Fashion Week Dreams

Supermodel Shakara Ledard Hopes To Break Through As A Designer

(CBS)  Smith describes Ledard’s new style as "fun, young downtown girl" and admits that in The Venue show, which featured established lines such as Sean John, Akademiks and Destination U, Shakara is "most definitely" his favorite.

The odds against a young designer attempting to break into the fashion world are staggering, and the costs extremely high. Even for top designers like Carolina Herrera and Marc Jacobs, sponsorship is generally necessary to score a spot in the tents. For most start-ups, it takes years to build up favor and buzz (and funding), but for Ledard, those seem to come easy.

Born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas, Shakara began modeling 16 years ago when a schoolmate told her "you couldn't become a model if you tried."

"That's all I needed to hear," Ledard said.

She sent photos to 10 agencies and had offers from nine of them within two days. Ledard made her first big waves in the fashion scene in the winter of 2000, when she appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

Three more appearances in Sports Illustrated and countless movies and music videos later, Ledard seems to have found an entrepreneurial sense that matches her style.

"Music, film, even fashion is transcending into the underground movement," she said. "It's a tapped in market that is a billion-dollar industry that we are just starting to branch into now, and I think it's going to be far more profitable than mainstream."

Staying out of the spotlight is tough when you've got style, spunk and beauty like Ledard's. But when designing, her head is in charge.

"They wanted me to open the show, but I'm such a control freak that I wanted to make sure all the girls look perfect before I send them on their way," Ledard said.

She opted instead to close the show. At first, she embraced the typical runway saunter, keeping her excitement bottled under an expressionless facade. But when she reached the end of the runway, Ledard let it go. Her arms pumped up in celebration. She struck a pose.