Irina Bondarenko grew up in a military family. Frequent travel from one place to another was familiar to her. For some time, the family lived in the south, in the Krasnodar Territory, and then moved, and already decided to stay in the most beautiful northern city of Russia - St. Petersburg. Everything has become new for Irina - rainy autumn evenings, long winter twilight, and white summer nights. As she later said in her interviews, she never had time to feel this city as her own. But on the other hand, she became a girl that Petersburgers could be proud of.



She had a kind of natural nobility, aristocracy. She stood out for her restrained beauty and manners, she had natural charm, elegance and dignity. And once one of the beautiful days, one of the scouts of the "Red Stars" modeling agency, Svetlana Sekir, drew attention to her. Svetlana invited the girl to try her hand at the “Elite Model Look” modeling business.

Irina did not hesitate for a long time, she just knew that she had these powers, which Svetlana spoke about. When she got ready for Moscow, her parents did not detain her, although not so convincingly, they said that a girl from a good family should go to university and receive a decent education. But to become a model ... - Irina saw her destiny in this.

She arrived in Moscow, where she was greeted warmly, and nothing more. Although no, she was offered to come in another six months, maybe then ... Irina was not upset, but six months later she arrived and became the winner of the Elite Model Look competition in Moscow at the national stage. This gave her the opportunity to receive an invitation to the world final in Seoul.





In 1995 in Seoul, Korea, at the Elite Model Look competition, candidates for the first place were discussed. The jury's votes were split exactly in half when the candidacy of Irina Bondarenko was considered for the first place of the winner. The issue arose so controversial that the president of the Elite agency, John Casablancas, refused to participate in the selection of the winner of the competition. Thus, without his participation, the issue of the first place was quickly resolved - Irina was in second place. But this did not upset her. The main thing is that she took part and came out on top. And by the way, all the other places, third and fourth, were taken by our Russian girls, who once again proved that they are not random guests at beauty contests, but girls whose beauty is worthy of recognition.



Irina Bondarenko's modeling career began, which developed with varying success. After winning the competition, Irina received an expensive contract with the Elite agency and left for New York and then Paris. Of course, they immediately drew attention to her, because she received a high prize. Yes, she became a sought-after model, and her face was on many glossy magazines, but still it was not the level that she dreamed of and really deserved.



And as then in St. Petersburg, when she was helped by a chance meeting with an agent of a modeling agency who saw in her the image of a high-level model, so now a chance meeting also helped. Gerald Marie saw her at a concert in Versailles. And their places were nearby, too, by chance. Gerald Marie is President of Elite Europe. He made the Parisian "Elite" the strongest and best European agency. But that was not all.Glory went about him as a person with very free morals. His relationship with models was not a secret to anyone, although some episodes with famous models even ended in marriage, for example, as the marriage to Linda Evangelista in 1987.



For five years he and Linda were together, then their marriage broke up. At the time of meeting with Irina, the relationship with Linda was already in the past. And now Irina. Gerald was in love again. He was about 50, Irina a little over 20. But he looked after so beautifully - luxurious bouquets of flowers, trips to southern resorts, calls from long trips - what a girl can resist this. And can we talk about age in love? They merried.

Everyone expected that she would be in the rays of her husband's glory, but it is possible to find herself in the shadows. It could have been, but not with Irina. As already mentioned about her, this girl gave the impression of nobility and dignity in addition to her beautiful appearance. But not only did she make an impression, she really was. Irina did not want to achieve success through personal relationships, she wanted to achieve success on her own.



When their marriage had already taken place, she still continued to work in modest shows, as an ordinary and simple model. And to the surprise of everyone, especially the envious, no avalanche of success and contracts with famous brands happened. However, this marriage made many look at Irina in a completely new way. And the image that the agent once saw in young Irina in St. Petersburg is now seen by many. It suddenly became clear to everyone what pearl they had not noticed next to them.



Irina began to receive offers to take part in shows and advertising campaigns from famous fashion houses. One of the first brands to invite Irina was Valentino. Valentino has always created noble items, and his clients were those celebrities who appreciated style in clothes. They were Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Gloria Guinness, Jacqueline Kennedy.

He was the first to invite this particular house because things from Valentino demanded true aristocracy from their owner, who knew how to combine a sense of luxury and a sense of proportion. Irina coped with this task and began to participate in almost all Valentino shows. And then Christian Dior drew attention to it. Then in this house the main role belonged to John Galliano. His collections were also very complex, and the ability to present them is not an easy task. Irina showed her natural talent here too - to look calm and confident. Then she was invited by Chanel, John Gallianj, Giorgio Armani, Balmain, Yves Saint Laurent, Hermes and many, many others.



In 2005, Irina Bondarenko took part in the most unusual show, which was the fiftieth in the history of the Dries van Noten fashion house. Van Noten is a new generation designer who opened his house in 1985. And for 20 years he managed to achieve success with his unusual style, which was a combination of ethnic motives, historical quotes and street style. There were only about 500 people at the show of the 50th collection of invitees - quite a bit.

Everything was presented in the form of a dinner party - all guests were invited to a long table, delicious food and drinks were served. When the first part, that is, lunch, was over, we moved on to the second - on the vacant table (there were only crystal glasses at the edges of the table) fashion models went. This show became one of the most important and discussed, and not only because of the display on the table, the whole collection of things with embroidery and unusual prints, all the elements of "Dries van Noten" made this show the most interesting of all the events of the pret-a-porter week ...

And Irina has become a demanded and popular top model. She has a home, a family. Her amazing wisdom has never let her down in success - to always maintain self-esteem and not lose it, even for the sake of fame.

25 years have passed since the beginning of a top model's career, she gained fame and her dream, and Svetlana still fondly remembers Irina.