© Establishment Casting
Anita Bitton is the casting and creative director for the Establishment, a prominent casting and branding agency with a worldwide client base located in the heart of New York’s Soho has a worldwide client base. Anita has picked the faces for a number of the world’s great photographers, including Irving Penn, Miles Aldridge, Nathaniel Goldberg, and the late Richard Avedon to name but a few, as well as designers Alexander Wang, Viktor & Rolf, Hussein Chalayan, and DKNY. Her experience is tenfold and all have relied on her eye. Girl Crush gives us an insight into her latest love…
Harley Viera Newton
Born: 1988
Location: London
Background: English father, Brazilian mother
Harley Viera Newton graduated high school in an Azzedine Alaïa cat suit—that’s a one-piece, for those of you who didn’t already know. (And guess what? I’m not mad at her for wearing it; in fact, I’ve been searching for one ever since I saw the picture of her dressed in it!) Currently a student at NYU studying Egyptology, her day-to-day wardrobe is not much of a variation from that scene-stealing cat suit. With an early-to-bed/early-to-rise constitution, she is able to juggle her NYC lifestyle, maintain good grades, and uphold her apparent It girl status. I never really understood what this meant until I met Harley.
Born in London to a British father and Brazilian mother, raised in Los Angeles, and finally landing in New York City, Harley is ultimately stylish and well-accessorized (dripping in Tom Binns), she’s whimsical and talented, has both beauty and brains, and trips the light fantastic through the nightlife of the city that never sleeps. She’s got friends, but too many to mention, and quite honestly she’s enough. She’s her own secret weapon, the kind of girl that boys love and that girls want to be.
Harley has learned to juggle more roles in one day than most people do in a week: A student studying for final exams, a DJ with regular bookings at local parties and clubs (like hipster venue Lit), an occasional bassist in the Lissy Trullie band, general style icon, and now an ambassador for luxury design house, Christian Dior! And, if all that weren’t enough, Harley and friend Cassie Coane cohost a radio show, called “Teenage Kicks,” on East Village Radio every Thursday afternoon.
Apparently there’s nothing that Harley can’t do—and she glides through each task graciously. As a model, she has worked for brands such as Uniqlo, DKNY, and Gap. She has shot with photographers such as Craig McDean, and she’s appeared in magazines such as Interview and Vogue.
When asked what her plans were for the summer, she told me she was going to work! Harley isn’t sitting around watching the world go by, she intends to make the make the most of it.
See her Q&A below.
Favorite TV show: The Wire, Lost, Twin Peaks
Favorite food: Pasta
Favorite lipstick color: Anything red—Dior’s No. 752 is a good one.
The most exciting place it’s ever ended up: My cat, Puma, ate some of it once.
Favorite Movie: Rear Window
Favorite character from a movie from a movie: Cher from Clueless
Superman or Batman: Batman
Best friend’s sister’s name: Sunny
Vacation paradise: Florida Keys, The Maldives
Favorite book: Swann’s Way and Deathly Hallows
What would you do if you were invisible for a day? Play 100,000 mean tricks on my friend Cassie, then go to the zoo and pet all the baby animals.
Favorite band: The Cramps
Chorus from your favorite song: “Hopped up out the bed, turn my swag on. Took a look in the mirror say, ‘What’s up?’ Yeahhhh, I’m getting money, ohhhhh.”
The No. 1 song on the American charts the year you were born: “Faith” by George Michael
