DESTINATION IMAN - Supermodel Iman interviews ‘The Face’ mentors Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova and Coco Rocha about their style and approach to the game. IMAN: What were the qualities you were looking for in a model? COCO: For me, looks were second to attitude. I wanted hard working girls who really view modeling as a profession, not a lifestyle. I didn’t want the bad girls, the party girls, or the ones who just wanted to be TV famous on my team. I wanted girls who had an open mind, were willing to work very hard and trust me as a mentor to train them. NAOMI: I was looking for drive, passion, thick skin, being able to change, and a willingness to follow direction. All of those elements were really important to me. KAROLINA: Simply put, I wanted someone who was willing to work hard and was a good person. Uniqueness was important too. IMAN: What is your strongest suit as a leader? NAOMI: I was definitely Sergeant Major of the group. I was tough on my girls and didn’t sugar coat anything, because that won’t help them in the long run. I pushed them as hard as they’ll be pushed when they’re in the modeling industry, and I think they came out of the competition as stronger models because of this. COCO: I think my strong suit was that I never played it safe. I can’t stand mediocrity in modeling or in fashion and I wasn’t going to let my girls take the easy route – ever. KAROLINA: I’ve always been interested in becoming a mentor to girls who have just started out in the modeling business. I wish I had this when I was coming up — women in the business to offer advice, guidance, and who could relate to everything you go through. [[MORE]] IMAN: How would you describe “The Face”? NAOMI: As you know, being a model is about more than just having pretty face – you need charisma, passion, talent, drive and smarts to represent a brand. “The Face” is my new reality TV series that searches for the new face of ULTA Beauty. Karolina Kurkova, Coco Rocha and I are searching for an aspiring model who has the beauty and personality to be the spokesmodel for this national brand. During the series, we choose our teams from a group of aspiring models and then guide them through assignments and challenges, including photo shoots, runway shows, and commercials. The models will be exposed to the very best photographers, stylists, and designers in the fashion world and get a feel for what the industry is truly like. In the end, one model will secure a contract as the face of ULTA Beauty. KAROLINA: Being “the face” of a brand requires the right look, charisma, and talent — it’s about more than just a pretty face. This show gives aspiring models the opportunity to learn these qualities from three names in the business, but also gain a sense of self and confidence as women, in all aspects of their lives. COCO: The Face is more than just an aspiring model show. It’s also about how three established models from different generations work and teach their own team of models how best to become the face of a major brand. The show gives the viewer an inside look at the world of modeling as Naomi, Karolina and myself guide our girls through real life assignments, photo shoots and commercials. As mentors, we do our best to instill the sorts of skills and lessons we think our teams of girls will need to have successful careers.IMAN: What have you learned from your “opponent”? KAROLINA: I went into this competition without a strategy. My goal was to get to know these women personally and intuitively figure out their needs and be there to support them. I stuck to this throughout the competition, but I think I learned from my opponents that having a strategy is relevant in certain cases. For example, in the elimination rounds, maybe you don’t send your weakest girl, but you send the girl who you feel confident WON’T get eliminated. NAOMI: Karolina, Coco and I all had different leadership styles. It was interesting to see how they coached their girls, and the expertise they brought into the competition. COCO: I’ve always had my own way of modeling but what I saw from my fellow mentors Karolina and Naomi was that there is not just one route to success. We all have our different styles, but I think what we all share is that in order to remain relevant in modeling you have to be a chameleon and be able to embody all sorts of “types”. To read more go to www.destinationiman.com

DESTINATION IMAN - Supermodel Iman interviews ‘The Face’ mentors Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova and Coco Rocha about their style and approach to the game.

IMAN: What were the qualities you were looking for in a model?

COCO: For me, looks were second to attitude. I wanted hard working girls who really view modeling as a profession, not a lifestyle. I didn’t want the bad girls, the party girls, or the ones who just wanted to be TV famous on my team. I wanted girls who had an open mind, were willing to work very hard and trust me as a mentor to train them.

NAOMI: I was looking for drive, passion, thick skin, being able to change, and a willingness to follow direction. All of those elements were really important to me.

