Model to mogul Project Runway host Heidi Klum translates catwalk fame to growing brand

TORONTO Heidi Klum may have hung up her Angel wings, but the career of the former Victorias Secret brand ambassador continues to take flight well beyond the catwalk.

The German-born supermodel has parlayed her fame away from the runway and magazine covers into a full-fledged cottage industry.

In addition to serving as host of the popular designer competition series Project Runway, the entrepreneur has been linked to an ever-growing roster of signature product lines from fashion to footwear.

Klum paid a visit to Toronto in support of the newest addition to her burgeoning brand: the fragrance Shine. But the multi-tasking mother of four and wife of British singer Seal hasnt settled on what shed like to put the Heidi Klum stamp on next.

Im sure if I would sit down and really think about it, all the things I havent really done yet, I would have a long list because there are so many things Im interested in doing, said Klum, sporting a slicked-back ponytail and sleek red suit by Michael Kors.

But right now Im focusing on designing my jewellery, I design clothes, I design sneakers. I still design maternity clothes, which I love because I was pregnant four times, and I really enjoyed it, and its such a beautiful silhouette to design for, and I love doing the perfume, too. I love all of that.

With nearly two decades in the entertainment industry under her belt, Klum, 38, said she has learned a lot along the way, drawing on her experiences while lending her name and efforts to ventures she sees as filling a niche.

I have fallen in love with fashion being in it for 18 years, (but) you see things that are really high fashion but theyre not necessarily very functional, she said. You look into your own life and you think about things that you really need and you want to have and if you dont find it, Im someone whos like, OK, Im going to find it myself then. So a lot of the things I originated.

It was not where people would come to me and say, Hey, you want to slap! your na me on something? I really make all of the things that have my name on it and I enjoy it.

Klum is also known to make waves for her fashion choices of a far different kind her perennially elaborate Halloween costumes.

This year was no exception as she arrived at a Halloween bash she hosted in Las Vegas wheeled in on a gurney wearing a hand-painted bodysuit which appeared as if a layer of skin had been ripped off.

Klum hasnt ruled out the possibility of perhaps creating a Halloween costume line, saying it would be fun to maybe do so for children.

In the meantime, Klum is busy gearing up for yet another instalment of Project Runway with the 10th season set to start next summer.

The Canadian Press