Mask dress, Morgane Le Fay ($1,300). Visit morganelefay.com. Sirene cuff ($19,140) and ring ($12,035), Pomellato. Saks Fifth Avenue, Tysons Galleria, McLean, 703-761-0700

Hilary Rhoda, the supermodel, almost never happened.

Four years ago at age 18, she drove from her Chevy Chase home to New York City—with her manager/mother Marianne Rhoda, who had orchestrated the trip—for Fashion Week casting calls. The response from ateliers was chilly and the Holy Cross grad’s chance of walking the runways looked pretty bleak.

Undeterred by the rebuff, the duo went to Europe, and in Paris designer Nicolas Ghesquière handpicked Rhoda to walk in the Balenciaga show. She also opened the Valentino show, and the rest, as they say, is history. Now a fixture on the international runways and the face of Estée Lauder, she’s one of the world’s best-paid models and the darling of ad campaigns and magazine fashion spreads, including this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

Despite her professional successes, Rhoda exudes a youthful spirit. When Capitol File arrived at her family’s spacious Colonial-style home, music was playing so loudly she didn’t hear the doorbell. But then there she was, bounding out to greet us like an overgrown—and quite beautiful—schoolgirl. Hilary spent the next hour answering our questions while perched on an ottoman like a bird ready to take flight, while Marianne occasionally chimed in.

CAPITOL FILE: Since you’re home between shoots, I’d love to hear about how you went from local girl to international supermodel.

HILARY RHODA: My first shoot was for Hollister, a younger version of Abercrombie. I went down to Florida during a break from school. It was all kids my age, and most people’s first time on a photo shoot. Everyone was really nervous. You have to leave your inhibitions at the door because when you walk on set there are a million people watching.

MARIANNE RHODA: Hilary was working with the renowned photographer Bruce Weber, so it was a career-make-or-break kind of thing. She was 15, and if he liked her, that would mean something.

HR: He really guided me. He knew it was my first time and he wanted me to do well. He kind of talked to me the whole time and we just hit it off—there was good chemistry. And a month later, I did Ralph Lauren with him. So it worked out.

CF: You went to the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington. How did your friends react to having a model in their midst?

HR: When I flew to Florida for Hollister, I didn’t want to tell anyone until I was actually in a magazine. But then, when my friends and I were at a football game at Georgetown Prep, somebody told me the Vanity Fair issue [with the ad for Ralph Lauren] was finally out. So we ran to Safeway and ripped open the magazine. My friends were like, “Oh my God, that’s so cool.”

CF: You must have a few friends in the industry now.

HR: I don’t think I could hang out with people in the fashion industry 24 hours a day, seven days a week! Sometimes it’s fun—like going to the September Issue premiere was fun; it was all fashion people and so extravagant. But I’d rather stay home or go to dinner with my friends.

CF: You’ve been having quite a ride. What have you learned along the way?

HR: You have to take things into your own hands. You have to be on top of your agency. My mom has done such an amazing job of making sure everything was going in the right direction. I almost didn’t go to Paris for Fashion Week when I first started modeling full-time. And what would have happened? I wouldn’t have gotten Balenciaga, and then I wouldn’t have this career. My mom really made it all happen.

MR: Aw, thank you. That’s why we had switched from her first agency, and made an appointment with IMG—we said, if you’re going to be sacrificing college to do this, you have to be with the number-one agency. Her first agency, Click, had actually changed her name.

CF: Oh, no! What was your fake name?

HR: St. Claire [she says with disgust]. Hilary St. Claire. So when I signed with IMG, I was like, “Can I have my last name back?”

CF: OK, so fight for what you want. What else?

MR: You have to not find yourself in a dead end.

HR: Exactly. We’re constantly talking about what’s going to be the next step. You can’t be doing runway shows every season. I have to move on from that and explore other things. Sports Illustrated is for the masses. When you’re in it, more people know who you are.

CF: How long will you be in town?

HR: I drove back from New York last night for my brother Spencer’s 24th birthday. We’re going to the Bethesda Crab House right after this interview. We’re getting two dozen crabs—nobody can do it like Maryland. Then we’ll have Spencer’s surprise party, I’ll tell him to meet me at Town Hall, this great bar in Glover Park, where we’ll have like 100 people waiting for us.

CF: How would you define your personal style?

HR: I like a more timeless look. I have clothes I’ve had for years that are never going to be out of style. When you’re doing couture shows in Paris, the designers literally make the dress on your body. It makes me appreciate how [clothes] are made and all the thought that goes into them.

CF: You seem to wearing a lot of Jason Wu these days.

HR: I love the younger designers, like Jason [Wu], Thakoon and Alex[ander] Wang. They’re so different than the older, more elegant designers who’ve been around forever. The new designers in New York are so cool. They’re in their twenties and they make really great downtown clothes.

CF: Where does a supermodel shop when she’s in DC?

HR: A lot of the stores are the same as in New York, but I like Cusp, Intermix, Urban Chic and Barneys Co-Op. And I love going to Bethesda and Chevy Chase—whenever I’m home we shop The Collection at Chevy Chase.

CF: What are you wearing to holiday parties this year?

HR: I like to wear red lips and sparkly dresses—Jason Wu has a cream-colored dress that’s so shimmery; I love it. I’m planning to pair it with classic Christian Louboutin heels.

CF: Are you traveling for the winter holidays?

HR: Whenever I have a holiday, I don’t want to see an airport because that just reminds me of work. I don’t need to go to a tropical location, since I’m always there for shoots! So I just come home to Maryland. I don’t want to do anything else.