Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Don't get me wrong: 'America's Next Top Model' is fantastic. They've done 20 seasons, so they've obviously done something right. But I think what ensures that the winner of 'The Face' will become a working model is the prize - a year-long contract with a cosmetics company is huge.
When I first started modeling, I had the chance to walk the runway with Naomi passing by me, but I didn't know anything about supermodels. But when I saw her backstage, she complimented me on my walk, and I thought she was so nice - everyone was freaking out that I didn't know who she was.
I didn't know anything about fashion. You would see me in the biggest sweater with jeans or the tightest elastic pants. Not nice clothes. My mom took me a lot to consignment stores when I was younger, and I never really got to go to fancy high-class stores, so... vintage was like a step up.
When I started, I knew nothing about fashion. I remember, my first day going to my agency, I was wearing these huge bell-bottoms - they were patchwork corduroy and denim, which, at the time, I thought were amazing. My agent told me, 'You have a casting with Prada - you have to burn those jeans.'
We get all excited about collaborations. You get excited to hear that Rihanna has something, because Rihanna is a singer, and she has amazing fashion. You want to see what she would create. I don't get upset and think, 'Someone else is going to do better than me.' You're like, 'Oh, good for her.'
Models can be people, too. But the only way to do that is to kind of step up and keep doing new things that no one has thought of, from new websites to new blogs, a newscast, doing speeches, talking to kids. It kind of opens a new headline every time: 'Oh, a model hasn't done this before; a model hasn't done that before.'
When I was asked to be a part of 'The Face,' I was like, 'This is exactly what I do without cameras.' I didn't find it any different than what I usually do for young girls - giving runway tips or just explaining how the whole industry works - but now you have, like, 19 cameras on you, documenting you while you scratch your nose.
I was once dressed as a mermaid for a Jean Paul Gaultier show. My legs were bound into a fish tail, so I had to come down the runway on crutches. Halfway down, I was supposed to unzip the fish tail to reveal my legs, but the zipper broke, so I ended up stabbing my fake nail through the fabric of the zipper and ripping my way out.
The funny thing is that, for some reason, people think when you're pregnant, you have to start wearing maternity wear and wear flats and look Mom-ish. I don't know exactly what people expect of people who are pregnant, but there's definitely a lot of moms out there that look super fabulous all the time, and I guess that's my inspiration.
One of my favorite poses was when working with Steven Meisel. It was one of my first photo shoots with him, and we were trying to get the cover of Italian 'Vogue.' Then, I literally took my Balenciaga hat, pulled it down, and gave a rolling-eye, 'ugh' face, crossed legs on the floor. And lo and behold, that was the cover of Italian 'Vogue.'
I felt ugly, chubby, and stupid until I talked to my mom about it and she had me do a very good exercise that I recommend to every girl. She had me take a piece of paper and write down everything I liked and everything that I didn't like about my body and my life. By the end of the exercise, I realized that I had so many more things in my likes column. It showed me that while there are a few things in my dislikes column, I was giving ALL my attention to those few things!