Karen Mulder was born in Vlaardingen, Holland in 1968. Her father is a civil servant and her mother a secretary. Karen has a younger sister, Saskia, who recently started her own modeling career after studying economics.

In 1987, Karen won a modeling contest in Amsterdam, which makes her a finalist in Elite's Look Of The Year worldwide competition. She won second place and left high school to travel to Italy with her mother for a formal photo shoot, and then to Paris for modeling school, where the Elite modeling agency took over her career. Surprisingly, she wasn't always as sophisticated as she is now. In fact, when a gaggle of girlfriends took then 14-year-old Karen Mulder's picture and submitted it for a beauty contest, she was downright gawky.

By her second year on the runway, she was fronting for Valentino, YSL, Lanvin, Versace, and Armani. She appeared on the cover of Vogue Italia and before long, landed a contract for Guess?.

During the following three years, Karen climbed the steps to supermodel status, learinnig along the way. The first important steps in her career were a British Vogue cover shot by Tyen and the Nivea advertising campaign.

The list of her clients has become quite impressive. Campaigns she has appeared in include Guess?, Calvin Klein, Claude Montana, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent fashion and Rive Gauche fragrance, as well as Guerlain, Chloé, Valentino, Revlon, Jacques Fath, Gianfranco Ferré, and Hervé Léger. Karen has worked with today's greatest photographers, including Javier Vallhonrat, Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Bruce Weber, Helmut Newton, Max Vadukul, Gilles Bensimon, Fabrizio Ferri, Steven Meisel, Irving Penn, Robert Erdmann, and Arthur Elgort.

Not a month goes by that she doesn't appear in an issue of Vogue, Elle or Marie-Claire around the world. One of the first issues of Top Model magazine was entirely devoted to her.

Mulder says her life changed in 1993 when she was shuttling from airport to airport with almost no time at home. She then met real-estate developer Jean Yves in the waiting area of a Paris airport, and it was love at first sight. Today, she sports a large diamond solitaire engagement ring.

Yves manages Mulder's off-the-runway career. In 1995, he collaborated with Hasbro on a Karen Mulder doll, which spurred an entire supermodel line. Yves and Mulder then did an infomercial and video. Mulder's favorite project she has worked on is a beauty and fashion CD-ROM, in which she gives makeup, beauty and exercise tips. It's all about balance, says the model.

Karen is brimming with energy and new projects. Today, Karen Mulder is a success in all fields of modeling; advertising and editorial, fashion and beauty, and of course, the fashion shows of Paris, Milan and New York. Her secret: being a rare thing, a blonde with class, the words of Vogue editors. It's just hard work, according to the supermodel herself. 

Credit: askmen.com