Stephanie Gilmore, flawless in Harper’s Bazaar

Words by Ali Klinkenberg

The debate as to the most beautiful women in the world always seems to throw the Victoria’s Secrets ‘angels’ into the fray. Gisele and the gang. Every time the annual runway show appears on the box I flee the scene in fright, and hideth under my bed! The clutching fear that one of these modern day Amazonian’s might trample out of the screen, and all over my fragile heart is just too much.

Enter Stephanie Gilmore in Harper’s Bazaar.

“Is there really any sexier sport for females in the world (than surfing)?” Cries the champ. Well, seeing Steph shot in black and white, draped in a black one piece, complete with cons, in the doorway of a derelict, weed-ridden house you’d have to say, no Steph, no there isn’t.

Watching Stephanie surf reminds me of when I attended the ballet as a boy. I dug my pre-pubescent heels in outside The Royal Opera House with gusto but to no avail. However, seeing Darcy Bussel dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker laid the foundations for my adoration of women. I was transfixed. The poise, the power, passion, and the elegance. The Tchaikovsky!

I felt something rumbling deep within. Not sex but desire. Fitzgerald wrote that:  “Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.” Thus the desire. Surfing’s now covered in Stephanie’s dust, and we’re all far the richer for it.

Steph chats to Harp’s about all things healthy and glowing; fresh veggies and balance, seemingly the cornerstones of happiness! Ms Gilmore’s candid as ever; I just love it when interviews are so blatantly conducted via email.

“As Marilyn Monroe once said,” quotes Stephanie, “I don’t mind living in a man’s world, as long as I can be a woman in it.” ‘We travel to the world’s most exotic locations, our office is the ocean and the best waves, our daily uniform is a bikini and we get paid well to do it!”

Oh Steph, with every sporadic jaunt into the mainstream media our love for you grows ever stronger. Don’t ever change champ, you beautiful thing you.

Read the full interview over here.

Photo: Nico Gullis/Harper’s Bazaar