Meet Ernestine "Erni" Stollberg. She's 95 years old, and she's an absolute natural at modeling.
See? Erni has become a total social media sensation, thanks mainly to her regular appearances on Vienna concept shop Park's official Instagram, where the store's co-owner and stylist Markus Strasser swathes her in the oddest outfits.
"If I put something very elegant on her, she immediately has an elegant pose," explains Markus to Vogue.com on Erni's innate gift for posing. "If I put something trashy or something cool on her, her attitude changes immediately for that kind of look, and I almost don’t have to say anything."
Funny thing is, Erni was cast to model for Park simply by chance—and proximity. Markus and fellow co-owner Helmut Ruthner were her neighbors, and she would come by often to play with their new puppy. “We discovered she is very brilliant in pictures,” says Markus of the happy coincidence. “We would have never grabbed an older lady off the street to do this. We got to know each other and trust each other so we could start this very special collaboration.”
This certainly isn't Erni's debut in the limelight, though. Fun fact: she was part of a Jewish dance company that specialized in revue, a theatrical production that was considered rather scandalous by modest 1930s standards. Her past as a dancer made for a breezy transition into modeling: “It’s not something for her that is so out of her mind because she was used to that when she was young," Markus goes on. "It wasn’t the first time she had been photographed.”
Isn't she fantastic?! Follow Erni's chameleonic camera antics over at @park_wein!
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