Italian fashion model Alda Balestra

In 1970, when she was a mere sixteen years of age, Alda Balestra won the Miss Italy beauty pageant. It wouldn't be long before folks in the modeling trade would recognize her incredible looks. :-)

She could strike any pose ranging from sophisticated . . .

. . . to sensuous.

The black-white photo at the top is from a 1981 Rodier Paris clothing ad, while the photo immediately above is from a Chrsitian Dior ad from about the same time.  While Christian Dior has used models in similar poses with the same exotic look, none of them could pull it all off like Alda Balestra could. :-)

 

These two photos from separate L'Oreal ads from 1983, demonstrate her unique combination of elegance and beauty.  It's a very European look, with a touch of playfulness thrown in.  Who else could make lavender eye shadow and lipstick look so alluring? :-)

Alda Balestra married Franz Graf Stauffenberg, a German Catholic aristocrat whose family's peerage dates back to the seventeenth century.  Incidentally, the most famous member of the Stauffenberg family was Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who in 1944 was one of the leaders of the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and overthrow the Third Reich.

Today, Alda Balestra von Stauffenberg (as she's now widely known), who turns sixty in August 2014, lives in Berlin.  She is a public relations consultant and is the mother of two, a son and daughter who were both born in the United States. Still looking as lovely as ever, Alda Balestra spoke about her career in 2013 for ExModels.de, a Web site exploring feminine beauty and age. Ms. Balestra certainly proves that the two don't have to contradict each other. :-)