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

Haute couture week is in full swing in Paris when we come across Coco Rocha. The model left leafy Westchester County, north of New York, where she lives with her husband and three children, for the hectic pace of the fashion capital. Between two shows for renowned couturiers, like Viktor & Rolf or Iris van Herpen, the one we call in the profession The Queen of Pose (“the queen of the pose”, in French), in reference to her total mastery and her expressive creativity in front of the lens, took part in the game for our special issue dedicated to gesture.

Lilac eyes, ultra-thin face outlined by high cheekbones, proud head posture: for Coco Rocha, 35, fashion is above all a performance. As the flashes crackle, she moves through poses at breakneck speed, tying and untying her slender dancer’s body. “We models only have our bodies and our faces to tell a story. We are like silent film actresses,” she emphasizes. Dance, which she has practiced for a long time, is like a backbone for Coco. And that’s where it all started.

Ultra-normed visual universe

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

Very early on, this very histrionic and expressionist way of posing established itself as his trademark in an ultra-normed visual universe. “Steven immediately made me understand that it was my personality that interested him, he encouraged me. I never thought that what I was doing was “different”. But remaining myself was a real challenge. I often quote Audrey Hepburn, who said that it is better to be the best version of yourself than a bad copy of someone else!” she says with a laugh.

I often quote Audrey Hepburn, who says that it is better to be the best version of yourself than a bad copy of someone else!

Coco Rocha

Pur moment de show

This talent for posing, the model even made a book about it, in 2014,The Study of Pose (with photographer Steven Sebring): 2,000 pages, 1,000 different exposures from 100 different angles – a real feat. The year 2007 was the year of explosion for Coco Rochas, who left her mark with a dazzling Irish dance move on the podium of a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show – a pure show moment. Thirteen years later, for the designer’s farewell, she will offer the same show as a wink, and a gift, to the man she considers her absolute mentor.

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

Cultivate your difference

In 2013, her lobbying work alongside associations like Model Alliance even made it possible to pass a law in New York State to regulate the work of underage models (as is the case for child actors, for example). ). “In my classes, I talk about everything, even the difficult things I experienced in my career – like when I realized that my agent at the time was embezzling money from my fees… Students have the right to ask me all the questions! What’s nice 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 it has “a voice”. “I especially encourage girls to find and cultivate their difference. I’ve seen too many models leave this industry because they no longer knew who they really were… This industry is a real obstacle course, she continues. I want these girls to take back control of the story of their own lives. And one of the best tools for this is social networks.

From the beginning of the 2010s, Coco Rocha was among the first to use social media to put herself on stage and tell her daily story. If today it seems unthinkable to do without it, at the time, the fashion world had nothing but contempt for this way of communicating, considered trivial and not glamorous enough. It was a good thing for him: Coco now has more than two million subscribers on Instagram and more than a million on TikTok – a real community that allows him to establish his influence and perpetuate his business. “Don’t be fooled, the goal of this industry is above all to make money. A lot of people tend to think that it’s a frivolous and superficial environment, but to succeed in the game, you need a lot of guts and perseverance.

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