Supermodel Coco Rocha about the diversity of beauty
Last week, the Moscow show of the MANGO autumn-winter collection opened the 26-year-old Canadian top model Coco Rocha. In 2004, Coco Rocha came to the modeling business and almost immediately became the muse of photographer Stephen Meisel - two years later he took a picture of her for the Dolce & Gabbana campaign and the cover of Italian Vogue, after which they signed an exclusive contract to work together. Roche has dozens of Vogue, Numéro, Dazed & Confused, i-D, Harper's Bazaar covers and ad campaigns from Balenciaga to Lanvin.
In addition to her fast-moving career, Coco Rocha is known for opposing retouching, against anorexia and pressure on models (at the beginning of her career, agents demanded that Coco lose weight in order to intentionally resemble anorexic), she maintains her blog oh-so-coco.tumblr.com , and according to his religious convictions is not removed naked, with a cigarette in his hand and does not kiss the guys-models during photo shoots. We talked with Coco Rocha about the diversity of beauty, street casting and theatricality in fashion.
In 2007, in your career, there was a turning point, the so-called Coco Moment ("The Coco Moment"): you opened the show Jean-Paul the Field, performing the Irish dance, and then immediately got on the cover of the May issue of Vogue "The World's Next Top Models". How it was?
I remember this day in Paris very well and this show is Gaultier. I didn't have the right shoes for the show, and a special pair of shoes was sent straight from Ireland exactly two hours before the show. I did not even have time to check whether they fit me and whether it will be convenient to move in them. Initially, Gauthier wanted me to move on the catwalk not only forward, but also back to back, but I said: "Jean-Paul, I am not super-smart. I cannot." And he said, "Okay, let's just go ahead." This dance, as well as the support of Stephen Meisel, largely determined my career. At the shows, Gauthier is always fun: I went out in a mermaid outfit in which I could barely move, danced in the image of Danny Zuko, who was played by John Travolta in Briolin, fought with another model. People in the hall believed in a fight and wanted to separate us. Gauthier is always a show. Just like the shows of Galliano in the early 2000s for Dior, we ate at his shows, sat on the knees of the guests from the first row, doused with water. It was an incredible freedom: we were told - just do what you want.
COURTING ON THE SIGNS OF THE AUTUMN-WINTER SEASON OF THE WEEK OF THE FASHION FROM THE CUTURE, THEATERALIZATION returns: what is in the collections that are in the Show. MARCO DZANINI shows a second surrealist collection for SCHIAPARELLI, MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA - pay in LOBSTER, VIKTOR & ROLF - things for the red carpet FROM carpet at the show CHANEL went Pregnancy model, and Jean-Paul Gaultier - Conchita Wurst The Brides Dress UNDER "TAINtED LOVE" MERILINA MANSON. What does theatricality mean for the fashion industry?
Fashion today casts a little boredom, and, it seems to me, shows and shootings still have to entertain people. After all, it was originally. It doesn't matter if you are sitting in the front row at the show or watching photos of the show on style.com, your attention should be focused on what is happening. People want things to be surrounded by music, new technologies, served in a particular context. As if you were watching the next season of the television series and wondering: what will happen next? If the designer cannot make a big show, it’s better not to do a show. We must be different, and the show must be different. Fashion haute couture - all the more. Couture is inherently conservative, these endless rustling dresses to the floor - in today's realities it should be modern. From here we see croc-tops, sneakers, transparent things, overalls, bulky shoulders, and shorts on couture shows. And it attracts - I wonder how it is done.
In 2010, you led the Today I'm Wearing blog on vogue.co.uk, laying out images for every day during the month. What do you think about women's fashion today?
Fashion is changing so quickly ... This season, the obvious leaders of trends are crop tops and sports, the next will be much more conservative. By the fall, I will definitely buy myself an oversized sweater with hyper-long sleeves, because it reminds me of stretched clothes that guys wear. I love men's things - girls really look great in them. Today, after the show, I'm going to wear a trouser suit and a massive necklace. Things from different categories of high-fashion and low-fashion to combine together is still great. I also like it when they change meanings and put on evening wear during the day and vice versa. Pajamas and shirts as casual clothes in this sense are a good example!
When magazines declare that they want to put on the cover of a "normal woman", it offends me. Am I crazy?
For quite a long time, the fashion industry ignored girls with forms: shows, advertising campaigns, collections were like from a parallel world, for those who are clearly 90-60-90. Something has changed?
Yes, today designers and brands have begun to pay more attention to creating clothes for different types of shapes. This makes me incredibly happy! The same MANGOs rely on a variety of clothes - today, apart from the main collection, they create things in the new line Violeta by MANGO just for girls with forms that are also beautiful. All women are different, like men. Clothes can not be the same! Yes, and I do not think that the concept of an ideal body should exist at all. Anyone will always find something to work on, if it concerns a figure. Designers finally noticed that there is no perfect figure, there are many figures, billions of people, different muses. Gautier, for example, has 10 muses, girls about whom he thinks when he creates collections, and all these women are different. They have different nationalities, figures, ages. Weak, low, tall, figured - different. A designer cannot have one muse, he should think about all women at once.
Now many brands are taking in their advertising campaigns NOT PROFESSIONAL MODELS, but ordinary people. Suffice it to recall Dove ads or models, which were typed in Instagram for marc by marc Jacobs.
When they say that a magazine wants to put on the cover of just a man, just a normal woman, it offends me. I have a question: what am I, abnormal? What's wrong with me? Am I some other? This is unfair. You can not point at someone with a finger and say that he is fat or some other. In modern society, it is simply uncultured. The same with thin girls, who are called anorexic on the right and left. For example, I eat like a normal girl, go in for sports. I can eat three burgers per day and stay in the same shape - I have such a constitution. I am what I am. You need to wisely approach what you call people. The model must meet certain standards, but that’s just her job. The basketball team also recruits guys with a certain height and figure, but not all of us are going to become a basketball player and play in the first league. Do not blame the models for what they are. However, among the models should be a variety: girls must be of different height and different constitution.
Nevertheless, a similar trend is supported by the brands on the shows. Streetcasting suit DKNY, Rick Owens, Nasir Mazhar, inviting to go on the catwalk instead of professional models of different people.
Streetcasting is great. At the first shows, Gauthier was visited by random girls and young people whom he was looking for on the streets, in bars, as he simply could not afford models. Streetcasting is how models are found. I got into the modeling business from the street - I was engaged in Irish dancing and participated in countless and monotonous dance competitions. At one of these contests, when I was only 14 years old, a man approached me, introduced himself as Charles Stewart and offered to work with him in an agency. So, thanks to streetcasting, my career began.
Many models are asked How to make a cool selfie? So, HOW TO MAKE A CLASS SELFIE?
By the way, I never take a selfie. If there is someone nearby who can take a picture of you, ask them to take a picture - this is better. Do not build a sponge bow and do not duck face, do not try to be someone that you are not. Relax, it's just pictures! Confidence and self-love are all you need. Do not be afraid to be stupid and have fun.