Bianca Balti

by Arielle LEBRECQUE

A starlet on recent runways, 28 year-old Italian model Bianca Balti is making name for herself in the international fashion circles.

Born in Lodi, a town in the Lombardy region of Italy, Balti began her modeling career at only 20 years old when she appeared on the cover of the popular French magazine l’Officeil.

After her debut, Balti’s smoldering looks were difficult to avoid. She immediately moved on to model for high fashion designers such as Dolce & Gabana, Lanvin, Valentino, Nina Ricci, Alexander McQueen, and Hermes. In 2005, Balti became the young and undeniably striking poster child for GUESS, in addition to modeling for the popular women’s clothing and lingerie company, Victoria’s Secret.

Balti thereafter graced the pages of the most internationally well-known magazines: Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, and Vanity Fair. She ironically brought her career full circle when she appeared once again on L’Officeil’s September issue cover in 2011.

Balti’s professional involvement in high fashion modeling doesn’t stop there. The Italian beauty can now be recognized as the glamorous new face of Dolce & Gabana alongside Italian actress Monica Bellucci. Balti—now well-known in both the United States and Italy—appears unstoppable, even if she is wearing pink D & G glasses. The current exhibition on Balti and her career at the Mercati di Traiano museum in Rome only further exemplifies the infatuation Italians and Americans have with la bella donna—the beautiful woman.

Ever since her modeling career began, Balti says she tries to live a “simple life.”Her appearance, however, is anything but simple; Balti is a classic beauty who has firmly established a graceful and unfailing presence in the Italian-American popular culture.