Coco Rocha

[ShesElectric]

Personal

 

[Paws]

^Sweet

 

[Child_in_time]

Coco Rocha (Elite) in NYC, May 2008

WHEN VISIONAIRE INVITED 12 ARTISTS TO SPLASH THEIR IMAGERY ACROSS A SERIES OF LACOSTE POLOS, NO ONE THOUGHT THE MATERIAL WOULD SHUT DOWN A FRENCH FACTORY OR END UP ON
THE WALLS OF GAGOSIAN. GET READY FOR THE WILDEST ARTWEAR EVER
On a sunny Saturday morning in May, Richard Phillips’s studio, a bright, white space overlooking the Hudson River, was beginning to feel like a hall of mirrors. Everywhere you look, there’s Coco Rocha: the person, the portrait, the Lacoste polo shirt emblazoned with her image. “It’s like an endless multiple,” muses Phillips, who, as the painter of said portrait, can’t contain his smiles. “It’s really quite exciting.”

The cause for all the Cocos? Visionaire’s latest project, issue 54, entitled SPORT. The publication–the first wearable one—was produced in collaboration with Lacoste, which on the heels of its 75th anniversary, wanted to do something fun. The company approached Visionaire, which conceived the idea of a series of full-coverage, full-color, photographically printed artist-edition polo shirts. “Essentially, we wanted to print the issue on them,” explains Visionaire’s Cecilia Dean. (Given the expense and amount of labor involved, it proved to be no easy feat.)

As for the artists who contributed, they weren’t the obvious choices and their work isn’t the kind normally seen on clothing. The list is a mix of creative individuals: musicians, filmmakers, painters, fashion designers, twelve in all.

Karl Lagerfeld, who knew the company founder, René Lacoste, sketched a portrait of him; the crocodile, which was Mr. Lacoste’s nickname, serves as his left eye. Michael Stipe offered a photograph he took of the audience at one of his concerts. Pedro Almodóvar worked with the art director Juan Gatti, who designs his title sequences, on a collage of his films. David Byrne, who loves Las Vegas, decided on a map of the city that runs from heart to liver. The artist Thomas Ruff sent in an image of the Grand Canyon that, curiously, comes into focus only from far away. Thomas Demand, who builds life-size models of interiors and exteriors, then photographs the construction before destroying it, used an image of artificially lit paper leaves to create an effect that looks almost like camouflage. Phil Poynter, who shoots the Lacoste ads, photographed Angela Lindvall in a pool—the photo makes the shirt look as if it were underwater too. Peter Lindbergh offered one of his more iconic images—a shot of Linda Evangelista from a 1988 Comme des Garçons ad campaign. The artist T.J. Wilcox used one of his striking, color-drenched collages that were shown at Metro Pictures gallery last fall. Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin collaborated with the graphic design team M/M (Paris) to produce a nude image overlaid with psychosexual doodles. (Lacoste’s factory workers—apparently a conservative lot—demanded a letter of approval from the company president before finishing the job.) Photographer and SHOWstudio founder Nick Knight sent in an image of an exploding flower. And Phillips, well, he painted Coco.

“I saw a photo of her on style.com, and with her chin tipped down and her expression, it was an image of pure power, of dominance over the audience,” he explains, as Coco strikes poses in his studio, dressed in a latex bodysuit and each of the twelve shirts. “I’d already begun drawing her when Visionaire called.” Phillips, in fact, was so taken with the image of Coco, that he’s currently painting a larger 6-foot version of the portrait to be included in his show at Gagosian next March. As for the shirts—which have tags embroidered with each artist’s name in silver stitching—they are, themselves, works of art. Coco plans to hang hers on the wall. “They’re definitely pieces of art,” acknowledges Dean. “But I also hope people wear them out on the street.”
Karin Nelson
Photography Matthu Placek
Styling Keegan Singh
Makeup James Kaliardos for L’Oréal Paris
Hair Jeff Francis using Kérastase Paris (The Wall Group)
Production FoxMoth Productions
Retouching La Boutique
Shirt Visionaire 54 SPORT in collaboration with Lacoste
Bodysuit and leggings from The Baroness
Gloves LaCrasia
Hood Purple Passion
Shoes Narciso Rodriguez


vmagazine.com

 

[VivaLaReine]

the photo is really amazing

 

[valentina_rocks]

lol omg that coco pic is funny

 

[controversiaster]

Oh Coco is my fav female model I just love her, she is so sweet

 

[HappyChanel]

Personal

I love Coco haha.

 

[Bahiyya]

Ooo, Coco is totally doing her irish dance jump in those crazy heels . I hope there was an ambulance on stand-by. Wow, there's so much Coco photos coming in I don't know where to start. Thanks to everyone who posted them .

 

[van-kun]

YSL

Soucre: Bergdorf Goodman

I'm sorry that I don't know how to make a thumbnail...

 

[controversiaster]

Saw this YSL add in a mag the other I was like "awww, its Coco!!"

 

[cold_sun]

Wow Coco overload, Im lovin it

 

[Brighid]

#7337 - I love it!
Wow, so many new stuff with Coco!

 

[ckgirlbr]

I just adore this picture of her:

elle.com.br

 

[kokobombon]

I think that Coco´s "clean faces" from the Interface editorial were never posted...





vmagazine

 

[simplylovely]

Editorial: Powerhouse Editorial - Elite Models
Magazine: V #54, July August 2008
Photographer: Taghi Naderzad



#65

 

[kissmesweet]

^ Coco looks baeutiful there. Thanks for the scan, simplylovely!

 

[Moofins]

Wow, more than ever, Coco has been WOWing me lately. And that is all I can say!

 

[montrealm]

Here is the video for Elle Quebec September 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpcRG1yeamg

 

[Brighid]

^ thanks for this video, Coco is awesome

Was this photo posted? It's cute

flickr

 

[Bahiyya]

I've never seen it before . I love Coco she seems to have so much fun and have a great attitude all the time . She's one of the nice ones without being a bore.