Model of the Week: Irina Shayk

Irina Shayk is a Russian model known for her 2007 through 2011 appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She is the cover model for the 2011 issue. Also, sport lovers would know her for being dating popular football star, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Measurements 34-23-35 (US); 86.5-58-88 (EU)
Dress size (US) 4; (EU) 34
Manager IMG Models – New York, USA, Paris, France and Milan, Italy

Shayk was born in Yemanzhelinsk, Russia, to ethnic Tatar father and Russian mother. She says she inherited her unusual looks from her father and she has said that people often think she is South American. “My father was dark skinned, because he was Tatar, sometimes Tatars can look Brazilian,” she says. “I get my light eyes from my mother.” Shayk’s mother Olga was a pianist who was the music teacher in a kindergarten and her father was a coal miner. She has one sibling, an older sister named Tatiana. Shayk started playing piano at age six. At age nine she enrolled in a music school and studied there for seven years, both playing the piano and singing in the choir since her mother wanted her to study music. Her father died of complications of pneumonia when she was 14, leaving her family with little money and forcing her mother to work two jobs to provide for the family.

After high school, Shayk studied marketing but was bored by it and entered a local beauty school with her older sister. While there, she was noticed by a person from a local modeling agency who was struck by her unusual beauty. She was urged to participate in the “Miss Chelyabinsk 2004″ beauty contest and she won.

Shayk modeled the Armani Exchange spring/summer 2010 campaign. She also starred in Kanye West’s “Power”, directed by artist Marco Brambilla. She was on the cover of Ocean Drive and GQ South Africa for the August issue. She ranked first in the “50 Hottest Russian Women” list by Complex magazine.

She made a change from swimwear to high fashion with a spread in Spain’s Harper’s Bazaar and landed the cover of Elle Spain for their November 2010 issue. Glamour Spain awarded her “Best International Model of 2010″.(Spanish: Mejor Modelo Internacional). At the end of the year she was pictured nude in the GQ Spain December issue; however, she claimed that she had not stripped for the photoshoot, and that the magazine had digitally altered the images to remove her lingerie.

On the February 14, 2011 episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, it was revealed via billboard that Shayk was the covermodel for the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. This is the fifth time she has been featured in the magazine, but the first time she has been on the cover. She is the first Russian to appear on the cover. Shayk became the face of swim label Luli Fama’s 2011 advertising campaign and look book. Appears in the John John Denim ad campaign. In 2011 she covered magazines such as Tatler Russia, Cosmopolitan Spain, GQ Mexico Glamour Spain, Amica Italy and appeared on the covered of Elle Spain the special edition for Christmas. She also worked for many brands like Rampage, replacing Bar Refaeli, Replay and XTI.[26] She currently ranks 13th in the “Top 20 Sexiest Models” list on Models.com.

In 2011 she was voted “Sexiest Woman In The World” in the Hungarian magazine Periodika.

In 2012 she covered Esquire UK, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and Ukraine, Marie Claire Ukraine,Spain and Russia, GQ Germany, Glamour Russia and appeared on 14 Cosmopolitan spring covers worldwide. She also covered S Moda Spain and The Sunday Time Style UK. She also did an editorial for Vanity fair Italy The same year, she has appeared in campaigns for Morellato, Agua Bendita and Blanco.