Doutzen Kroes

More than a Victoria's Secret Angel

Doutzen Kroes was born 23 January 1985 in Eastermar is a Dutch model and actress, who is a Victoria's Secret Angel. She started working for the brand in 2004 and became an Angel in 2008. She is on contract with L'Oréal. In 2012 she came in fifth on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $6.9 million in one year.

Doutzen was born in the village of Eastermar (Dutch: Oostermeer), in the province of Friesland, Netherlands, to a Frisian family. As a young girl, Kroes aspired to be a professional speed skater.

Doutzen described herself as a "tomboy" in her youth, although she applied to modeling agency Paparazzi Model Management in Holland when she was older. The agency sent her to New York City, and after being cast a few times by Victoria's Secret, they asked her to try out as an "angel". When she moved to New York from the Netherlands, she had never heard of the brand before.

She has been featured on the covers of Time, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Seventeen, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, W, Avantgarde, Dazed & Confused, and Numéro. She also appears regularly in the Victoria's Secret catalog and walked the runway of the company's fashion show in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012. Kroes's campaigns include Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, Valentino, Blumarine and Calvin Klein for both their 'White' label and their fragrance 'Eternity'. In 2005, Kroes was selected as "Model of The Year" on Vogue.com by readers. She was presented on the May 2007 cover of American Vogue as one of the “World’s Next Top Models” next to Chanel Iman among others. Along with several of these models, she appeared in the 2008 Pirelli Calendar.

In 2006 a Frisian documentary directed by J. J. M. Jansen about a week in Kroes' life as a model was released. It documented Kroes at Milan Fashion Week and her thinking about the modeling industry.

In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $1.5 million in the previous twelve months, Forbes named Kroes fourteenth in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. In April 2008, she was in fifth position, with an estimated income of $6 million. In May 2009 and May 2010 respectively, Forbes named Kroes fifth again in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.

Kroes is in the official Frisian provincial campaign for the Frisian language, her mother tongue.

At the end of August 2008, Victoria's Secret confirmed to People magazine that Kroes was to be the newest Victoria's Secret Angel. Her first campaign as the brand's newest Angel was "Supermodel Obsession". In September 2009, she signed to be the new face for Swiss cashmere label Repeat for two years.

There is a wax figure of Kroes in the Amsterdam branch of Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

From November 2009 to July 2010, she wrote a monthly column about her life for the Dutch edition of Marie Claire.

Currently, she is signed by DNA Model Management.

In February 2010, Kroes returned to the catwalk during fashion week for Prada with fellow Angels Alessandra Ambrosio and Miranda Kerr. Prada was praised by former editor-in-chief of Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire magazines, Bonnie Fuller in her blog for using a curvy model such as Kroes for the fashion show.

Since 2011 Kroes has shot major campaigns for both L'Oreal and Tiffany & Co.

On 24 November 2011, she debuted Reinout Oerlemans', Nova Zembla, the first Dutch 3D movie ever made). Kroes has been taking acting classes in New York City for several years and has stated in interviews that she plans to act in more movies to come.

Angels of Victoria’s Secret 

Doutzen Kroes, Karolina Kurkova, Miranda Kerr 

and Alessandra Ambrosio

Doutzen Kroes and Sunnery James (Dutch DJ) 

Doutzen started dating Dutch DJ, Sunnery James in 2009. On 7 November 2010, she and James married in Amsterdam. On 21 January 2011, Kroes gave birth to a son, Phyllon Joy Gorré. She is actively involved with the non-profit organization Dance4Life, which educates youth about HIV and AIDS prevention through song and dance.

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