Laurel girl has landed several top modeling gigs
In less than six months, the gray-eyed girl has landed the March cover of children’s fashion trade magazine Earnshaw’s and will appear in a music video for The Black Keys’ latest single, “Weight of Love.” She’s also slated to model for the May/June issue of Condé Nast’s Italian publication Vogue Bambini and was photographed for new packaging for Journey Dolls, set to debut soon at Toys ‘R Us stores. Film auditions are in the works and a Tommy Hilfiger holiday campaign is pending.
“Claire is a happy girl who our clients like to book because she’s friendly and engaging,” said Patti Fleischer, president of Generation Model Management. “No matter how pretty a child is, if they don’t want to be somewhere and are modeling for the wrong reasons, a client can tell from a mile away. Claire is someone the clients want to hire because she wants to be on the set.”
Last month, Claire was set to model flower girl dresses on the runway at Oscar de la Renta’s spring 2014 bridal show, but her size was cut at the last minute, Ms. McKenzie said.
That’s not hyperbole: She and her daughter were actually standing on the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road platform waiting for a Penn Station-bound train to take them to a final fitting when they got the disappointing phone call, she said.
“Were you sad you didn’t walk in the show?” a reporter asked the little girl, who looked to her mother as if searching for the correct answer before shaking her head with an impish smile.
“Missing the show meant she got to go to her school’s Easter party,” Ms. McKenzie explained.
That statement captures something critically important to remember: Claire might be ensconced in the dizzying world of professional modeling — she makes the 84-mile trip to Manhattan with her mother at least once a week — but she’s still just a small child. She was born in 2008 and drinks water from a Tinkerbell thermos. Her favorite thing to do at school is color and she loves American Girl dolls. Her teacher, Jennifer McGunnigle, described her as a “kind and caring kindergartner who is excited to come to school each day.”
There’s also this: When asked what she likes most about modeling, Claire is unflinchingly, charmingly honest: “You make a lot of money,” she said in her sweet, singsong voice.
Then she went back to playing a game on her tablet, uninterested in the conversation.
