest, she is still in high demand, and one of the most highly paid women working today. She has appeared in fashion shows, magazines, and ads, since the age of 20. She is instantly recognizable in Europe, while in North America (including her native Montreal), she can still walk down the street anonymously. She has been in so many publicity and advertising campaigns, that even if they were not necessarily high profile, she has almost become a household face, if not a household name.
Her versatility extends to her wardrobe where she loves wearing different clothes ranging from her favorite designers John Galliano and Dries Van Noten, to jeans and a t-shirt. Then again, with Yasmeen, anything she wears looks good.
That Canada continues to export models as beautiful as Yasmeen. We know Canada can make beer, but supermodels?
Her father, a strict muslim, and her German mother were vehemently opposed to her pursuit of a modeling career, believing the business was unsanitary and evil. Yasmeen had a troublesome childhood, and was constantly tormented by her classmates while in school. She began to withdraw from those her age, preferring to associate with older children in her neighborhood. This resulted in Yasmeen growing up very quickly, and reaching a level of maturity beyond those her own age. She got past these obstacles, and made her first step towards a modeling career by signing with a Montreal modeling agency.
In 1990, Yasmeen moved to New York, where she began modeling for Versace. Her natural beauty and remarkable ability to look good in a variety of styles and designs quickly got her noticed in the fashion industry. Soon, Yasmeen was modeling for Isaac Mizrahi, Chanel and Givenchy. At 5′10″, her height garnered the honor of being the star in Donna Karan’s Fall collection preview. Ghauri spent most of ‘94 and ‘95 on the runways of Milan, Paris and New York, not delving into print work until late ‘95. She has graced the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover on a number of occasions, as well as the covers of Shape, Marie Claire and Fashion Quarterly.
Her list of credentials includes appearances in advertisements for Anne Klein, Bruno Magli, Chanel, Christian Dior Haute couture, Escada, Etienne Aigner, Gianfranco Ferr�, Gianni Versace Couture, Givenchy Organza perfume, Hermčs, Jil Sander, Laura Biagiotti, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sonia Rykiel, Valentino and Victoria’s Secret.
Yasmeen truly stands out in person, with her natural good looks, self-confidence and the way she gives off an impression of true female charm. This has made her extremely popular on the runways, and has led to work in several big shows, including Badgley Mischka, Christian Dior, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dries van Noten, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, Antonio Berardi and Dirk Bikkembergs. She pulled out of a major runway show for Yves Saint-Laurent at the last minute in June of 1996, which led to rumors that she may retire. Yasmeen did in fact take time off to pursue a degree in business.
Although Yasmeen ignored the words of her father earlier in her life, she does in fact share some of his philosophies. For example, although she is one of the top models in the world, she still shuns the spotlight, preferring a more humble approach to life. She enjoys golfing, painting, rollerblading and skiing. Yasmeen is a person who truly enjoys life. She takes everything in stride, and does not get carried away with her own fame and fortune. She lives life for the moment, and her favorite expression is You can’t take it with you. This joie-de-vivre is what keeps her going, and she makes sure she has fun in whatever she does.
Yasmeen married after giving birth to her daughter, Maya. Yasmeen spent most of her time raising and caring for her beautiful baby girl. Rumor has it that she will soon be making her return to the runway at some time this year..
What else do you need to know?
Do you have something to say? Here, share your thoughts.
Feedback (30 responses)
-
muhammad usman
said 3 weeks after the publication
assalam-o-alikum
u have a good side
i reallay apreciate it -
shay
said 3 weeks, 6 days after the publication
yasmeen indeed was a sizzler……a complete stunner
with no reported strings attached in shape of a man
…and believe me it was their loss
hahahah
shay
knightgown_2003@yahoo.com -
-
said 1 month after the publication
I have just read your article on yasmeen and id like to say that u alot of that is not true..
I would know as i am close to her -
aleck
said 1 month after the publication
> I have just read your article on yasmeen and id like to
> say that u alot of that is not true..
> I would know as i am close to herThat is not my article, i copied it from the url at the bottom. Can you please point out what is untrue, so I can update the page?
Also, please put at least some name, not just -. I’m not gonna harass you
, I simply want to have meaningfull threads. -
Prithivi
said 4 months after the publication
I see no major errors in this article, and I have read most of the articles about and interviews with her. The only thing I question is the statement that she married after giving birth to her daughter Maya. According to some reports in Italian and US newspapers she married in late 97. Maya was born in late summer of 98.
-
Aleksandar Vacić
Prithivi, I agree with you on the order things happened.
My intention is to collect articles I can, in the way they were published.
That said, some of those are likely to be gossip or untrue.
-
ali
said 1 year, 4 months after the publication
every one talks about Yasmeen married and has a daughter but till now i have not been able to get anything at all about her husband. who is the lucky person? and what is happening with her life nowadays? is she really out of the public eye completely? these questions really need answering to a curious person like me. can any of u guys help?
-
Alek
said 1 year, 4 months after the publication
His name is Ralph Bernstein, and runs a family business with his brother – at least he was few years back. Other than that, nothing is known.
-
ali
said 1 year, 5 months after the publication
Alek thank u for mentioning her husband’s name but what about Yasmeen herself? How can she vanish so completely from the public eye? where is she now? i have been scouring the net for quite some time now and i have absolutely no news about her. has any more children added to the family? does she have any plans to come back to modelling? can u throw some light on these questions?
-
Alek
Sorry, no news from me. When I had time in the past, I searched news sites, NewYork magazines and similar places.
No result, which does not surprises me really. She often said that one day
all this
(modeling) would be gone and she will have her family. That happened and I’m positive that she does not care much about the limelight.I just hope she is content with what she’s having and doing, now.
-
ali
said 1 year, 5 months after the publication
thanks alek for ur efforts in searching for news about her. i hope and pray that she is content in her life and i also pray that WE all are content in ours. u got a great site and i hope that u find some way of separating the old and the new pictures. keep up the memories of this fabulous woman alive for all of us. thanks again.
-
nd
said 1 year, 5 months after the publication
yasmeen is missed the most out of all the supermodels from the golden age of the early 90s she is the only one that has not been seen since she quietly retired in 1997, fashion is a fickle business full of shallow people and yasmeen refused to get sucked in it and to thier mentality and live the “model” lifestyle,
it was her job pure and simple she had to do one thing in modelling and that was to promote/sell the designers vision she respected their artisty (her famous walk drew the attention of the photographers who snapped her and caught the attention of the buyers/magazine editors) her legendary walk only exists on the runway and is immortalised on film forever (thank you yasmeen)because you have given us a wonder of this world without realising it and to prove my point when they showed a documentary on gianni versace on uk tv including runway footage from his shows, more footage was shown of yasmeen than the other supermodels like linda evangelista, christy turlington, cindy crawford and she is not that famous if at all in the uk compared to naomi campbell and cindy crawford who are household names etc…you see the editor of the programme recognized greatness and was also hypnotised by her beauty and her walk by the footage he saw of yasmeen.
yasmeen is also intelligent (reading ten books a month will do that to you) and that is very rare to blessed with brains and beauty (but growing up with older people around makes you more mature and wiser beyond your years), we are usually blessed with one of the other but unlike the other supermodels she had both,
she used the business the business didn’t use her, she realised right way she had to take control and what was required from her, to create the right persona a unique identity and to fit that to the desingers vision in order to be successful in this profession, she only promoted herself for worthy causes/charities and wasn’t like other models that thought they could act, sing, present, write books, turn thierselves into products, sell thier lives to the magazines and make money that way (how undignified) you know who i’m taking about (the number 1 attention seeker that is naomi campbell),
as you know by now yasmeen has integrity and dignity, i’m sorry to say but yasmeen will never return to fashion and modelling and the more time that passes the more the designers/editors and her admirers will notice that she is the only one out of the 90s supermodels that has not been seen since 1997 and will yearn for her more than the others that are around today therefore she will become an enigma and mystique will continue to grow and surround her.
you see the reason why you are reading this is because you are having a visceral response to yasmeen you know that you have never seen this person before in history i don’t know a single person that can describe yasmeen beauty in away that make me say yes thats it thats what we are all seeing there are always different responses but there is something that no one can put thier finger on, there is a knowing in the eyes you have to study the face and the body equally the curves are unusual as we all know and totally unque no model from the past or present has her proportions, the sculptural curve of the shoulders, the line from the upper body to her waist and to the hips it is indeed an hourglass, and those (wider than average for a model) double jointed hips that swing to alarming angles, by the way this can onkly be acheived by having big hips that are double jointed it is an actaully a suble belly dancing move, i have only seen it in another woman in the public eye and that is the columbian singer shakira who is alos double jointed like yasmeen and has a big waist to hip ratio.
so how would you describe yasmeen is she old school hollywood sopisticated glamour?, exotic princess from the east?, an egyptian statue from history come to life (wide shoulders can be found in the ancient art of egypt)?, an amazon queen from the jungle is straight out of comic books heroines? versace described her as “old fashioned georgian and totally contempary at the same time” she is all these and yet none of these, there are no top models that have even similar features or body propotions to yasmeen working today and i have a feeling that her unique face and body will never be seen again in the future in another model not even close to any of yasmeen features.
we are lucky that she exists in this way in print and on film and should not ask for more, be thankful for the fact that we have not been denied yasmeen the model 1989-1997, we are all lucky that the day she walked out of the hair salon she was spotted and was sent to a modelling agency, her beauty will continue to inspire and will be celebrated in decades to come…
-
stefanie reynolds
said 1 year, 6 months after the publication
i am a model… i do runway and photo shoots.. i am really looking for a good agencie, but i havent found the right one yet.. i have been talking with Ford Models, Inc. i would like to know more about you.
stefanie reynolds -
nn
Yasmeen has a son who is the classmate of my son in Bedford.
-
aleck
said 1 year, 11 months after the publication
NN, nice to hear, thanks for sharing that.
If you have seen her – is she still beautiful as ever?
-
aleck
ND, thanks for that long all-in-one-breath comment. I know how you feel…
-
Aicha
said 1 year, 11 months after the publication
Hello!
Thanks very much for this site i’m a 37 french girl living in the south of france, i have a lot of photos about yasmeen, but i was very impressed.
And yes she’s teh most beautiful girl in the world.
But what is she doing now?Thank you for answering
Bye!
-
Anonymous
I always thinks that the most beautiful women on the face of this earth has to be an East Indian woman,,,was i right….
They skin so exotic looking(most if not the majority model in pics try to bronze their complexion),,am i the only 1 that noticed that,,,lol..
no seriously tabloid proven the fact to us that to be the most beautiful you need to bronze your skin,,,,
and Yes Yasmeen in one the best product out on the runway…
Thinking of wich this other most glorious woman from India Ashraiya Rai,,,shes feature in all the top notch magazine as well..now is this a coincedence that both women have anything in common. -
Ludmilla
said 1 year, 11 months after the publication
Yes! I saw her in ftv two days back. It reminds me the secretive lass fashion world has ever had.
Ludmilla -
colette
said 2 years, 1 month after the publication
hi is yasmeen a muslim??
-
AW
Yasmeen actually is featured in the Fall/Winter Spiegel 2005 catalog.
-
w.
said 2 years, 4 months after the publication
Although how that is interpreted and enforced varies considerably, depending on which version of Islam one is talking about.
-
jinnu
said 2 years, 9 months after the publication
i need confirmation that yasmeen was once married to my current boyfriend?
can you help? -
aleck
Jinnu, you actually believe that can be true?
Why do need a confirmation from here, like we could know that – ask him for the papers. I have a feeling they would somehow end up being lost in packaging/accidentally burned or some other funny excuse.
-
vzn
said 2 years, 9 months after the publication
UNBELIEVABLE!! this must be the 3rd “alleged” husband i have “heard” about for yasmeen. with all of these husbands and children she “supposedly” has, i have not once seen or heard any confirmation from yasmeen herself about them. only people with their “sightings” and rumors mention it. i’m afraid i agree with aleck here, i think your boyfriend is lying to you
. -
jinnu
Hmmmm – he’s not lying – ive seen the Nikaah papers and pictures – so how can you explain the alteration of my original posting????!!!! I believe I mentioned something that was a bit taboo……! this has just clarified my point. Yasmeen has a website that she can control, therefore, opinions are not really relevant unless they are complimentary to her.
-
aleck
Jinnu, get a grip, please. You left similar comments to two different posts, so maybe “taboo” word is mentioned there. There is very little moderation I do here and I don’t recall deleting any of your comments.
And no, Yasmeen has no control over this site, only me. She never contacted me and frankly I do not think she even cares what the world thinks about her or her actions.
Relax and enjoy. And no, I still do not believe your boyfriend had anything to do with her and I think you do not either, otherwise you would not be asking. Suit yourself.
-
jinnu
okey kokey – i was just testing ur site! sorry Aleck! Yes Yasmeen is a very beautiful woman – i would like to hear or read more about how she managed to cope with all the pressure from family and the fashion world at such a young age. Could be a good learning curve for many young muslim females, whom lack confidence.
-
naqvi
said 2 years, 10 months after the publication
jannu
what is ur current boyfriends name? -
vzn
according to this website: nymag.com/fashion/models/yghauri/yasmeenghauri/
it says that yasmeen posed for playboy in ‘94. is this true? i do remember seeing a black and white topless photo of her (not a paparazzi pic) and always wondered where it was from.
if she did, God i hope she didn’t sleep with hefner just to do it.