Supermodel of the World

This week's Model Musing column on Look Books features the Brazilian stunner Liliane Ferrarezi.

Check it out by clicking here.

Model Musing: Liliane Ferrarezi

At the young age of fourteen, Liliane was instantly catapulted to fame in her native Brazil when she won (over 350,000 other contestants) her country’s round of the Ford Supermodel of the World contest in a televised event that aired on MTV. A position as the second runner up, out of 45 finalists, in the world’s final in Punta Cana followed, as well as an immediate contract with Ford Models worldwide. Talk about starting off with a bang. 

In the Big Apple, Liliane’s career rocketed to the top. Campaigns for Hermes, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Miu Miu and Michael Kors, among others followed; along with covers and editorials for some of the world’s most celebrated magazines like Vogue, W, L’Officiel, Allure, Elle, I-D and V - all shot by the industry’s top photographers. Liliane reached a top position in models.com’s coveted top 50 - place in which she stayed for more than three years in a row. 

Now married and back to the arms of her native Brazil, Liliane only comes out of her beach front home in Florianópolis for very special bookings. Macy’s was the most recent, in which she is the leading lady in an all things Brazil commercial that is an homage to the beauty of her native country. For this one, she didn’t have to go too far; the location was an iconic house designed by Brazil’s most renowned architect, Oscar Niemeyer, in Rio de Janeiro.

Here Liliane picks one among so many memorable images from her career and tells us why this one is particularly important to her.

Why do you love this picture?

This was one of my first bookings, I had to make different faces and poses and that was all new and challenging at the same time. I didn’t know how to model and I was surrounded by so many influential people in the fashion industry.

Who took it?

It was David Sims, he always asks us to make so many different poses and faces. (laughs)

What was it for?

W Magazine

Was this a long shoot given your level of experience?

I’m not sure how long, but it was a long, long shoot. I didn’t know how to model properly and having to pose in so many different ways was a little complicated at the time 

Was anyone else with you?

My mom; I was so embarrassed to shoot in front of her! (laughs) But she was always with me in the beginning, she gave me so much support in my career, and I was so young.

Was modeling always a dream of yours?

I wanted to be a model, but I wasn’t desperate about it.

What was your most remarkable experience as a model?

Winning the Supermodel of the World contest in Brazil, because in my head I never thought I would win, it really was a surprise!

What are some of the most valuable lessons you learned from being a model?

Giving value to my family, my country and learning different cultures from different countries are some important ones. I also learned to be more patient, because one of the qualities we have to exercise the most in this profession is patience 

What about this profession makes you happy?

Getting to know different people from different parts of the world. It made me grow up really fast, faster than all the other girls my age.

What’s your biggest challenge as a model?

I really wish a could live in Brazil full time and still get to work in the US and in Europe as much as I always did. This is my current challenge. I suppose this is what makes life fun and interesting, always having new challenges to conquer; I am sure pretty soon I will have a brand new one!

Can you give an advice to the young girls out there who dream of becoming models?

Trust your dream and pursue it. Never think it will be easy, because it really isn’t, but don’t give up, because it’s all worth it.

Liliane Ferrarezi is represented by IMG Models.

Proud Legend

Out today on Look Books is an interview I did with the legendary supermodel Beverly Johnson.

Have a read by clicking here.

Beverly Johnson: Proud to be a Legend

Many people are iconic but only a few are legendary and not many of these legends are alive to tell their stories. Today, Beverly Johnson is more active in her professional and personal life than ever. With a career that spans more than 40 years of history, Mrs. Johnson is a shining beacon of the modeling industry.

Being the first African American woman to be featured on the cover of Vogue, Beverly was given an opportunity to make a difference in the world not only for women of color, but to women in general. Proving that a successful modeling career goes beyond good looks, Beverly became the first “modelpreneur” launching books and a hair care and beauty line in partnership with Target. 

Most recently Beverly added to her credits her very own reality TV show, entitled “Beverly’s Full House”, in which the development of her company and the relationship with her daughter Anansa are open for public viewing in what has become OWN’s second most watched show of the season.

What drove you to do this docu-series on OWN?

It was the perfect opportunity to have my daughter around me. I knew that my daughter would never consent to going into therapy or any of the other things I had been involved with all these years, and she loves reality shows, she got me into reality TV, so she was thrilled with the whole idea, and that’s why I pitched  Oprah , it was a great way to get closer to my daughter and work in our relationship. 

So, now you are working on this docu-series on your life and company, but looking back on your career you have been in film, now you are on TV, you’ve done runway, you’ve done advertising and more. What are the mediums that you worked with throughout your career that excite you the most?

Today digital media is something that really excites me, I love the podcasts, I read several blogs, I tweet, I Facebook; it’s really about sharing your feelings with people and there is a connection there. I believe that the internet has really made us able to connect with each other like we never have before.

Can you point out a moment in your career in which you look back and you say “this is it, now I have everything I could have asked for and I am happy!”?

