There’s no question that sitting down with one of the planet’s most recognizable supermodels and downright cool humans COCO ROCHA is fabuloso witrh a capital F. This Social Gal recently had the pleasure when Coco, husband/manager James Conran, and gorgeous baby daughter Ioni, recently stopped into the official launch of the IRO flagship in Westmount. Fun we had. Enjoy.
You’ve heard it before, but as a new mom, has your style changed?
No, I wouldn’t say that. I think the idea of a mom dressing in a certain way, or getting a “mom haircut,” is very old school. Nowadays, style is expressive, exciting, an adventure which isn’t compromised by being pregnant and becoming a mother. And of course, when you’re a mom in today’s world, you want to be a cool mom. So no, I wouldn’t say anything has changed except … you’re not buying for yourself anymore. You’re buying everything in mini and overloading, and then realizing you can’t even put the baby in everything because she’s gotten so big, so quick! On my side, too, I never really bought clothes for myself. That’s part of the job: you get amazing clothes. It was never interesting for me to go out there and buy clothes, but now for the baby, it’s so nice to go find cute things!
When it comes to party time (our thing on the Diary front), what’s your best style advice?
If you’re going out for the evening and it’s something special, why wouldn’t you want to be the belle of the ball? But what’s key is not to worry about what other people say or think. If you find something cool, quirky, and exciting, wear it and people will acknowledge that there’s something interesting about it. But wearing something because someone tells you to or because it’s trending? No! I hate the word trending because what is trending? If you love it, wear it! I think it’s all about how you own it.
So in your eyes, the greatest accessory is attitude?
Yes, attitude. For sure!
Setting fashion aside for a moment, you’re a veritable powerhouse on social media, and a joy to follow. Any tips here?
To keep it real, the voice must come from you. No one owns my account; no one does it on my behalf. The only person that has access to my account is my husband, and who better to know me than someone that’s with me 24/7? Other than that, there’s no PR team that takes over. I’ve worked hard to keep it authentic. People know when they’re being sold something, and when it’s not your voice or point of view. Also important: don’t be scared to go against the grain a bit. If there’s something you want to talk about, go for it. It’s your point of view! Don’t worry if everyone’s going to like it. That’s not why they’re following you; they’re following because they want to see what you think and are up to. Yes, but sometimes we tend to be a tad people-pleasing, online and off. Yeah, you want to be part of the cool kids. And it never goes away; high school sticks around for the rest of your life, especially in the (modelling) industry. I feel it’s an accumulation of the nerds from school, and we’ve always wanted to be accepted. I mean, every model that you talk to was probably a nerd in school and wants acceptance.
Really? I usually think of models as the pretti-est girls in high school.
No, never! Never! More like tall, quirky, skinny, usually with something about them that was a flaw, but that they have now successfully turned into an attribute, a signature.
Wow, that’s pretty sobering. Once again, thanks for keeping it real, Coco, and inspiring on so many levels.
Photography JIMMY HAMELIN