That I did always love, I bring thee proof, That till I loved, I never lived—enough—, That I shall love alway, I argue thee, That love is life—, And life hath immortality—, This—dost thou doubt—sweet—, Then have I, Nothing to show, But Calvary—
-Emily Dickinson
Born in the town of Eastermar, in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands, the self described tomboy and daughter to competitive speed skaters and educators, was always in nature doing everything from sailing boats to cycling, and didn’t have the faintest care in the world about her appearance. “She wanted to build dens, jump over ditches, no dolls. Says Geartsje Leistra, Doutzen’s mother. “Always wanted to wear trousers. Did not care about clothes at all.”
“And as a child, I don’t know exactly what age she was then. She said: ‘I’m not going to have an ordinary life.’ That’s what she said, but she did not know how.” -Geartsje Leistra
Although aspiring to be a champion speed skater like her parents, an unlikely calling would present itself when Doutzen at 18 years saw a photo of a model in a fashion magazine. The photo left such an impact that Doutzen imagined looking as beautiful one day. “I saw a picture in a magazine that I really liked, it was a beautiful woman, beautiful hair, makeup, and a dress, and I said, ‘Wow, I would love to look like that one day.’”
Not wanting to come across as haughty or pretentious to her family and friends, Doutzen devised of a way to submit photos taken by her sister, Ren, in secret to a modeling agency in Amsterdam, a place she rarely visited. “I didn’t tell anybody that I sent the pictures because I’d be embarrassed if I didn’t get the job,” she says. “If it didn’t work out I didn’t want anyone to know I’d tried.”
We are lovers through and through
And though we made it through the storm
I really want you to realize, I really want to put you on
I’ve been searching for someone to satisfy my every need
Won’t you be my inspiration?
Be the real love that I need
Within a year, Doutzen who was from a small village of 1600 was signed with a modeling agency in Amsterdam and relocated to New York. Yet her arrival in the big apple was almost ill-fated when the infamous Northeast Blackout of 2003 occurred in mid-August, effecting several states, even Ontario, leaving millions in the dark without power:
“Terrible. It was in New York, I arrived the day after the 2003 blackout. No air conditioning even though we were in the middle of August. The city smelled like sewage, the garbage trucks no longer did the collection. All the models in the apartment where I lived had jobs, except for me. Despair… I cried every day, I wanted to go home.”
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
Someone to set my heart free
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
For the first few year’s work was slow and no one really took notice to Doutzen Kroes. Reeling from frustration and homesickness, Doutzen Kroes almost called it quits a few times, but thanks to the belief and encouragement from her then booking agent Mo Karadag of Paparazzi, Kroes found the strength to carry on.
Doutzen Kroes would finally get her breakthrough in 2005, a year that would serve as one of her most successful as she landed four Vogue covers, her first being for Vogue Italia February 2005 shot by Steven Meisel! The same year, Doutzen went on a catwalk siege, walking for everyone from Alexander Wang, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, MaxMara, Stella McCartney, Valentino, and Versace!
Steven made this picture while I was in the makeup room, I was getting a touch up and suddenly he appeared and told me to lean my head backwards on the makeup chair, I had no idea what I was doing and really didn’t expect that at that moment. Steven was shooting the cover that defined my career… Beint a little melancholic and very also a bit proud to have been part of Steven and his incredible vision.
Ooh, when I met you
I just knew that you would take my heart and run
Until you told me how you loved for me, you said I’m not the one
So I slowly came to see all of the things that you were made of
And now I hope my dreams and inspiration lead me towards a real love
Doutzen Kroes ended her amazing breakout year in fashion, debuting in the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show. She was even named Model of the Year by Vogue.com, featured in Style.com as a rising star of fall 2005, and became the spokesperson for Calvin Klein Eternity fragrance, replacing Christy Turlington!
As great of a breakout Doutzen’s fashion debut was, her mighty fashion ascent was far from over when she landed another 9 magazine covers in 2006, four or which being for Vogue, she even had double covers for Vogue Deutsch for January and December while scoring her second Numéro cover and third ELLE cover, and signed her first major cosmetics contract for with L’Oréal Paris for three years!
Just a few years into a stellar fashion career, Doutzen Kroes was a bona fide juggernaut. From 2007-10, Doutzen racked up over 50 fashion magazine covers, 15 of which were for Vogue. She was named the world’s fifth highest-paid model by Forbes while becoming a regular in Victoria’s Secret ads and fashion shows.
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
Someone to set my heart free
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
I got to have a real love
Among Gemma Ward, Agyness Deyn, Daria Werbowy, Gisele Bündchen, Coco Rocha, Natalia Vodianova, Chanel Iman, Karlie Kloss, and Freja Beha Erichsen, Doutzen Kroes soon joined the ranks of a new generation of iconic top fashion models of the 2000s that dazzled fashion editors, designers, brands, and casual fans alike:
“I don’t think you never know [talking about knowing when you arrived] because I always look forward to what I can still accomplish and I don’t feel like I ever had this goal. I didn’t have the goal of being what I am now. I still don’t know, ya know, I am me. When you walk down the street and people ask you for a picture because they know you from Victoria’s Secret, they’ve seen you in the store, huge pictures. I’m like, ‘Really?’ because I’ve seen myself for 25 years and people see you different and you’re changing in peoples’ eyes, but for me, I’m not changing.”
