A NEW YORK WEEK
by Coco Rocha
Here I am, back at my second home, the airport. This time I’m headed to Brazil for 48 hours (which includes 20 hours of flying there and back!!) I’m sad to be leaving so soon, though I did have a nice week back in New York…
On Monday I got to catch up with friends at the CFDA Fashion Fund Awards dinner which turned out to be a lovely evening. Even for us models, its fun to see what people are wearing to events like that. As soon as I got there Miss Karlie Kloss came over to chat. She’s such a sweetheart and was definitely the “lady in red” wearing a simple but chic Calvin Klien shift. My fellow Elite girl, Poppy Delevigne (how cute is that name?) looked so sweet with her floral print dress and blazer combination and I loved Jessica Stam’s outfit - she floated in wearing all white, looking like the angelic counterpart to my black on black DVF ensemble. Chanel Iman was looking very rocker chic in her OTK boots. She showed me her giant three pronged ring which was no joke - that ring demanded respect!! (and possibly doubled as a weapon). Chanel’s boyfriend asked my boyfriend James who it was that had styled him that night and James proudly announced that he had styled himself! Apparently he’s been dressing himself for 20+ years now!! (Though I seem to remember telling him to buy the jacket he was wearing a few months back).
I got to catch up with Behati who was positively glowing, she told me all about the grueling preparation a Victoria’s Secret model must go through ready for the big show (which was actually filmed last night). At the dinner Behati and her date sat at one end of a long table with James and I sat 20 feet away at the other end. Though we couldn’t talk we shared winks and mimed pointless commentary back and forth as we were treated to what we all agreed was probably the best chicken pot pie anyone had ever tasted. Of course, none of the fashion people at the table dared to be the one to finish the whole thing - except of course James, who unabashedly did so. I was jealous.
The key note speech by Alber Elbaz was quite hilarious and the presenters, Anna Wintour, Diane Von Furstenberg and Nicole Kidman looked as beautiful as ever. The winner of the $200,000 fashion fund was Sophie Theallet. No doubt she will be a designer to watch for in the years to come. Last years winner was Alexander Wang and his career sky rocketed since.
Anyway, the rest of the week I was working with one of my favorite photographers, Arthur Elgort. I remember one of my first shoots for American Vogue was with Arthur and Grace up in Maine. We were shooting with these grisly fishermen who all looked vaguely like the guy from the Gortons Fish Sticks commercials. I had such a lovely time, I was only 16 or so and the local kids wanted to take me out bowling one evening. I remember asking Grace and Arthur for permission to go and like they were my fashion Mom and Dad I remember having them excitedly tell me “Go Coco! Have fun!!”. I’ve worked with Arthur quite a few times since then and we always do have a great time. He has this amazing penthouse studio he works out of in Soho. When you’re up there you’re a little overwhelmed by the gorgeous light streaming into such a gigantic space. Its a little like being in an ethereal Noah’s Ark.
Well that’s all for now…. When I get back to the states in a few days I’ll be making that big announcement I spoke of earlier, so please do check back here.
Before I go, I should mention that Ive been asked by a few people what I think to Miss J’s recent comments about my walk. As you might know, Miss J is a runway coach and judge on America’s Next Top Model. In a recent interview with the New York Times he described my walk as looking like my “nose is always running”. I’m not sure what that means, but if it keeps me in demand then I hope I never cure this cold!
Sniff sniff…
