Victoria’s Secret model Estelle Chen eyes university, having been inspired to study by Karlie Kloss
Spotted at 14 and winner of the Elite Model Look the following year, 20-year-old Chen will be on the catwalk for the first Victoria’s Secret show in China. She talks to us about her Instagram fans and study plans – in Paris or New York
The youngest Chinese model set to strut down the catwalk at Victoria’s Secret’s inaugural China fashion show says her plan is to study economics at one of the world’s most prestigious business schools.
Parisian Estelle Chen, 20, who was born in China and raised in France, will be among six Chinese models parading in the American premium lingerie producer’s latest designs in Shanghai on November 28. She will then apply to study economics at HEC Paris.
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She was inspired to further her studies by Karlie Kloss, another Victoria’s Secret model, who studies computer science at New York University. “She is smart and humble, which I think is really important for a long-lasting career,” she says.
Chen was 14 when she was spotted by a talent scout during a walk in a Paris park with her parents. A year later, she won the Elite Model Look title in France. The annual modelling contest, organised by Elite Model Management, has discovered some of the world’s top supermodels, including Cindy Crawford and Gisele Bundchen.
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“I was really happy because I was already thinking about modelling at the time,” Chen says.
In the past few seasons, she has modelled for luxury brands including Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton.
Chen speaks French, English, Mandarin and the local dialect of Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang province, where her mother comes from. Her Chinese father was born in France.
