SHALOM

FOR SUPERMODEL SHALOM HARLOW, THE GRUELLING DEMANDS OF HER INDUSTRY LED TO A LONG, SELF-IMPOSED HIATUS. NOW, BACK IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA ON HER OWN TERMS, SHE IS READY TO SHARE HER STORY

- KERRY DIAMOND

The clear blue sky is morphing into a dusky blush pink as Shalom Harlow sips ginger tea in a rustic Californian backyard. In her Patagonia flannel, Jungmaven hemp T-shirt, vintage Levi’s and scruffy boots, she looks more like a modern farmer than an off-duty supermodel who has graced every fashion magazine imaginable. A hippie at heart, Harlow is clearly content in her surroundings. “I spent my summers at a cottage in Canada, where I roamed like a little wild creature,” she recalls. “I was barefoot the whole time. I just was oriented toward nature, always.”

The fashion world, however, cast Harlow in a very different role: that of catwalk queen and designer muse. Discovered at a The Cure concert in Toronto in 1989 at age 15, she became one of the defining faces of the ’90s. The industry fell for the former ballet dancer, whose expressiveness and poise made everything she wore look like a work of art.

Harlow seemed so at ease on the runways of Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Yves Saint Laurent that she wore couture as casually as sweats. “I really gave so much of myself to it,” she says. “I let my animal nature guide me, and that’s why I’ve been a dynamic cohort to these artists. I used to get scolded because I would be so insistent on being part of the creative process.”