Bianca Balti - Elle - July 2009 France

Bianca Balti is an Italian model born in Lodi, in the Lombardy region of north Italy. She was born to Italian father and Azerbaijani mother.

At the beginning of her career, she was rejected by numerous agencies, such as Elite Model Management, for being "too average and common" looking. Despite this, she was discovered by Bruno Pauletta in a supermarket, where she was working to finance her studies. She was promptly booked for the cover of L'Officiel, shot by Alexi Lubomirski. Her first notable advertisement campaign came for Dolce & Gabbana. More over, she appears on the cover of many fashion magazines like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, W, Jalouse, Cosmopolitan, Velvet, and Marie Claire. Campaigns for Roberto Cavalli, Donna Karan, Christian Dior, D&G, Valentino, Armani Jeans, Missoni, Rolex, Guess?, Paco Rabanne, Anna Molinari, Guerlain, Revlon, La Perla, Mango, Antonio Berardi, and Thierry Mugler soon followed.

She also appeared in the 2005 Victoria's Secret fashion show and in their catalogs.

In high demand for the runway, since the spring/summer 2005 fashion shows, she has appeared in every season's shows for designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Gianfranco Ferré, Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Zac Posen, Hermès, John Galliano, Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Valentino, Missoni, Chanel, Christian Dior, Versace, Oscar de la Renta, Narciso Rodriguez, Ralph Lauren, and Carolina Herrera, among other prominent designers.

Balti was cast in Abel Ferrara's "Go Go Tales" (2008) as one of the lead erotic dancers.

After the movie and her pregnancy, she returned to the catwalk, became the new face of the Cesare Paciotti international campaign, and replaced Angelina Jolie as one of the faces of the fall St. John campaign, with models Hilary Rhoda and Caroline Winberg

Birth name	Bianca Balti
Birthdate	19 March 1984
Birth location	Lodi, Lombardy, Italy
Measurements	80-58-89
Height	174 cm; 5'8.5"
Shoe size	8 (US), 39 (EU)
Eye colour	Blue
Hair colour	Brown
Ethnicity	Azeri-Italian