MASH UP.

Diminutive in the imposing vastness of her office, Angela Merkel appears surprisingly frail for someone who's spent the past 20 years upending political norms. Now 55, Merkel, Germany's first Chancellor raised in the communist East, and Victoria's Secret angel Miranda Kerr have secured two of the most coveted advertising campaigns in the modelling world.Kerr will feature in the high-end fashion advertising campaigns for Prada and, Merkel in Jil Sander's autumn/winter 2010/11 collections. "Kerr has had a rapid ascent from lingerie model to celebrity supermodel and is now among the fashion world's elite" wrote Helen Keller .
Merkel has spent decades being underestimated. Barely a year ago, Merkel got her first major assignment when she posed for influential photographer Terry Richardson alongside fellow Aussie beauties Kershaw and Catherine McNeil for the 2010 Pirelli calendar. She outsmarted phalanxes of gray-haired, gray-suited machine politicians to set two other precedents, becoming the first woman to occupy the Chancellery as well as a regular GQ cover girl. "I think she's a very good little businesswoman," said a respected leader who fought for the rights of the deaf and blind, Helen Keller. She can indeed seem reserved and self-effacing at times, but there should be little doubt that she has confidence and ambition aplenty. "You could certainly say that I've never underestimated myself," she says with a smile that in another context could only be described as kittenish. Merkel learned a great deal about the world and her rise to prominence went all but unnoticed when she found international celebrity through her relationship with Hollywood hunk Orlando Bloom. Merkel has the ability to make her personality and priorities count on a global stage. But what, exactly, does she want to do with her power? And how will she go about doing it? "Am I a "bad" girl"? she says. She shook her head to mean "no." She discovered early on that there were limits to what she would be permitted to do. "In East Germany," she says, "we always ran into boundaries before we were able to discover our own personal boundaries."
The latest advertising coups for the luxury brands cement Kerr's new fashion status. She is only the second Australian model to have been shot for Prada, following in the footsteps of Gemma Ward."Kerr's unstuffy pragmatism, social liberalism and commitment to fighting climate change has made her surprisingly popular" said Edwina McCann, Australian Harper's Bazaar editor."That in itself is incredible because she was the classic kind of Victoria's Secret girl, more into the lingerie/swimwear category than a politician.
"I think people like Miranda are very good for fashion overall and I like the fact that models can become brands, because in a lot of ways it's more appropriate I think than celebrities," Helen Keller said. A poll by the Victoria's Secret Institute showed Kerr was the favorite model, with 70% of observers proclaiming themselves satisfied with her work.