The Shoot: Amazing Grace
Grace Mahary dazzles with her style, strength, and velocity. Kerry Potter meets the New York-based model, as she showcases the season's denim looks.
Photographs by Rory Payne. Fashion by Natalie Brewster.
Grace Mahary is beaming into her laptop camera as she dances, her long dark curls flying, around her Harlem apartment. We’ve just connected via Skype, and I’ve realised too late that indie rock music is blaring from my computer. Apologising, I scramble to mute it. ‘Hey, it’s OK!’ laughs the 26-year-old Canadian. ‘We can dance!’ It’s quite the introduction. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so full of beans.
Energetic, effusive and enthusiastic, if Mahary is as fun to work with as she is to chat to, it’s easy to see why she’s such an in-demand runway model, walking for big names such as Saint Laurent and Marc Jacobs since her breakthrough as an exclusive booking for Givenchy’s AW12 show. Of course, she’s beautiful too – all eyes, lips, perfect skin and that long, lean, athletic body that landed her in the 2014 Victoria’s Secret show in London. The daughter of Eritrean immigrants who settled in Alberta, Canada, Mahary grew up obsessed by basketball and trailing around after two elder brothers. With her father a pharmacist, she hankered after a career in medicine, ideally as a sports doctor. She began studying for a degree in physical education and health in Toronto, fending off approaches from modelling scouts in shopping malls. But an accident on the basketball court – another player elbowed her in the face and knocked out her tooth – made Mahary reassess. ‘I had an epiphany. I wanted to challenge myself outside of studying and sport and I thought, “Why don’t I give modelling a chance?”’
Mahary moved to Paris in 2011, was cast by Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, and things snowballed. ‘In my first season I met [Ethiopian model] Liya Kebede who was always an inspiration to me, and now is a cool friend in my life,’ she enthuses. ‘She’s from East Africa too; it was so great being able to see someone else in the industry who looked like me.’ Then there’s walking for Chanel. ‘Its productions are always so inspiring. The supermarket show was awesome. I took home a tennis ball!’ Not forgetting those angel wings: ‘The Victoria’s Secret show was insane. I’m such a baby, I cried backstage! I was just humbled to be there. It was, like, “Oh my god, there’s Candice [Swanepoel], there’s Behati [Prinsloo].” I was so nervous, but I channel it into excitement. I try to make it a positive.’
That positive mental attitude is just one of the sporting qualities Mahary brings to her job. ‘As an athlete, endurance and resilience are super important, and they’re necessary in modelling too,’ she says. ‘You have to be able to bounce back from rejection, from someone not wanting you. And you need stamina – during a 15-hour shoot, you need to be able to maintain your energy.’ That athleticism also helps Mahary maintain perspective on her looks, and what really counts in life. ‘I’m about what I can do with my body, as opposed to what I look like. That’s always been my motto. Because people get over what you look like very quickly! I like to do things. Like, I feel really strong this week because in my yoga class I’ve been working very hard and can hold poses for longer than before.’
Living in Harlem with her entertainment attorney boyfriend, Andre, Mahary also practises Pilates, spinning and boxing. She says she’d love to play in a basketball league again, but travels too much to commit. And with that, she pans the webcam around to show a well-used suitcase sitting on the floor (she’s flown in this morning from Toronto). The case is always close to hand for last-minute bookings; pre-packed with her passport, hair products and a book – currently Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. It’s cold outside, but she’s dressed for sunshine in a marl-grey Rag & Bone tank and white skinny Isabel Marant jeans. ‘You know how in winter everyone turns into black-dressed zombies? I like wearing lots of white and bright colours such as emerald green and cobalt blue.’
Clearly, working in the fashion industry has impacted on Mahary’s personal style. ‘When I was younger, my mom and I would always fight about clothes. She’d want me to wear a pretty little dress, I’d say, “No, I like this cool sports jacket.” Now I want to wear the pretty dress with the sports jacket,’ she laughs. ‘My style now is a mixture of sporty and flirty, high and low. I love Chloé for bohemian 1970s pieces that flow, and I wear a lot of Isabel Marant and Alexander Wang. I actually like dressing up now – finding a nice pair of heels, throwing on some lipstick. That’s a big change for me. Although I think I’ll always be a bit of tomboy, I just don’t revel in it so much any more. I’ve gone from 90 per cent tomboy to 35 per cent!’
As for the future, Mahary has an acting coach and has started auditioning for movie roles. ‘If I’m not going to be a doctor in real life, I’d like to be a doctor on screen. Or in a really badass action film.’ She’s involved in a project to advance solar energy in Eritrea, and has an idea for an app to help disabled people with chores and tasks around the house. This is something close to her heart, as her father became quadriplegic following an accident. I have a feeling that however her career pans out, she’ll squeeze maximum enjoyment out of every moment, while counting every blessing. ‘My boyfriend always asks me how I stay so upbeat on set during a really long day,’ she says. ‘It’s because I love what I do! I love the travel to incredible places, I love all the people I meet. After all, I could be in an office, at a desk all day.’ Grace Mahary, sitting still? I can’t see it somehow.
