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Portrait of a supermodel: Coco Rocha
Fashion's new star tells all and keeps it real.
By Michell Villett
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Before celebrities replaced supermodels as popculture icons, high fashion was synonymous with “high profile.” As ubiquitous on the red carpet as on the runway, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymour generated more headlines for their romantic entanglements - and diva-like behaviour - than their designer endorsements. But the new generation of supermodels, led by Canadian Coco Rocha, is the polar opposite: hard-working, freshfaced and surprisingly attitude-free. On the last afternoon of New York's fall fashion week - a gruelling eight days of back-to-back shows during which most models subsist on caffeine and adrenalin - Rocha not only calls me promptly at 3:00 p.m. but she'[s also as bubbly as a glass of Veuve Clicquot. “I remember you!” she says, and I actually believe her. We first met in Paris last year, when she made her debut as the face of elle, Yves Saint Laurent's newest fragrance. Then, although friendly, she seemed shy - and still in awe of her new-found fame. A year later, there's no sign of her earlier reticence.
Discovered by Vancouver agent Charles Stuart five years ago at a local Irish-dancing competition - a skill she reprised for Jean Paul Gaultier's fall 2007 collection - Rocha turns 20 this year and is model-of-the-moment on the catwalk. Besides YSL, she has appeared in campaigns for Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior and Lanvin. But she's quick to point out that her job is not easy, especially during the spring and fall shows. “You have to be on cue all the time,” she explains. “Sometimes you feel like‘Oh, my goodness, how am I going to bear another day?' [But] no one wants a model who is annoying and grouchy.”
Besides her piercing blue eyes and trademark pout, there's no doubt that her professionalism is partly why Rocha is a designer favourite. Another reason, surely, is her lack of pretension. “I'm all about being myself,” she says. “If you have to act, then there's something wrong. I can't stand fake anything - even fake handbags!” She insists that this laid-back attitude is common to Canadian models in particular.“We come into this not expecting anything from it - we're just here to have fun.” This is a sharp contrast to her counterparts from less-privileged nations, says Rocha. The stakes are higher for them because they often enter the modelling business with the goal of making a lot of money for their families. “I'm not saying that the Europeans have horrible lives or anything, but [they have] a lot of pressure from home to make it in the industry.”
Image courtesy of Leda & St. Jacques
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