That night, she would be on a train to New York for a photo shoot; and a week later, on a plane to Paris for the haute couture catwalks.
The unlikely itinerary sums up Bair’s budding fashion career: a whirlwind trip from the mundane life of an American teenager to the rarefied heights of international style and back again — accompanied by no small amount of adolescent bewilderment.
“I would never think that a girl who spent most of her childhood with a unibrow, glasses and a Yoda shirt would be in Vogue Italia,” Bair told CNN from her parent’s home, where she still resides when she’s not working.
At 6 feet 1 inch tall, Bair is hard to miss with her gangly stature alone. Add the high cheekbones, intense eyes, symmetrical face and prominent ears, and it’s a design for constant queries about her lineage from passersby.
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“I wore heels one time before fashion. And it was at my eighth grade graduation, and they were platforms … and I actually fell down the stairs. So I’ve always had a kind of very unhealthy relationship with heels,” Bair said.
But beyond the superficial, Bair said the career has given her a new look on acceptance, an odd take to hear in an industry that’s often criticized for its unrealistic beauty standards.
“I think being a model and being in fashion has really opened up my eyes to beauty in general. I think that beauty really comes from uniqueness.”
