Nylon - October 2008 - (Page 126) electric YOUTH THIS YEAR’S CROP OF IT GIRLS BETTER GET USED TO THAT LABEL FAST; THE BUZZ IS ONLY GOING TO GET LOUDER. 126 portia freeman hair. She grew up in Surrey, outside London: “I loved it there, just hanging around in the park with all my best friends,” she says. Still only 19, Freeman is looking forward to life beyond modeling—to hosting a television show about cooking, maybe. Chief among her ambitions is to retire to a house in the country. “My dream is to be a housewife,” she says. “I’m a feeder—my favorite thing is my mom’s new Dyson.” Before that, though, she’s off to Ibiza for a holiday—and, she says, a few days in the country. DIANE VADINO PHOTOGRAPHED BY XANTHE GREENHILL stylist: rossana buttarazzi. hair: hiroshi using bumble and bumble. makeup: silver bramham at premier. dress by marc by marc jacobs. Hopes and dreams are being dashed left and right as I wait for Portia Freeman, London’s model of the moment, in the Camden office of her agency, Select Models. The reception area is currently doubling as an examination room for walk-in applicants. It’s a make-or-break—largely break, for today’s hopefuls—moment in the life of a young model, and it’s one Freeman will soon tell me she was fortunate enough to avoid: “Same story as most models, scouted at 15, working since 16,” she says, guarded by an agency minder. Will I have a problem conducting the interview in front of an extra person? Something tells me if I did, it wouldn’t matter. I’m allowed to inquire about Freeman’s tabloid moment—the “red-top” newspapers have posited that she’s about to leave for a camping excursion into the countryside with none other than Pete Doherty—but, I’m told, “no badgering.” The censorship is a shame, because nothing about Freeman suggests the insecurity or weakness it’s typically there to safeguard. If she is dating Doherty—and after a non-badgering interrogation, she says they’re “good friends,” making a face at her minder—it’s easy to see what a rock star might like about her: She’s quick and clever, and exquisitely beautiful, all delicate features beneath a swirl of white
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