Her father was an army man, meaning that Valade and her family constantly moved around. Her captivating gaze and exquisite features have attracted photographers since she was a teen. They would approach and offer to pay her to model for them, and she would except! Valade then started to jauntily show her pictures around, when one day she received a phonecall from a Parisian model agency offering her to sign with them, and she simply thought “why not?” Since then, Valade has reached for the stars, modeling for top designers. And yet, still has her dreams set on working in project design.
Valade’s big break came in 2010, when she took to the catwalk for Balenciaga at Paris Fashion Week. Her career has since catapulted from there, appearing on every major runway for the biggest names in the fashion world.
Valade took prime position in our Spring 2012 First Face Awards, opening and closing with her elegant stride for a number of top shows like Diane Von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Vera Wang, Narciso Rodriguez, Francesco Scognamiglio,MaxMara, Lanvin, Emanuel Ungaro, Alexander Wang, Edun, Diesel Black Gold, Etro, Iceberg, Pedro Lourenco, and Giambattista Valli; in New York, Milan, and Paris.
Meanwhile, the French beauty has been celebrated on a number of advertising campaigns and emblazoned across glossy editorials. Most notable, Valade was selected as the new face of Alexander Wang’s Spring 2011 campaign, which included her cameo in his “Confessional” video series. Valade also starred in the Etro, Just Cavalli, and Kenzo Fall ad campaigns that same year. While in 2012, her campaign status reached Lanvin eyewear Spring ad campaign.
In 2010, Valade landed two spreads for arthouse fashion magazine Wonderland, followed by a feature on the cover of Turkish Vogue, which spiralled into appearances in editorials for W Magazine, Numero, i-D magazine, and German Vogue, amongst others.
Additional 2011 covers include Russh, Spanish Harper’s Bazaar, and Japanese Vogue. While in 2012 Valade posed alongside other top models Doutzen Kroes, Arizona Muse, Kati Nescher, Isabeli Fontana, Suvi Koponen, Nadja Bender and Anais Mali for Mario Sorrenti in the 80 essential Parisian looks for Fall/Winter 2012-2013 editorial in French Vogue.
Valade doesn’t feel like she’s a model. Before modeling Valade dreamed of being a painter and sculptor but realised she couldn't earn enough money as an artist. She then thought to try her hand at journalism but didn’t like the industry’s attitude towards pretty women. But despite her modelling success, Valade still has hopes of studying project design in the future, and she is constantly drawing and creating prototypes of her ideas in private.
