Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's personality was so grounded, in fact, that while she had a childhood interest in fashion, she never believed herself to be good looking enough to make it. Instead, she imagined herself dressing models as a designer, but fate (who must have an eye for models) had different plans for her. In 2003, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was attending Tavistock College when she sought work as a dispatcher at Profile, a London modeling agency. A Profile agent thought she might be better off as a model instead.
ROSIE HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY MODELS FOR VICTORIA'S SECRET
Life as a model was an adjustment for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. She had to contend with older (and cattier) women around her and the rigorous work schedule. Most of her first year at Profile was spent doing local assignments, which gave her time to adjust. In 2004, she signed with the internationally recognized Women Management and promptly appeared in a pair of magazine editorials, for ELLEgirl and Teen Vogue, soon afterward. From there, she was off to New York for her first runway shows in the Big Apple and a big payday as part of Tommy Hilfiger's fall campaign. By the spring of 2005, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley had also appeared on four magazine covers (Wallpaper, L'Officiel, Italian D, Japanese Vogue) and was living her dream, even if it meant that organic food would sometimes be difficult to come by.
ROSIE HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY AND KANYE WEST
The lingerie experts at Victoria's Secret contacted Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in 2005 to join them for a catalog shoot. She accepted, and as a result of stripping down to her underwear, she found herself on the Victoria's Secret runway a year later alongside Adriana Lima and Gisele Bundchen. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's association with Victoria's Secret would prove to be long-lasting and lucrative -- always good in our books -- and the company would choose her as a spokesmodel for its college-targeted PINK line. Simultaneously, she continued to jump between ad campaigns (DKNY, BCGB Max Azria), catalog work (Macy's, Bloomingdale's) and magazine editorials (New York, Elle, Harper's & Queen). She also joined the music video culture with an appearance in the Kanye West/Pharrell Williams collaboration, "Number One."
ROSIE HUNTINGTON-WHITELEY MODELS FOR BURBERRY AND POSES FOR VOGUE
With her traffic-stopping figure being broadcast around the world through ads and magazines, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was now a true star in the making with a solid industry reputation for being efficient and reliable. Naturally, it was the perfect time for a scandal. Just months after being signed on as the face of Burberry, the very same A-list fashion house that once hired a young Kate Moss, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley drew an unfavorable comparison to Moss (for drugs) when a picture was published of her holding a bong pipe with fellow models Jennifer Pugh and Aleksandra Rastovic. Though the picture was several years old, the allegations were damaging and rumors quickly surfaced that Rosie Huntington-Whiteley would be released from her Burberry contract. Her ads for the company's Autumn 2008 campaign went through as scheduled, but her fate with Burberry remains up in the air.
In November of 2008, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley found herself in yet another high-profile picture with two models, but this time it would prove to be completely beneficial to her career. She snagged the cover of the UK edition of Vogue, sharing the page with beauties Eden Clark and Jourdan Dunn. As the cover was a lot more flattering than the bong picture, it put Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's career back on the fast track, and she would close the year by participating in the Victoria's Secret fashion exposé before winning top honors as Model of the Year at the 2009 Elle Style Awards and becoming an official Victoria's Secret Angel in November of 2009. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley will build on her momentum with her sexiest gig yet, a photo shoot for the 2010 installment of the racy (and wildly popular) Pirelli calendar.
