Ruby Aldridge

       Ruby Aldridge is a hard girl to pin down. Her schedule is such that it takes a few weeks to get a 10-minute phone call penciled in, and even then, when a time is agreed upon, her New York agent calls the day of to say she’s a little tied up — scrambling around searching for her passport. (It’s probably under a heap of clothes somewhere in her Lower East Side apartment.) But it’s hard not to forgive her. She’s only 20 after all, and isn’t that what all 20-year-olds do? Lose their passports. Except most don’t have to fly to Paris at dawn for a round of couture shows.
        Aldridge, who has catwalked for Prada, Gucci, Dior, Proenza Schouler and Miu Miu, starred in last year’s Marc by Marc Jacobs campaign and is one of the new faces of Valentino, is having a moment. This shouldn’t come as any surprise to the British, who have always had a fondness for the Aldridges: her mother is Laura Lyons, an American model and former Playboy Playmate, and her father is the famous English illustrator Alan Aldridge, whom Ruby describes as the love of her life. “He’s the best, and just the most amazing, creative, modest genius I ever met,” she gushes. You might have seen his cartoony, psychedelic artwork in books for the Beatles and on album covers for the Rolling Stones, the Who and Elton John. Ruby is fortunate to have inherited good looks and a creative spirit (she’s currently learning to play guitar) in equal measures, as have all the Aldridge offspring.
         Her siblings — there are seven in total — include her older half-sister, Saffron, the face of Ralph Lauren for about a decade, and her full sister, Lily, another model (yes, there are many models in this dynasty; as I said, they’re a fine-looking lot), who is a Victoria’s Secret Angel and recently wed the Kings of Leon frontman, Caleb Followill, in Montecito, Calif. And then there is her half-brother, Miles (no, not a model, but he is married to one, the 1990s supermodel Kristen McMenamy). Miles is a fashion photographer whose highly stylized work has appeared in Vogue Italia, Numéro and GQ.
         “It was awesome,” says Ruby of the time they spent working together on this fashion shoot. “He’s my brother so it’s crazy . . . and a little surreal. . . . A part of me was intimidated as he’s such an amazing photographer and is very serious when he works; he’s a taskmaster! There was no slacking off!” One gets the impression that slacking off isn’t in her nature anyway — her energy is palpable — and with passport finally found (“Oh my God, I was literally freaking out.”), couture week beckons.

      

ARIEL MEREDITH.....

      Ariel Meredith is an American model who appeared in the 2009 and 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1986, she did some part-time modeling starting in 1998 until she finished her schooling. She signed with Ford Models in New York, and Elite Model Management in Milan and Paris in 2008.
      Although she was discovered at age 14 Ariel Meredith did not pursue modeling as a full-time career until after she completed her education in 2008.  In 1998, Ariel Meredith won a 500-contestant modeling competition in Dallas and signed with Ford Models in New York and Campbell Modeling Agency in Dallas. Ariel Meredith got 32 call-backs from the contest. As a teenager she appeared in Seventeen, Teen Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan, and Teen magazines. She began traveling domestically while still in school.
       In 2002, she appeared on the MTV show Fashionably Loud. Ariel Meredith started modeling regularly in 2005.  When one of her early modeling agencies demanded that she have breast reduction surgery, she refused and was dropped from the agency.
       The New York Times mentioned her YouTube beauty secret video on using a toothbrush to exfoliate one’s lips prior to applying lip gloss in 2007. She debuted for Vera Wang’s Spring Show in New York in September 2008. Her September 2008 New York Fashion week runway debut experience, where she also modeled for Nicole Miller, was chronicled in the USA Today.  She appeared in shows for a total of eleven fashion designers including an opening performance for Junya Watanabe, which marked her rising stardom.
      After her shows in New York, she did eight shows in Milan. She has performed in runway shows for Baby Phat, Brioni, Clips, Diesel, D&G, Elie Saab, Junya Watanabe, La Perla, Milly, Vera Wang and many more. According to The Times-Picayune, her September 2008 New York and Milan Fashion week performances led to her classification as a rising star in the modeling industry.
      Ariel Meredith is featured in the 2009 Spring/Summer Dolce & Gabbana advertising campaign, which was shot by Mario Testino. She has also posed for J.Crew, Ann Taylor Loft, H&M, David’s Bridal, Fossil, Target, Garnier Fructis, Roca Wear, Victoria’s Secret, The Limited, Sephora, Levi’s, and Gap.  As of 2009, she is currently represented by Ford Models in New York City and by Elite Model Management in Paris and Milan. Meredith shot the 2009 Swimsuit issue at beaches, lagoons, cantinas and nature preserves near Tulum, Mexico on the Mayan Riviera.