After disappearing from the runway in 2016, Phoebe Philo fave Werbowy is back as the face of Sabato de Sarno’s Gucci debut – here, we track her best fashion moments
Phoebe Philo fans, sorry! This one is unfortunately not for you. Despite rumours that the British designer would stage a reunion with noughties fashion muse Daria Werbowy for the so-near-and-yet-so-far launch of her eponymous label, the Canadian-Ukrainian supermodel instead made her long-awaited return to fashion as the surprise face of Sabato De Sarno’s first-ever Gucci campaign this weekend.
The fashion comeback was revealed by Sarno himself on Instagram, who posted a first-look snapshot from Gucci’s September campaign, shot by photographer David Sims – both of whom first worked with Daria in the early 00s.
“Daria, we started together in this business in 2003, and here you are with me at the beginning of this new adventure,” Sarnos captioned the post – hinting at his Milan Fashion Week collection, coming on September 22. “David, you pictured her at the debut, now you are behind the camera for her comeback.”
So, what can we expect from the collection? Well, we can’t be 100 per cent sure. With only weeks until his debut drops, the teased image reveals little – showing Daria posed by Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont Hotel pool, wearing nothing but Gucci bikini bottoms and large gold earrings. What it does suggest, however, is that Alessandro Michele’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, OTT approach to dressing is out, and something more akin to Tom Ford’s hotly referenced reign is in.
For the supermodel, this marks her first fashion project since disappearing from the scene in 2016, marking an important moment for fashion fans who followed her from her explosive 00s rise to becoming one of the most sought after models in the industry, before she vanished completely. “I don’t come from money,” Werbowy explained in a 2008 interview with Vogue, preceding a short break from the industry. “I think it’s really easy as a young person to get sort of swallowed up in the materialistic world of things.”
Despite her reservations about the industry, Werbowy racked up a long list of iconic appearances, walking for behemoth brands like Gucci, Prada, Versace, Chanel, and Dolce and Gabbana, posing in front of legendary photographer Juergen Teller’s lens, gracing countless magazine covers, and – perhaps most memorably – repeatedly starring as the face of Céline as long-term friend and collaborator Phoebe Philo’s muse. In fact,
Meanwhile, in the years before her disappearance, the supermodel starred alongside Adam Driver in a romantic editorial by Annie Leibovitz in Ireland and transformed into a primordial goddess rising from earth for a CGI-powered short film for Dazed. Ahead of Gucci’s debut, click through the gallery below to see all of Daria’s best fashion moments.