The Fashion Bazaar - Haute Coco

Coco Rocha has gone from Irish-dancing down a runway at couture week to becoming a guiding light in today’s competitive modelling world. Amy Yasmine catches up with the Queen of Pose in Paris, who in an exclusive interview, shares her greatest achievements, parenthood, and life before #MeToo.

- Amy Yasmine

The photographer and I are deciding on the day’s shoot soundtrack, when Canadian supermodel and BAZAAR December 2018 cover star Coco Rocha chirps, “Let’s play something from my playlist!” And just like that, our mood on set went from chilled to ZoukOut 2018 in a matter of seconds. Rocha’s picks? An eclectic mélange of ’80s cheese, ’90s favourites, and current hits including Migos’s “Bad and Boujee”. It certainly says a lot about fashion’s “Queen of Pose”; the 30-year-old shape shifter who once, in a record of three days, delivered an impressive selection of 1,000 poses. It’s a talent that led to lucrative campaigns with Dior, Balenciaga, and Saint Laurent, while her chameleon-like prowess has kept her at the top of her game for 14 years.

“I’ll never forget [the moment I was first scouted], because it all just seemed so absurd to me!” Rocha recalls, detailing how Vancouver-based agent Charles Stuart discovered her at an Irish dance competition. “All my friends burst out laughing!” she shares. “Of all of us, I was the last one anyone thought could model. We all had this idea that models were these sexy glamazons, and I was a tall, lanky teen who liked to wear sneakers and oversized sweaters!” A far cry from the statuesque beauty that stands in front of us today, having arrived on set in Paris’ 20th arrondissement wearing a wraparound miniskirt, mesh tee, and yellow bomber jacket.