This new thread is to reintroduce the top Asian model of the 1980s Ariane Koizumi. She is a native New Yorker who began with Elite Models and worked the international catwalks of all the big name designers. As well as appearing in international editions of Vogue and other magazines. She then appeared as the female lead in the 1980s film "Year of the Dragon" with Mickey Rourke, really the first time in a long time that a major motion picture was opened with an Asian female.
Please enjoy, before Ling Tan, Jenny Shimizu, Du Juan, Han Jin, and Liu Wen, she simply used "Ariane" as her calling card.
Credit: VMagazine.com
< > PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 BACK TO V FASHION
ARIANE KOIZUMI
Photography Steven Meisel
Text Derek Blasberg
Some models, particularly those defined as nonclassic beauties, can claim a great discovery story: a scout meets an awkward beauty at an amusement park and makes her a supermodel overnight or a photographer finds a scrawny girl selling fruit in a small village and introduces her to a designer. But Ariane Koizumi, a born-and-bred New Yorker of Dutch and Japanese descent, who never considered herself an exemplar of fashion’s beauty standard, laughs at this sort of boilerplate. “Yeah, I didn’t have a Funny Face moment,” Koizumi says. “My friend was going to the School of Visual Arts and was an intern for a test photographer at a modeling agency. He took my picture and the agency saw it and signed me.”
After a few years of making the casting rounds, Koizumi moved to Paris. “And that did it,” she says. “It started very traditionally, working for Dior and doing fittings with Yves Saint Laurent. At that point, my look was very classic.” Then came the rather sudden transition from couture muse to face of high fashion: “I didn’t reinvent myself—they reinvented me,” she says of a haircut and new look organized by a posse of image makers that included Steven Meisel, Stephen Sprouse, and Julien d’Ys. “And then it all sort of popped! Steven and Stephen were a very specific moment in fashion, and you can’t get that back. And you can’t recreate it.”
After a decade as a model, Koizumi briefly worked as an actress before being drawn back to fashion—this time working on the other side of the industry, for the Prada store in New York. “For me, fashion wasn’t about being famous or a rock star. It was about the art of fashion, of couture, about the image. I wanted to be a mannequin with a soul,” says the Bronx-based mother of three. “But, believe me, looking back, it was wild!”
Please enjoy, before Ling Tan, Jenny Shimizu, Du Juan, Han Jin, and Liu Wen, she simply used "Ariane" as her calling card.
Credit: VMagazine.com
< > PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 BACK TO V FASHION
ARIANE KOIZUMI
Photography Steven Meisel
Text Derek Blasberg
Some models, particularly those defined as nonclassic beauties, can claim a great discovery story: a scout meets an awkward beauty at an amusement park and makes her a supermodel overnight or a photographer finds a scrawny girl selling fruit in a small village and introduces her to a designer. But Ariane Koizumi, a born-and-bred New Yorker of Dutch and Japanese descent, who never considered herself an exemplar of fashion’s beauty standard, laughs at this sort of boilerplate. “Yeah, I didn’t have a Funny Face moment,” Koizumi says. “My friend was going to the School of Visual Arts and was an intern for a test photographer at a modeling agency. He took my picture and the agency saw it and signed me.”
After a few years of making the casting rounds, Koizumi moved to Paris. “And that did it,” she says. “It started very traditionally, working for Dior and doing fittings with Yves Saint Laurent. At that point, my look was very classic.” Then came the rather sudden transition from couture muse to face of high fashion: “I didn’t reinvent myself—they reinvented me,” she says of a haircut and new look organized by a posse of image makers that included Steven Meisel, Stephen Sprouse, and Julien d’Ys. “And then it all sort of popped! Steven and Stephen were a very specific moment in fashion, and you can’t get that back. And you can’t recreate it.”
After a decade as a model, Koizumi briefly worked as an actress before being drawn back to fashion—this time working on the other side of the industry, for the Prada store in New York. “For me, fashion wasn’t about being famous or a rock star. It was about the art of fashion, of couture, about the image. I wanted to be a mannequin with a soul,” says the Bronx-based mother of three. “But, believe me, looking back, it was wild!”
Last edited by a moderator:
