MY LAETITIA CASTA PAGE

We will start with beauty, but also with forms, charms, freshness and glamour, which no gentleman would object to. No, I’ll stop, you can read in any women’s magazine – women’s or men’s – that Laetitia Casta is the French supermodel of the moment, so we’ll try to dig a little deeper, without being too exhaustive on the subject: for that, we can wait for the autobiography in a few years (not too long though; people’s biographies these days tend to be published before they reach thirty). While we wait then, here is my version, a maller biography with a selection of photos.

Laetitia Maria Laure was born one fine day in 1978, 11th May to be precise, in Pont-Adenauer, Normandy, to a Corsican father and a Norman mother. She has an older brother, Jean-Baptiste, and a younger sister, Marie-Ange
(family photos)

She enjoyed a balanced, healthy childhood alongside her older brother and younger sister. When she was younger, she dreamt of being, erm…everything under the sun, actually: teacher, singer, actress, vet, air hostess…In 1993, Laetitia’s brother Jean-Baptiste had the bright idea of entering her into a beauty contest. Obviously, Laetitia won and became Miss Lumio. Two days later, a booker from the Madison model agency came to find her on the beach at Lumio to make propose a contract to her – that put an end to all her career procrastinations. So she left for Paris right in
the middle of her adolescence (still only a fifteen-year-old) and walked into the Madison agency, also home to the almost-forgotten Claudia S.

She has a black belt in judo, she likes the film “The War of the Buttons", Lambert Wilson’s body, pink Citroën 2CVs, caramel rice pudding, Patricia Kaas’s voice, and kitsch trinkets. Then, everything happened very quickly, young Miss Casta posed for more than eighty covers, and did countless advertisements and fashion shows for big-name designers. She has even become well-known in America, by way of ad campaigns for Guess (another company which has also used a certain Claudia S.), and the world-wide advertising for the perfume, Allure de Chanel. She also posed for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, but above all her fame stateside has been down to Victoria’s Secret, the famous brand of lingerie, who booked her for their catalogue. After all, what better way for the people at Victoria to ensure everyone remembers their sexy underwear than to have Laetitia wearing it? (Those Americans aren’t stupid, you know!)
Laetitia also took part in the shooting of Chris Isaak’s latest video – “Baby did a bad bad thing". The American channel VH-1, which had exclusive rights to show the video, insisted that certain parts be totally banned because they were too steamy (Photos - Videos). You may also have seen Laetitia in the video of "Terre d’Oru", the song by Sting & I Muvrini, for which filming took place in Tuscany, in Sting’s fabulous house. Laetitia agreed to appear in this video as I
Muvrini are Corsican; let us not forget that Laetitia is herself Corsican in body and soul, and will fervently defend the qualities of the beautiful island anywhere in the world.

Last but not least, Laetitia played the role of Falbala in Claude Zidi’s film "Asterix and Obelix against Caesar". Following this transition to the big screen she appeared on numerous TV programmes – she was in high demand (§Tout le monde en parle §Les enfants de la télé §Célébrités §Nulle part ailleurs - part 2). But that all seemed just to be a huge media campaign on account of the film, or, the pretext, dare I say, for those dear television presenters to get the delightful Laetitia on their show, because people who have seen the film (something I refrained from doing – sorry) say
that Falbala Casta is on screen no longer than ten minutes. Also, and I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your attention, Laetitia is one of the ‘L’Oréal girls’, “because I’m worth ita (said [in French] but with a British accent to sound more chic), but the cosmetic company tends to make the young Corsican too “sophisticated" for my liking; she is so much more beautiful au naturel . What’s more, as part of her first contract with L’Oréal, Laetitia was obliged to have her gorgeous hair cut off,
in particular for Elsève, their shampoo range. Okay, so it must pay well, but it’s not what brings out the best in her.

You might also like to know that Laetitia, who has apparently taken to the cameras since "Asterix", will be the heroine in a three-part televised film for France 2, the long-awaited adaptation of "La bicyclette bleue" by Régine Desforges, the man behind best-sellers such as “101 avenue Henri-Martin", and "Le diable en rit encore". Filming is due to begin in mid-August in the Bordeaux region. That’s about it for her plans, which are bound to include a baby: the beauty is always saying how she wants a child before she is twenty-five, convinced she has got what it takes to be a mother.

Now that the introductions are over with, let us move on to a more detailed analysis of her person, which is obviously a personal point of view:

MIND

Obviously, many assume she is stupid. I must admit that I too would be tempted to say, out of a simplistic jealousy, that she is a nice girl but not very sharp. But no, let’s not fall into those clichéd prejudices; unless we know her personally, we cannot let ourselves assess her IQ. Neither would I say that Laetitia is a hidden genius who unfortunately had to leave
school during collège, which prevented her from revealing her true intellectual capacity – this is obviously not the case. Nevertheless, Miss Casta states: “I make an effort to keep my mind active", and that seems to be evident, as she has learnt that by gaining in self-confidence you progress. In fact, at the last Cannes film festival, where she had the honour of presenting a Palme D’Or, Laetitia was visibly at ease, expressing herself well; this was a real contrast to the
embarrassed young girl she was in the beginning. Now that we have contemplated her mind, let us move on to what is indisputably Laetitia’s ‘trump card’.

BODY

Well then, it’s true, ‘la Casta’ has the face of an angel that is exceptionally photogenic, a dream body (35D-24-35), and sex appeal, as people say. And apparently this is partly due to her native Normandy: - My breasts are made in Normandy, nourished with fresh cream and butter -. As for the secret of her beauty: "There is none, I’m just fortunate enough not to put on weight," she says, and reminds people of certain faults she has, like her less than perfect teeth and her sausage-like feet! But they are still only minor faults, and besides, she is at one with her body - she doesn’t hesitate to pose nude, nudity for her is only natural - she has no qualms about it and it shows.

But above all, I thank Laetitia for changing the norm in the realm of supermodels: with her nature, her attractive form and her ‘small’ 1.68m frame (I know, everything is relative!), she contrasts with Sophisticated models of the 1980s, and even more with the rather dull, anorexic matchsticks you see parading the catwalks today. And that is Laetitia Casta’s biggest strength: she is both a woman liked by men and also a model who has a look most women can identify with. If you want to find Laetitia on glossy paper, there is the Pirelli ’99 calendar, the good old la Redoute catalogue, or you can simply visit any French mairie, as Laetitia has been voted the new Marianne of the French
Republic. Her bust is present (in sculpture form) in the 36 000 mairies in France.