Model Slash: Aspiring Drummer Emeline Ghesquière
They’ve got the face, the body, a portfolio full of ad campaigns and editorials shot by top photographers in the industry, and a runway roster to match. But in our new Model-Slash column, Style.com profiles girls whose ambitions and drive extend beyond the catwalk.
If you haven’t heard the name Emeline Ghesquière (pictured) before, get prepared to hear it quite a bit in the coming months. The 18-year-old Belgian beauty got her start as an exclusive on the Calvin Klein Collection Fall runway (”I arrived at the casting and waited four hours, then got the call back and waited seven hours, then did fittings for the rest of the week every day from 3:00 p.m. to midnight. You’d think since I wasn’t allowed to walk in the other New York shows as an exclusive, I would’ve gotten a break,” she tells Style.com). After her big debut, Ghesquière skipped out on London and Milan, then made appearances in Paris at John Galliano, Akris, and Carven, among others, and has been busy with fittings for Couture this week. But Ghesquière’s big focus is hitting it out of the park at the upcoming Spring shows. As it goes, premium girls are often launched on a few select runways their first season, then blast off as sophomores (Maria Bradley and Mackenzie Drazan are recent examples of this trend), so Ghesquière knows what to expect come September. “I want to try my hardest for one season to do 50-60 shows and be bone-tired by the end,” she says. “It is my goal to know how the top models feel.”
Between casting calls, fittings, and shows, Ghesquière blasts David Bowie, Sonic Youth, Sigur Rós, and the Drums on her headphones. “I keep them [headphones] on until the last minute possible. I think the volume scares people in elevators sometimes, but I kind of like that,” she says. Then, after a long day spent looking pretty, Ghesquière sits down in front of her drum set and lets loose. “Drumming makes me feel free. I love that it’s never perfect and you can experiment with new beats or genres—my favorite is eighties rock,” Ghesquière said. Though her drum lesson schedule used to be more regular, these days she squeezes in two lessons a week and she’s thrumming on every surface she can find—books, subway seats, her boyfriend’s back, you name it. Speaking of, Ghesquière has learned a lot about the instrument just by hanging out with her boyfriend’s punk band. You’ll usually find her up front near the stage rocking out, in one of her beau’s concert T-shirts, stovepipes, and creepers.
—Brittany Adams