KAROLINA: Simply put, I wanted someone who was willing to work hard and was a good person. Uniqueness was important too.

IMAN: What is your strongest suit as a leader?

NAOMI: I was definitely Sergeant Major of the group. I was tough on my girls and didn’t sugar coat anything, because that won’t help them in the long run. I pushed them as hard as they’ll be pushed when they’re in the modeling industry, and I think they came out of the competition as stronger models because of this.

COCO: I think my strong suit was that I never played it safe. I can’t stand mediocrity in modeling or in fashion and I wasn’t going to let my girls take the easy route – ever.

KAROLINA: I’ve always been interested in becoming a mentor to girls who have just started out in the modeling business. I wish I had this when I was coming up — women in the business to offer advice, guidance, and who could relate to everything you go through.

Read More

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Very kind and wise words from fashion legend Iman on Refinery29.

Do you think supermodel means the same thing today, as it did when you first became famous? 

“No, First of all, I think the only sacred ground that’s left for models is the runway. If the celebrities could figure out a way to get on the runway, they would. But they don’t have the bodies for it. Models have lost everything else. They’ve lost the beauty accounts, the covers. But the thing that’s also a shame is that they don’t have a voice. 

“But social media, like especially the way Coco Rocha is doing it — that’s where you can actually create your own content and your own voice. And young models have to stop being treated like hangers for hire and take control of that. Because they can. Trust me, young girls and boys who are out there in their teens who want to be in this industry whether as a designer, a makeup artist, or a stylist, they aren’t looking at Kim Kardashian, they are looking at Karlie Kloss. 

“It’s that connection to fans that models don’t have to be given, now. They can have a voice. They can video blog. They can Tweet. They can create. And that’s what they really should do.”

Read more HERE> 

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UK TELEGRAPH - November 1st, 2011
by Aurelia Donaldson

Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha talks to the Telegraph about her latest humanitarian project - a range of jewellery to benefit Cambodian exploitation survivors.

While most models are commonly known for lending their face for the top fashion campaigns, storming the catwalks and attending fabulous fashion parties, Coco Rocha is also becoming increasingly known for her humanitarian efforts. The Canadian-born supermodel recently released a short film called ‘Letter to Haiti’ which documented her trip to Haiti shortly after the earthquake destroyed the area. The film, directed by her husband James Conran, follows Rocha as she hands out thousands of letters from people around the world to the children of Haiti.

Her latest philanthropic work benefits the victims of human trafficking and exploitation in Cambodia. Alongside Senhoa, a jewellery company that supports victims of human trafficking by providing income-generating opportunities, Rocha has designed seven jewellery pieces which will be handcrafted by the Cambodian survivors, often children aged 15 and up. Using Swarovski crystals the pieces will be sold on www.senhoa.com/cocorocha , with all proceeds going to Senhoa’s community development projects that rehabilitate and educate the young women of Cambodia.

Rocha has also made sure her fashion friends are involved and enlisted models Iman and Caroline Trentini to join her in the campaign shot by America’s Next Top Model judge and photographer Nigel Barker.
Rocha became involved with Senoa after the founder of the site, Lisa T.D. Nguyen, attended her wedding to James Conran in June 2010, during which Rocha wore a dress designed by close friend Zac Posen.
The jewellery is available to buy from today on Senoa’s website, where you can also see the campaign and read more about the collection.

With special thanks to Coco Rocha, James Conran, Calvin at Storm Models and Micki Schneider at Wilhelmina Models.

www.cocorocha.com
www.senhoa.com/cocorocha
www.stormmodels.com
www.wilhelmina.com

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ELLE’S AROUND THE WORLD.Sometimes a shoot you did for one magazine will show up again in another magazine, in another country, a month or two later. I guess we models like that because it’s twice the exposure for half the work! Earlier this year I did a big shoot with Elle UK and contributed an article about Iman and Cindy Crawford, and so far I’ve spotted them in Elle UK, Belgium, Norway, Indonesia, Greece, Portugal and another yet unnamed country coming out soon!

ELLE’S AROUND THE WORLD.

