N A O M I A L L E N: May 2011

May 5, 2011

Naomi Allen & Rodrick Allen

This is so darling and touches my heart every time I look upon it.... my beautiful brother & I

I was in New York several years ago and it was my birthday. I was having dinner in a popular restaurant (soon to turn) night club and had gotten up from the table to use the restroom. As I opened the swinging doors I was met with one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen. She was taller than me, much skinnier than me, but we shared the same gorgeous curly hair. When our eyes met, I saw that her's were green. She was young and unusual looking. I didn't realize at the time that I was looking at Neomie Leroir, a model from France who was on the brink of a massive contract with Marks & Spenser Lingerie. A campaign that would make her quite famous.

In the years ensuing this encounter I began to see her everywhere, not in person, but nonetheless Everywhere! It was amazing to see how someone I had just met could reach such plateaus. There is a long portfolio of photographs, commercials and advertisements that Neomie has gone on to do. The photographs in this post are from a recent editorial shoot Neomie did in Russia for London Vogue (June 2010).

A month prior to doing this fab shoot in June 2010, Neomie appeared to be battling some personal problems. The model who is also the mother of a six year old son with Makelele (a former Chelsea and Real Madrid player), and who had recently been dating Switzerland native Carl Hirschmann (a millionaire businessman) had been rushed to the hospital for treatment of an oversdose. Neomie was found in a forest by the home of the father of her child Claude Makelele. Makelele was not said to be home at the time of the incident and has not had any comments to make.

Neomie recovered from the incident and was obviously interested in resuming her career and work when agreeing to do this shoot for London Vogue a month later.