Coco Rocha. “We models only have our bodies and faces to tell a story”

Haute Couture Week is in full swing in Paris when we met Coco Rocha. The model left leafy Westchester County in upstate New York, where she lives with her husband and three children, for the hectic pace of the fashion capital. Between the two shows for famous couturiers such as Viktor and Rolf or Iris van Herpen, who we call by profession The poser queen (‘Queen of Pose’, French), considering her complete mastery and expressive creativity in front of the lens, took part in our special edition gesture game.

Lilac eyes, extremely thin face with high cheekbones, proud head posture. For 35-year-old Coco Rocha, fashion is all about performance. As lightning bolts screech, she moves through the poses at breakneck speed, tying and untying her svelte dancer’s body. “We models only have our bodies and faces to tell a story. We are like silent movie actresses,” he emphasizes. Dance, which she has been practicing for a long time, is like a backbone for Coco. And it all started from here.

An ultra-normalized visual universe

Born in Toronto, Canada, Mikhaila (her married name) had barely turned 15 when she was discovered by a talent scout from a modeling agency…during an Irish traditional dance competition. Modeling is far from the concerns of a young girl raised in the strict faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the early 2000s, however, Coco flew to New York, where everything came together. His meeting with Steven Meisel is a turning point. the star photographer forces him to sign an exclusive contract.

Very early on, this very historic and expressionistic stance was established as his trademark in an ultra-normative visual universe. “Stephen made me understand right away that he was interested in my personality, he encouraged me. I’ve never thought of what I do as ‘different’. But staying on my own was a real challenge. I often quote Audrey Hepburn who said that it is better to be the best version of yourself than someone else’s bad example.

I often quote Audrey Hepburn who says it’s better to be the best version of yourself than a bad copy of someone else.

Coco Rocha

A pure show moment

This talent for drawing, the model even made a book about it in 2014.Pose study (With photographer Stephen Sebring). 2000 pages, 1000 different coverages from 100 different angles – quite a feat. 2007 was a breakout year for Coco Rochas, who made her mark on the catwalk at Jean Paul Gaultier’s fashion show with a dazzling Irish dance move; pure showmanship moment. Thirteen years later, for the designer’s farewell, he will offer the same show as a wink and gift to the man he considers his absolute mentor.

But beyond the face that leaves a lasting impression on the retinas, Coco Rocha is above all a smart girl who knew how to find her place in an environment that quickly tires. new faces (“New faces”). “Cindy Crawford once told me that the best career is 10% luck and 90% work. Today, the star shares his twenty years of experience model campsfour-day mentoring sessions for groups of 30 or 40 aspiring models. In this “Coco Rocha Model Camps” menu: master class installation and catwalk obviously, but also courses on model rights, a topic Coco has been dealing with for a long time.

Cultivate your difference

In 2013, her lobbying work with the modeling alliance even led to the passage of a law in New York state to regulate the work of underage models (as, for example, in the case of child actors). “In my classes, I talk about everything, even the difficult things that I experienced in my career, for example, when I realized that my agent was embezzling money from my fees at the time… Students have the right to ask me all the questions. The good thing is that these sessions create a real support network between the girls and some continue to see each other afterwards.”

For Coco Rocha, the most important thing remains to make this new generation understand that she has a “voice”. “I especially encourage girls to find and develop their difference. I’ve seen a lot of models leave the industry because they didn’t know who they really were anymore… This industry is a real barrier, she continues. I want these girls to take back their own life story. And one of the best tools for this is social media.

Since the early 2010s, Coco Rocha was one of the first to use social media to put herself on stage and tell her everyday story. If today it seems impossible to do without it, then the fashion world had nothing but contempt for this form of communication, which was considered trivial and not glamorous enough. It was a good thing for him. Koko now has over two million followers on Instagram and over one million on TikTok, a real community that allows her to establish her influence and perpetuate her business. “Don’t be fooled, the purpose of this industry is primarily to make money. Many people tend to think that it is a frivolous and superficial environment, but it takes a lot of courage and persistence to succeed in the game.

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