Sometimes a shoot you did for one magazine will show up again in another magazine, in another country, a month or two later. I guess we models like that because it’s twice the exposure for half the work! Earlier this year I did a big shoot with Elle UK and contributed an article about Iman and Cindy Crawford, and so far I’ve spotted them in Elle UK, Belgium, Norway, Indonesia, Greece, Portugal and another yet unnamed country coming out soon!

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IMAN CINDY COCO -This month’s Elle UK contains a very special interview I conducted with two modeling icons and personal heroes of mine -  Cindy Crawford and Iman. Earlier this year I had this idea that I would really like to sit down with modeling veterans of various decades to discuss the modeling profession, narrowing down where it has changed and where it has remained the same over the years. After talking to a mutual friend (hairdresser extraordinaire Billy Brasfield) I initially reached out (via twitter!) to Cindy Crawford to see if she was open to talking to me and amazingly she was! Not long after this, at a tea party during Paris Fashion Week, I approached Lorraine Candy (Editor-in-Chief of Elle UK) with the idea of turning this idea into an article for her magazine. She said she would love to see what I could do and so I got to work. Cindy and Iman were incredibly generous with their time and their insight on this project. They were both extremely candid and open about the highs and the lows of modeling through the decades and through our talks I learnt so much about the heritage of my profession. I won’t share the whole article with you just yet as you can still pick it up in the August Elle UK, but I will tease you with one paragraph (did I mention it’s FOUR pages!?):I asked Cindy and Iman if they feel the professional model is a dying career path. “It certainly is harder to achieve success as a fashion model today,” Cindy says. “It seems like just being a good model isn’t enough. I tell young models to develop other talents as well.” Iman has a slightly different angle on the issue. “I wouldn’t mind if these A-, B-, C- and D-list ‘celebrities’ only got the covers,” says Iman. “As we all know, covers don’t pay the rent!” The real kicker for Iman is that celebrities are “grabbing the spoils of war of our industry! Those coveted beauty and hair contracts…” She adds, “At least the last sacred ground for a model is the runway. So far…” So far? I found Iman’s comment funny at first, but then I found myself wondering exactly how long it will be until runways are walked by the Octomoms, Antoine Dodsons and Rebecca Blacks of this world.

IMAN CINDY COCO -This month’s Elle UK contains a very special interview I conducted with two modeling icons and personal heroes of mine -  Cindy Crawford and Iman.

Earlier this year I had this idea that I would really like to sit down with modeling veterans of various decades to discuss the modeling profession, narrowing down where it has changed and where it has remained the same over the years. After talking to a mutual friend (hairdresser extraordinaire Billy Brasfield) I initially reached out (via twitter!) to Cindy Crawford to see if she was open to talking to me and amazingly she was! Not long after this, at a tea party during Paris Fashion Week, I approached Lorraine Candy (Editor-in-Chief of Elle UK) with the idea of turning this idea into an article for her magazine. She said she would love to see what I could do and so I got to work.

Cindy and Iman were incredibly generous with their time and their insight on this project. They were both extremely candid and open about the highs and the lows of modeling through the decades and through our talks I learnt so much about the heritage of my profession. I won’t share the whole article with you just yet as you can still pick it up in the August Elle UK, but I will tease you with one paragraph (did I mention it’s FOUR pages!?):

I asked Cindy and Iman if they feel the professional model is a dying career path. “It certainly is harder to achieve success as a fashion model today,” Cindy says. “It seems like just being a good model isn’t enough. I tell young models to develop other talents as well.” Iman has a slightly different angle on the issue. “I wouldn’t mind if these A-, B-, C- and D-list ‘celebrities’ only got the covers,” says Iman. “As we all know, covers don’t pay the rent!” The real kicker for Iman is that celebrities are “grabbing the spoils of war of our industry! Those coveted beauty and hair contracts…” She adds, “At least the last sacred ground for a model is the runway. So far…”

So far? I found Iman’s comment funny at first, but then I found myself wondering exactly how long it will be until runways are walked by the Octomoms, Antoine Dodsons and Rebecca Blacks of this world.


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