About
Natasha Poly, born Natalia Sergeevna Polevshchikova on 12 July 1985 in Perm, Russia, is one of fashion’s enduring runway icons. Since her explosive debut in 2004, she has piled up 60-plus Vogue covers, fronted campaigns for nearly every major luxury label, and become famous for a walk so strong editors still reference it as a styling lesson. In 2025, nearly two decades into her career, she was still landing prime real estate on the front of Vogue France, demonstrating the staying power that few models enjoy beyond their first wave of success.
Before Fame
Poly grew up in Perm, an industrial city in the Ural Mountains. At 15 she entered the Moscow-based “New Model Today” competition and finished second, a result good enough to earn representation and a ticket to Europe’s fashion capitals. Her proper runway debut came at Emanuel Ungaro’s Paris show in 2004, and by the end of that year she had walked 54 shows across New York, Milan, and Paris. That blistering schedule, crowned by two consecutive Vogue Paris covers, marked the arrival of a new powerhouse.
Trivia
- Runway opener supreme: Fashion Television’s “First Face” rankings placed her at No. 1 three seasons in a row (Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009) thanks to the sheer number of shows she opened.
- Vogue collector: Poly’s cover tally currently sits at 61, making her one of the most-featured models of the 2000s and 2010s.
- Beauty ambassador: In 2012 she joined L’Oréal Paris as a global spokesperson, adding television commercials and red-carpet hosting duties to her résumé.
- Record show streak: At her peak she handled up to 130 shows in a single season, an endurance feat rarely attempted today.
- Timeless relevance: At 39 she fronted the February 2025 Vogue France cover lensed by Willy Vanderperre, proving age doesn’t dim star quality if the talent is undeniable.
Family Life
Away from flashbulbs, Poly leads a low-key life in Amsterdam with husband Peter Bakker, a Dutch businessman she married in April 2011 on the Côte d’Azur. The couple have two children: daughter Aleksandra (born May 2013) and son Adrian Grey (born April 2019). She credits motherhood for teaching her better time management and insists family dinners remain non-negotiable no matter how hectic show season becomes. Poly speaks Russian and English fluently and often shares cooking experiments and backyard snapshots on her Instagram, giving followers a relaxed peek behind the high-fashion curtain.
Associated With
Throughout her career Poly has collaborated with a who’s-who of style makers: she has been photographed by Mario Sorrenti for the 2025 “Goddess Energy” story in Vogue France and by Willy Vanderperre for that same magazine’s February cover. Designers such as Miuccia Prada, Riccardo Tisci, Donatella Versace, and Olivier Rousteing repeatedly book her for campaigns and catwalks. On the runway she has shared closing walks with peers like Gigi Hadid, Doutzen Kroes, and Raquel Zimmermann, while beauty giant L’Oréal counts her among a roster that includes Claudia Schiffer and Beyoncé Knowles. These creative alliances underscore Poly’s reputation as both a collaborator’s dream and a continued benchmark for new generations of models.
