Before the motorcades and the stiff, tailored coats of the White House, there was a girl named Melanija Knavs standing on the cold concrete steps of a youth center in Ljubljana. It was 1987. She was sixteen. Honestly, she wasn't even looking for a camera; she was just waiting for a friend.
But a photographer named Stane Jerko walked by, saw her height—she was already nearly six feet tall—and basically changed the trajectory of her life. People often think the young Melania Trump model story started with a glitzy New York contract or a billionaire husband. It didn't. It started in a sleepy Slovenian town called Sevnica, where her mother, Amalija, worked at a children's clothing factory and her father, Viktor, sold car parts.
The Stane Jerko Discovery
Stane Jerko wasn't just some random guy with a camera. He was the premiere scout in what was then Yugoslavia. When he saw Melania, he didn't see a future First Lady. He saw "eyes like a tigress" and a girl who was remarkably shy.
He invited her to his studio for a test shoot. Melania showed up with her own clothes—modest outfits she'd styled herself. She wasn't some party girl. Jerko has gone on record several times saying she was incredibly disciplined. She brought books to shoots. She studied lighting. While other models were out hitting the clubs in Milan or Paris, she was reportedly back in her room, reading or swimming to stay in shape.
That first shoot led to her first professional gig: modeling for Vezenine Bled, a textile company. It wasn't Vogue. It was catalog work for a socialist-era factory. But it was the start.
Turning Point: The Look of the Year
By 1992, Melania was ready to move beyond the borders of her home country. She entered the "Look of the Year" contest hosted by Jana Magazine. She didn't win—she came in as the runner-up—but that was enough. The top three contestants were offered international contracts.
She Germanized her name to Melania Knauss. It sounded more "fashion."
📖 Related: How Old Is Breanna Nix? What the American Idol Star Is Doing Now
She spent the next few years bouncing between Milan and Paris. It’s a grind that most people don’t realize is actually pretty brutal. You’re living in cramped model apartments with five other girls, dragging a "book" of photos to ten castings a day, and getting rejected at nine of them. During this time, she actually shared an apartment in Paris with Victoria Silvstedt. Yes, the same Victoria Silvstedt who became a Playboy Playmate and a global bombshell.
Imagine that pairing: the reserved, quiet Melania and the high-energy Victoria.
The 1993 Prophecy
One of the weirdest facts about her early career happened in 1993. Melania starred in a television commercial for a Slovenian clothing brand. The premise? She was playing the first female President of the United States.
She’s seen stepping out of a plane, surrounded by security, and being sworn in. It’s almost eerie to watch now. At 23, she was playing a role that she would eventually live out—at least the "living in the White House" part—two decades later.
Moving to Manhattan: The Zampolli Years
In 1995, an Italian businessman named Paolo Zampolli was scouting in Europe. He saw Melania and told her she needed to be in New York.
Zampolli is the guy who really bridge the gap for her. He sponsored her H-1B work visa in 1996 and helped her get settled in an apartment at Zeckendorf Towers near Union Square.
👉 See also: Whitney Houston Wedding Dress: Why This 1992 Look Still Matters
People love to debate her early New York days. There was a whole controversy back in 2016 about when exactly she started working and if her visa was handled correctly. According to documents obtained by the Associated Press, she was paid for 10 modeling jobs in the seven weeks before she had her legal work permit. We’re talking about work for Fitness magazine and Bergdorf Goodman.
She was 26 years old when she hit New York. In the modeling world, that’s practically retirement age. Most girls start at 14. Melania was a "mature" model from the jump, which might explain why her career leaned more toward commercial work and high-end catalogs rather than the avant-garde runway shows of Alexander McQueen.
The Style of a Young Melania Trump Model
If you look at her "tear sheets" (the pages torn from magazines) from the late 90s, the look is very different from the First Lady aesthetic.
- The Hair: It was often lighter, more of a "honey blonde" with 90s volume.
- The Gaze: She perfected what photographers called a "squinch"—a slight narrowing of the eyes that became her signature.
- The Jobs: She did a huge billboard for Camel cigarettes in Times Square. She was in New York Magazine, Allure, and Self.
Then came the "nude shoot" that everyone talks about. In 1995, she posed for Max, a French men's magazine. The photographer, Jarl Ale de Basseville, said the shoot was meant to be "artistic" and "high fashion." Those photos were basically buried for twenty years until they were dug up during the 2016 campaign.
Meeting the Mogul
The modeling career was doing okay—she was making a living—but everything shifted in September 1998. Zampolli threw a party at the Kit Kat Club during Fashion Week.
Donald Trump was there. He was 52. She was 28.
✨ Don't miss: Finding the Perfect Donny Osmond Birthday Card: What Fans Often Get Wrong
He was actually on a date with another woman (Celina Midelfart), but when she went to the bathroom, he approached Melania and asked for her number. She refused to give it to him. Instead, she took his number. She wanted to see which one he’d give her—the office line or the personal one. He gave her all of them.
Once they started dating, her modeling profile skyrocketed. She was suddenly on the cover of British GQ (the famous shoot on the private jet) and appearing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2000.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that she was an "A-list" supermodel like Naomi Campbell or Cindy Crawford. She wasn't. Melania was a successful, working model who handled her career like a business. She wasn't a "wild child." She didn't have a string of famous boyfriends before Trump.
She was an immigrant girl from a small town who used her looks to get to Milan, then Paris, then New York. She spoke five languages (Slovenian, English, French, Italian, and German) by the time she was 30. That's not just "luck." That's work.
Actionable Insights for Fashion History Buffs
If you're researching this era or looking for the real impact of her career, here is how you can verify the details:
- Check the "Tear Sheets": Look for her work under "Melania Knauss." Most of her 1996-1999 work is credited this way.
- Verify the Visa Timeline: The Associated Press investigation from November 2016 provides the most detailed ledger of her early New York earnings.
- The Stane Jerko Archive: For the most authentic "before" photos, Jerko’s black-and-white 1987 sessions are the gold standard. They show a girl who looks nothing like the polished woman in the gold elevators.
The story of the young Melania Trump model isn't just about fashion; it's a case study in how the industry worked in the 90s—before Instagram, when you had to actually show up to a casting with a physical portfolio and hope a guy like Paolo Zampolli saw something in you.
Next Steps for Deep Research
To see the transition for yourself, look up the British GQ January 2000 cover. It represents the exact moment Melania Knauss the model became Melania the public figure. Compare that to her 1992 Jana magazine spread to see the transformation from a Slovenian teen to a Manhattan socialite.