Supermodel Natalia Vodianova wears sumptuous Dior gowns elegance styled by Sophie Pera in ‘Role Model’, lensed by Victor Demarchelier for Tatler UK Magazine March 2020. / Hair by Paolo Ferreira; makeup by Andrea Ali

The activist speaks to Chloe Fox about love, family and her recent engagement to LVMH scion and long-time partner Antoine Arnault.

‘I have a wonderful man. I think that people are meant to be together - we, as human beings, need to find our other half and stay with them for as long as possible. It is such a beautiful thing to love and be loved, and to not be alone.’

Well-known for her philanthropy, Vodianova recently invested in FLO, a period tracking app, and launching a campaign called ‘Let’s Talk About It. Period’. Fox writes:

She’s passionate about female equality and the taboos and stigmas around being a woman that are yet to be debunked: ‘We women have been brainwashed into thinking that our periods are shameful, secret things. Nobody would think to put toilet paper and soap dispensers in men’s public bathrooms and then charge them for using them, so how come, even in what are supposedly progressive parts of the world, women still don’t have free access to personal-hygiene products?’

Part of a league of increasingly outspoken women, Vodianova confronts head-on the double-edged sword of being called an ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’:

‘It drives me crazy,’ she explains. ‘If a man, who happens to be beautiful, tries to talk about and do serious things, everybody drools over him and says how amazing he is. But if a pretty girl wants to do the same, people roll their eyes. Girls have to fight much harder than men to gain respect. But, sure I’m determined…I know what I want, and I’m fearless about getting it.’