Fashion model Natalia Vodianova is raising money to build children’s playgrounds in Russia.  Her Cinderella story is told in today’s New York Times.  And now she is playing fairy godmother.  Note the concerning plan to meld the “beautiful and glamorous” with the “childlike.”

Yet Ms. Vodianova, with a steely character behind the sweet face and child-like body, still believes in Russian fairy tales and fables, with their complex dragons and firebirds.

To mirror that magical reality, the model asked 40 designers to each create a dress for the White Fairy Tale Love Ball, a Russian-inspired fund-raiser that will take place near Paris during the July haute couture season at the Wideville chateau of Valentino and his partner, Giancarlo Giammetti.

Being still a Russian little girl inside, I wanted to create something around my love of fairy tales,” said Ms. Vodianova, who called on her fashion choreographer friend Alex de Betak to design a winter’s tale set.

“The idea is to create a Doctor Zhivago version of a beautiful and glamorous, but quite a childlike, fairy tale,” said Mr. de Betak, who has worked on the project for two years.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/fashio…