Born on July 24, 1982, in Moeskroen, Belgium, Elise says of modeling, "It's every girl's history where the most unattractive, tall, skinny girls in high school are picked on, and then suddenly, they turn into the opposite. It's kind of hard to believe." Kind of hard to believe indeed, considering Ralph Lauren, Prada, Jil Sander, and Elie Tahari have all chosen Elise to be the face of their collections.
 
An agent picked her out of oblivion one day on the street in Brussels, where she was attending college. Unconvinced a life of exotic travels and free fashion was for her, Elise tried several different careers, from marketing to translating, before she decided to give modeling a go after winning the 2000 Miss Mannequin modeling contest in Roeselare, Belgium.
 
After making her debut for Azzedine Alaïa, Elise walked nearly every runway from 2001 to 2007 from Chanel, Dior, Elie Saab, and Christian Lacroix haute couture to ready-to-wear by Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton, Marni, Calvin Klein, Gucci, and more.
 
Elise solidified her place in the fashion world when she became a muse to the reigning king of fashion photography, Steven Meisel; he shot her for W twice, as well as for a Versace campaign.
 
Reminiscent of a young Linda Evangelista—another Meisel muse—Elise rocks hair colors from brown to blonde to red with ease. Her 13 Vogue covers (multiple editions) alone depict her wide range of looks, from innocent girl-next-door to sexpot. This editorial princess further padded her modeling résumé by appearing in campaigns for Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Helmut Lang, and many more.
 
Elise has kept a low profile since 2007, but walked for Prada and Christopher Kane in Milan and London in 2008. In 2009 Jonathan Saunders chose Elise as the face of Pollini for his first collection for the house as its creative director, so we have a sneaking suspicion that this veteran cover girl will always have at least one foot in the spotlight.