Playmates
Luci
Victoria

Luci Luci Victoria calls Sheffield -- an English city known for its cutlery -- home, but this sharp 21-year-old model seems to play in a world-size backyard. "My mom's side of the family lives in Cleveland, Ohio, but I was born in England," she says in an alluring, breathy voice. "All my friends are English, but people sometimes say that my accent is a mixture and that it's hard to place." Fresh from the plane and now in our Los Angeles studio, Luci becomes wide-eyed and leans in to whisper like she's confessing a dirty secret when we ask if she prefers the States. "New York is just a larger London, while Los Angeles is a completely different world," she says. "I would choose to live here because I love this hot weather."

Back in the brisker British Isles, Luci divvied her time growing up in Sheffield between modeling and raising horses. "My mom bought me my first pony when I was nine," she says. "I told her I wanted to be a model and a jockey, but she said those two things don't go together because you could break your nose or something falling off a horse. I raised my horses to show and got to county level, which is the top. My pony, Nile, became a champion."

As Miss September relaxes in our offices and tells us about giving up her prize pony and moving to Japan at 17 for catwalk work, it's hard to believe this soft-spoken beauty could have been bullied in school. "I was small and skinny, and I got picked on because kids said I looked like a Barbie doll," she says. "When I was 16, I auditioned for a television commercial and didn't know what it was for. After I got the job, I found out it was a Barbie ad. So the next time my enemies teased me, I told them, 'I actually am Barbie.' They really didn't bother me after that."

When we ask Luci whether she prefers American guys to British men, she plays the diplomat. "They've both got sexy qualities," she says. "I used to go for bad boys -- muscled, toned, maybe with some tattoos. Now I'm looking for someone who will look after me and put me first." Luci says she wants to focus on her career. "I'm down-to-earth," she says. "I'll always be the way I am and I'll never think I'm better than anyone else."calls Sheffield -- an English city known for its cutlery -- home, but this sharp 21-year-old model seems to play in a world-size backyard.