In 2009, she would meet the love of her life Sunnery James and the two married in Doutzen’s hometown of Eastermar a year later, having their first born child, Phyllon in 2011:
“I’ve always known that beauty is also from the inside – if you’re happy, that will shine through – I’ve always believed that, but since I’ve started having a family, I became even more happy, and I think it even shows more,” she said. “I’ve also become more successful since I’ve become a mother. To me, that’s like proof that if you’re happy that’s good for you, and people see that.”
Love so true, and oh baby, I thought that love was true
I thought that you were the answer to the question in my mind
But it seems that I was wrong, if I stay strong, maybe I’ll find
A real love
In 2013, Doutzen Kroes went on an MVP 2013 Peyton Manning caliber run in the fashion world! Racking up 18 covers in all, 8 for Vogue alone, including four unprecedented international Vogue covers for the month of September. When she wasn’t scoring magazine covers and editorials, she had her hands full commercially with brands like Miu Miu, Bruno Magli, Tiffany & Co., L’Oreal, H&M, Emilio Pucci, and Victoria’s Secret.
Even with being a wife, mother, and top model, Doutzen’s heart never swayed from her humanitarian nature and need to fight for social and environmental causes. So Kroes turned to philanthropic endeavors like Dance4Life and “Not On My Planet” campaign. Dance4Life focuses on educating young people on HIV/AIDS and its prevention through sex education in schools, using music and dance to inspire and involve young people.
“I was really interested in them because I love the way they try to interest young people and involve young people in a positive way. They go on tours and they talk about HIV and AIDS and how to prevent it. To me, it’s just incredible how everybody knows how to prevent getting HIV and AIDS, and to use a condom, and still the number is rising. I thought, “Oh, this is easy, we just tell everyone to use a condom.” But it’s not that easy. It’s a huge problem [in The Netherlands] and also in the United States.”
The Not On My Planet cause came about when Doutzen Kroes visited Samburu, Kenya, and while interacting with the elephant population there, she then knew she had to take action to stem the ivory crisis and elephant extinction:
“[The elephant crisis] has been a very hot topic on the news lately as well—almost a third of the population is gone in the last decade,” she said in a September 8 phone call to VF.com. “It’s really something to worry about. That’s why it’s so important to do this campaign; we have to raise awareness that ivory should not be a product anymore. It’s something that should be looked at that is disgusting. Elephants are being slaughtered just for that, just for their tusks, and just being left. It’s such a sad thing to see and to even think about.”
So I’ve tried my best and prayed to God he’ll send me someone real
To caress me and to guide me towards a love my heart can feel
Now I know I can be faithful, I can be your all and all
Ill give you good lovin’ through the summertime, winter, spring and fall
Although some of her latest work have been for Repeat Cashmere and Dutch based lingerie brand Hunkemöller, Kroes is more focused on spending time with her family in her hometown of Eastermar and enjoying nature. In 2019, Doutzen decided to show a more candid side of her life with Doutzen’s Diaries on YouTube, but with many of the social issues around the world and COVID-19, she decided to scrap the project.
Even before I knew a thing about fashion, Doutzen Kroes was always one of my favorite models and I thought she was a very likable person. 2014 was probably the first time I became aware of Doutzen Kroes. I was kind of familiar with Victoria’s Secret because the models like Adriana Lima, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Candice Swanepoel, and Elsa Hosk were so popular. Although I didn’t know a thing about the fashion industry; I couldn’t even name a brand or designer to save my life (laughs).
Real love, I’m searching for a real love (Real love, real love)
Someone to set my heart free
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
Someone to set my heart free
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
But Doutzen gliding down the Victoria’s Secret runways fastened with black and white angel wings was so cool and it really left an impression on me. Celebrity worship and meglomania is probably the worst in America. Every time you look at a magazine cover in the supermarket or turn on the TV or open an app like Twitter, there some rich, famous face with a lifestyle that you could only dream of being plastered in front of you.
See, I’m searching for a real love and I don’t know where to go
(Real love, I’m searching for a real love)
Been around the world and high and low and still I never know
(Someone to set my heart free
Real love, I’m searching for a real love)
How it feels to have a real love cause it seems it’s not around
Gotta end it in this way ’cause it seems he can’t be found
Yet, Doutzen seemed to be the complete opposite of all that superficiality. Much like her Aquarius nature, Doutzen always seemed to be a spirited, giving, and charitable person. She’s not so caught up in things like social standing or appearance that she needs to take herself overly serious or care much what people think about her. And because of her countryside, Dutch upbringing, she can be so down to earth and silly at times, that you can’t really help but appreciate her candor and gentle spirit.
“So, it’s very interesting, the contrast between what I do for a living now, and who I really am. Because, who I really am is that tomboy, but then for some reason I really enjoy it too when I go to New York for example, and I have to go to the Met Ball, and do a red carpet.”
Apart from the luxury brands, glamorous runways, and fanfare, I think women like Doutzen Kroes personify a level of authenticity and inner beauty that resonates with so many. When you exemplify love and kindness the way that Doutzen does, I think it can inspire people to strive for a different kind of beauty that many might take for granted–A beauty of love.
“When I was younger I didn’t want to be like a firefighter or a model. What I wanted to be was a happy woman, living on a hill, in nature. I just had that whole vision that I wanted to be like that, so I never thought I was going to be a model.”
Super Love Unknown 
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