Linda V. Feels The Love

The modeling world tends to have short memory, so when a girl notches ten years in the industry, it’s quite a feat. Czech model Linda Vojtova won the Elite Model Look of the Year competition in 2000, and it’s been a whirlwind of covers (Italian Vogue, ; Czech Elle’s February 2011 issue is dedicated to her) and campaigns (Giorgio Armani, La Perla) ever since. Now with the support of her agency, One Model Management, and an enthusiastic boyfriend, the blonde stunner is celebrating her decennial with a fête and photographic retrospective titled Love Linda Votjova next Monday, February 7. A perennial favorite of the European catwalks, including Christian Dior, Hermès, Valentino Haute Couture, and Armani Privé, the New York-based model took time between shoots in Paris to chat about favorite photographers, burning spaghetti, and starting young in the industry.

—Bee-Shyuan Chang

We usually hear of photographers getting ten-year retrospectives. Not so much models, at least not until they’re much older. Do you think models sometimes get short shrift for their work?
Every job is a group effort, and I don’t think about it as the credit going necessarily to a particular person. For models, we have to think about giving your 100 percent and feeding off the energy of the people on the set. It’s about them wanting you to come back because it’s a relationship thing.

Speaking of work relationships, you’ve worked with quite the list of photographers—Daniel Jackson, Paola Kudacki, and Emma Summerton for starters. Anyone you particularly love working with?
That’s a really tough question! I would say there are definitely a few I love because I click with them on a friendship level. I love working with Greg Kadel…but there’s so many.

You were born in Prague but live in New York now. How long have you been in NYC?
I came here nine years ago.

So almost right after you started.
Yeah, I was in a models apartment for about three years in the city. I was between that and hotels. Finally, I got my own place after that.

We’ve heard mixed reviews on models apartments. What was it like?
They can be a bit funny sometimes; it all depends on what girls you’re sharing the apartments with. One of the crazier experiences, a girl came home really late and started cooking spaghetti. She fell asleep and I woke up because there was all this smoke because the spaghetti caught on fire! Also, when I started I didn’t have BlackBerries and individual computer schedules. We would all plan our schedules on paper, and you’re in this constant sort of competition because all the girls would sit down and compare who got what booking. Read the rest of this entry >