I knew that being the first woman of color in the cover of Vogue was something that nobody would ever be able to take away from me because I was the first and Vogue was and still is such an important media, not only in fashion but in the culture of America. So I always said that if I never get to do anything else, I have achieved a huge accomplishment! And that was in the beginning of my career, so it was all uphill from there.

How did it make you feel; were you blown away? Because when you went to shoot the editorial, did you know it was going to be a cover? 

No, in those days you never knew you would be the cover until you saw yourself in the stand. But I knew it was a big deal, it still is a big deal to be on the cover of Vogue, but I didn’t know what it meant to be the first woman of color on that cover, and what it meant for people of color around the world. I wasn’t prepared for that kind of responsibility to be thrust upon me at such a young age, but it gave me a purpose and kind of a road map of where I should go and how I should honor that achievement.

How do you feel about being called a legend, are you proud of the title?

What's not to like!? It's an honor to be acknowledged for your passion and work in life.

Beverly Johnson is represented by Trump Legends. 

Follow Beverly Johnson on twitter at @BeverlyJohnson1 and check out her website by clicking here

Influencer

Not many people can cause impact in entire generations, and usually when they do they are pop stars, like Madonna or Michael Jackson. In this case, the influence came via a pop star but because of the creations of a true artist, Maripol.

Maripol's work however, goes far beyond a look, and in this piece I wrote for Look Books I explore more of her work with rubber jewelry and contributions with the New York downtown creative scene that went from Basquiat and Andy Warhol to Grace Jones and Debbie Harry.

This was a pleasure to write and I hope it is also a pleasure to read. Click here and have a look or read below.

Feel inspired, have a great day!

Influencer of a Generation

The year was 1983, and the collaboration between Maripol and Madonna would enter history to become one of the most legendary and iconic trends in history. The punk influenced look, composed mainly by rubber jewelry and crosses created by Maripol for Madonna’s Like a Virgin album cover and music video became a fashion phenomenon however, that was just one among many projects in which Maripol had her hands on. 

With a sharp eye for fashion and innovation, Maripol was not only styling looks but creating art and new concepts of her own. Working for Fiorucci as a creative director, she was responsible for all the buzz around their then famous New York store, which rocketed their designer jeans concept to fame. “We brought in Lamé Jeans on monday and by wednesday we didn’t have anymore left. Even Calvin Klein said he got inspired to do jeans by Fiorucci”, observes the artist.

The innovative rubber jewelry worn by the likes of Madonna and Grace Jones were completely created by Maripol in her NoHo apartment, in which she still lives today. The pieces became a hit, Maripol opened her own store and also worked on developing special merchandising for Madonna’s tour. On the flip side, becoming such a huge style icon back in an era  when copyright and patents weren’t really a priority, led Maripol’s company to a closure. “How can you survive when millions of people start making their most horrible supposedly rubber jewelry, which was actually made out of plastic? Mine was made of genuine rubber. I had a factory in Hong Kong, I had this dream to help the rubber industry in places like Malaysia and helping poor people by giving them work. Nobody else had that dream, it was pure greed! Now I know how it must feel to be Prada or others and see your knock off’s everywhere!”

Even though bankruptcy wasn’t ideal, it definitely did not stop Maripol in her tracks. Placed right at the core of the New York downtown scene, in the company of Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Deborah Harry, the group was creating whatever they felt was relevant and exciting.

Going on to produce and direct documentaries like “Crack is Whack” and music videos for talents like Elton John and Cher, this artist experimented in all realms available. It was with the feature film “Downtown ‘81”, produced by herself along with Glenn O’Brien and Edo Bertoglio that she really transcended her time. The film, which depicts a day in the life of the then emerging artist Jean Michel-Basquiat, was the portrait of the times in which they lived in, made with love and honesty for their generation and the many others which would follow and admire them.

Throughout her career Maripol had a couple of common denominators: curiosity and a polaroid camera. Known widely for her work with polaroid pictures, Maripol’s work has been shown in museums across the globe and featured in top art and fashion magazines. A book, Maripolarama was published in 2005 featuring her most remarkable images, and most recently in 2010 a more complete look at her career was brought to our attention by Damiani in a book entitled Little Red Riding Hood. In this book we are invited to take a closer look at Maripol’s oeuvre, drawing a finer picture of who this artistic genius really is. 

Her work with polaroids is not over, nor is her passion for rubber jewelry. In 2010, while working on Little Red Riding Hood, inspired by an 80s resurgence that was in the air, Maripol felt compelled to bring her creations back to life. Like any good inventor, the light bulb went on and the designer decided to approach Marc Jacobs for a collaboration with his line Marc by Marc Jacobs. Maripol was taken to Marc by the resemblance of his Bleeker street store with Fiorucci’s back in the 80s. The return was a huge success via 17 pieces that included jewelry and t-shirts and brought attention to Maripols name and brand to another generation of hipsters.

Currently working on independently relaunching her line, she never seems to stop; but why should she? Not many can say they have influenced a generation. Maripol can.