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DEAR READER, BE SO KIND AS TO REKINDLE THE EMBERS OF CHILDHOOD LYING DORMANT IN YOUR HEART THAT WERE ONCE STIRRED UPON READING ANDERSEN'S LEGENDARY FAIRY TALE, "THE UGLY DUCKLING"

Once upon a time, there was a town in the Urals that originally had been removed from the map because it was a secret Russian army base. But that spring, like Sleeping Beauty, this city of over one million people slowly emerged from its torpor. The air was mild and families strolled along the river where, the night before, groups of young people had lingered in bars till the wee hours. In a government residence where police officers were housed, a mother was expecting her first child. Her stepson dreamed of a little brother... Time was starting to drag and the young woman, who didn't like being idle, was anxious to see what the sweet little baby in her tummy would be like. This woman - who by sheer willpower had completed an engineering degree - was hoping for a girl she could teach to be free and independent. Finally, as her patience was wearing thin, the woman felt the first pangs of childbirth... A few hours later, a scrawny, gangly infant was laid on her breast - an infant which, in the eyes of her mother, was nothing less than a gorgeous little baby girl.

"Hello, Giraffe!" shouted her big brother with the typical cruelty of children.

"I'm sure she'll turn out to be very beautiful when she grows up!" the mother shot back.

"As long as she's good and behaves," was her father's only wish, for he knew the long road to freedom was filled with pitfalls...

A few years later, a brother was born who, unlike his older sister, was handsome and plump.

But the mother had eyes only for her daughter:

"She's really beautiful deep down... if you look hard."

The years went by without any major change and the girl grew up alongside her two brothers. The expected came to pass, and the girl, lankier and goofier than ever, became the laughing-stock of her companions and the object of ridicule at school. She grew silent and secretive. Her days were punctuated by work, her bath and dinner... She'd help her mom out as much as she could with the household chores. Her life was no picnic until one day when she spotted an ad in the newspaper and confided to her cousin, "They're asking for my exact measurements, think I ought to give it a shot?"

"Of course! And if it'll make you feel better, I'll go with you!"

Since she was too shy to call, her cousin set up the appointment.

No sooner had they arrived than she could hardly believe her ears:

"Welcome! Ah, you're perfectly tall and thin ..."

New horizons opened up for her. She was selected for the final and went to Moscow with her mom who kept it secret from her husband... And against all expectations, she was named the most beautiful girl in Russia.

Then the plot thickened: time to tell dad and admit they'd lied to him. Nonetheless, he agreed to let his 15-year-old daughter go try her luck in Milan... But swore he'd never speak to her again. She'd dashed the hopes he'd had for her!

So there she was in the big Italian city without a cent. She couldn't understand a single word and had no idea how she'd feed herself. She was lost in the supermarkets that seemed too big and found it impossible to read the labels... Once again, she was nothing but a gangling beanpole of a girl, all skinny and lonely...

And yet, after a few months, she cried a little less. She made some friends, learned Italian, started finding her way around the city and began enjoying her work... And then her mother ordered:

"Come home and finish your studies; afterwards, if you still want to, you can continue..."

So there she was back in school but - miracle of miracles - things were different! Her classmates now looked upon her with curiosity and a certain amount of admiration:

"What?! This girl's a model..."

And they'd watch her, studying her every move and gesture in hopes of finding the keys to her beauty.

Finally, after she'd passed her exams, the young woman took off for Paris. At last her days were happy. And when one year later, seasoned and strong, she had to go back to Milan, this time she could exclaim with a smile:

"My heart belongs to Paris!"

Now, she's settled permanently in New York and everything's going as if according to plan. A succession of magazine covers and shoots for the biggest campaigns. And it all seems perfectly natural to her. She's "like a duck in water" and loves her job where it's all about roleplaying and telling a story that stretches beyond the mere clothes and accessories.

And now when British photographers decide to shoot her in the heart of her hometown, Perm, along with her mother, her younger brother who she's in the habit of taking everywhere, and her father who now collects magazine clippings where she appears; when she finds herself under the lights of the projectors, first in the streets of her childhood as well as the little neighborhood grocer's where she used to shop and finally in the halls of her school where she'd suffered so, she can hardly believe her ears as the schoolchildren ask for autographs and cry:

"Natash, Natsha, Natasha Poly!"

PS : This story is made up and has nothing to do with reality, except for the tiny bit Natasha P. shared with me during a delightful 20-minute interview in the foyer of a Palace one day in July. (the original story was written in French - translated by Michelle Noteboom)

©"Portrait-en-mots" Stéphanie Cohen Chaptal