Lauren Wasser Is Harper's UK Golden Legs Model of the Year 2022 AOC Body

In her interview with Lauren Wasser, Sarah Karmali opens with word verve: “Lauren Wasser regularly forgets that she doesn’t have legs. "All the time," she says, laughing. "And my girlfriend forgets, my mother forgets... When I’m wearing trousers, you can’t even tell." In fact, her gleaming gold prosthetic limbs have become an integral part of her identity.

The Paris sitdown takes place exactly 10 years to the day since the golden girl Wasser was first hospitalised with toxic-shock syndrome [TSS]. In a catastrophic sequence of medical events, the model went into organ failure and experienced a heart attack. With a one percent chance of living, Lauren Wasser eventually underwent a double-leg amputation.

Lauren Wasser is back now as ‘the Girl with the Golden Legs’, working with luxury brands including closing the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2023 show in San Diego, Wasser’s birth place. Cathy Kasterine styles the model in Celine by Hedi Slimane, Chanel, Christopher Kane, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Prada and more, in fabulous images by Richard Phibbs [IG]. / Hair by Kenna; makeup by Vicky Steckel

"It was a real pinch-me moment," she says. "Nicolas [Ghesquière] is an angel; he saw me for me." Lauren Wasser is often sitting in the front row at Balenciaga, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. "I’m so proud of how far I’ve come and that I survived that time – that darkness," she tells me. "I had to endure so much pain and suffering... I’m proud that I didn’t give up and that I didn’t let it stop me from living my life."

Brought up in LA, the athletic daughter of two former models, Wasser turned down a basketball scholarship to embark on her own career in fashion. "Growing up, [my body] was something that I thought was untouchable," she muses. After her amputation, Wasser describes how she had to rebuild herself "from the inside out and really see what life was about – that it was about so much more than just the physical form".