As I write this blog I’m somewhere over the Atlantic, half way between England and America. I took this little 36 hour excursion to attend the ELLE Style Awards in London last night and I’m so very glad I did, I had an amazing time.

Before I continue I think I should just preface this blog with a little background story:

With the constant influx of new girls into the modeling world and the fickle nature of fashion in general, we models are always worrying about our “position” within the industry. Are we losing favor? Is our demand dropping? There’s no place this is more apparent than on a certain website which shall be left unnamed - on this site they apparently use some formula to rate models careers. I’m not sure how they come to their decisions but a lot of people, fans and professionals alike, will follow their ratings as if it were the fashion equivalent to the Dow Jones Industrial! Needless to say, I was always aware of my “ranking” over the years but then suddenly last year I dropped from their top 10 and completely off their top 50 list causing some of my supporters a little confusion and irritation. My thinking was always“Well, you can’t win them all” 

But I can win a few of them ;)

I am very happy to tell you that I’m coming home with a beautiful award for “ELLE’s Model Of The Year 2011”!! This will go up on my mantle, right next to the “Marie Claire Model Of The Year” award I received a few months ago in Paris. How insane is that?! Its astounding to me that two of the worlds biggest magazines have consider me for this title. Who knows, maybe the unnamed website will recalculate my ranking now - Although I secretly hope not, apparently the lower my ranking with them, the more awards I get, hehe.

All jokes aside, I guess the lesson in all of this is not to put too much weight into other peoples opinions. Its lovely to recieve accolades and I’m so flattered that two major magazines are calling me “Model Of The Year” but I know in reality, not everyone feels that way. I also know that one positive opinion of me is no more valid than the opinion of a website who decides that they dont think I rank amongst the top 50 working models.

To be honest - I’m thankful for all the praise and the criticism I receive in my career. Both only make me want to work harder. Speaking of which, its time for this model to get back to work! New York fashion week is almost over ;)

xoxo
COCO

UPDATE: I added all my pictures from the awards last night to my FACEBOOK. Have a look!! (click)