Translated by CarMELita (Bellazon)
"She's not only one of the most successful Geman models, she could also be a rolemodel for the young generation of women. Luca has taken her A-Levels and at age 24 also gathered a lot work experience. About time to become a mother she thought. With this decision she's in the company of lots of other models - like Natalia - who weren't afraid of ruining their career by starting a family at an early stage. VOGUE met the Hamburgian at Hotel de Rome in Berlin. Max von Gumppenberg, photographer and father of five month old Gustav, stepped in a few times to check if everything's alright, smiled like he's very much in love and then left again to take his son for a walk outside.
VOGUE: Becoming a mother at age 24, this is very early for today's habits.
LUCA: Normally in Germany people want to work before they allow themselves to get children. But I'm working since 8 years and am my own boss which is very luxurious. Eventually we thought now's the right time. Max and I met early in 2006 in New York.
VOGUE: And you got a kid fast ...
LUCA: I had a relationship before that lasted 4 years and didn't want to start a new one so soon. But Max didn't stop me. Somehow he brought me nearer o myself. If being becomes even more being one gets more happy. I'd also heard from other women that they had the feeling too:" Now's the right moment to get a child ..." Max asked me the other day when some of our friends got married or got children:"Are we the cause?".
VOGUE: Where does the ability to listen to one's feelings come from?
LUCA: I had neurodermatitis and my mother realized very early that the things I didn't want to eat were no good for me. She listened to my feelings before even I had. Other case: In my early days as a model I'd always fall asleep in school. For one year I exhausted my body until I had a break down. It's not that I'd listen to my feelings from the beginning. I learned out of painful experience.
VOGUE: As a model you're personifying feminine ideals. Have your mother been a kind of muse to you?
LUCA: She got two lipstick and like me doesn't know how to use a foundation. My brother and me had the same haircut - done by my father. Perhaps that is why I don't take my job as seriously as others do.
VOGUE: You were discovered at age 16. How did your parents deal with it?
LUCA: They trust us three kids immensely. I really don't know how we earned this trust. They never overpatronized me. There was a time I thought they weren't proud of me. I'd always had good marks at school but they never gave any money or other rewards like other parents gave their kids. Although I think it did matter with them being teachers themselves.
VOGUE: Wasn't they anxious about you're working as a model at such a young age?
LUCA: I guess so, but they never showed it. I was at school in Plymouth when I first had to travel to Milan for three weeks to do some shows. My father visited me, but it doesn't felt like he was controlling me. When he saw that everything was going to be okay, he and my mother didn't interfere.
VOGUE: When did you realize that you're in an enviably postition?
LUCA: I took me very long. With every job I thought: "Now they've realized I'm at the wrong place and can't really do that job - they'll never book me again." After the casting at Prada I was sure I didn't fit. I couldn't quite place Prada at that time - I didn't imagine it could be the break through of my career. But nevertheless it can happen everyday you don't get booked anymore. Somebody always has to decide I'm interesting. When I go tpregnant I knew this could stop my career but I wasn't afraid.
VOGUE: Does it still happen you're too tense a a shooting?
LUCA: Yes, I suddenly get very nervous when I'm being photographed. When it comes to fashion it's my job to present the clothes and imagine what my employer want to see. There are photographers which suddenly put away the camera and look directly at the oneself. Then I feel rather uncomfortable because I would never look at the photographer the way I look at the camera.
VOGUE: How much privacy does the camera catch?
LUCA: People's favorite pictures often have been taken on days when I didn't felt quite well or was feeling sad. But that doesn't mean I let my feelings knowingly influence my work.
VOGUE: And how creative do you have to be in your job?
LUCA: I'm often stage-managing something for myself to prevent it's getting boring. Even a shooting for hair and make-up can be fun because I can switch moods and completely let myself dive into the scenery. This can be really absurd: I'm often imagining I'm another person. Often I'm an animal - I was a monkey once or a sheep. Like I change into a giraffe on crack when dancing, that's what my friends say. But you don't see anything of this at the shooting. This changing is just inside me for my own fun.
VOGUE: Sounds like the hours at a set can be very exhausting.
LUCA: It was worst when I spent one month in Japan during the summer holidays. I had two jobs per day and was being picked up at three in the morning sometimes. ANd nobody's speaking your language. Once I should laugh the whole time. In the back of the photographer there were standing thre Japanese yelling: "Happy! Happy!" the whole time. I started laughing the whole time even when I wasn't being photographed anymore. Just because everything was so absurd and I was so lonely. Even more absurd was a conference of a cosmetic company in Osaka. An employee needed to vomit out of excitement because she was allowed to shake my hand.
VOGUE: Do you want to study if there would come the time you're really not booked anymore?
LUCA: A single-room in a student's dormitory house in a little university town? I would lie to myself with this. And going to student's parties? I wouldn't do that being a mother, I'd rather stay at home.
VOGUE: Home is Berlin to you now.
LUCA: When Gustav was born at the end of september I was really looking forward to the cold and dark month there although I wasn't very often in Berlin then. At first I lived together with Max in his appartement-sharing community, five days after Gustav's birth we moved together in out own flat. At first we didn't even had a chair and the toilet was in the living room because the bath wasn't finished yet. But it was wonderful nevertheless.
"She's not only one of the most successful Geman models, she could also be a rolemodel for the young generation of women. Luca has taken her A-Levels and at age 24 also gathered a lot work experience. About time to become a mother she thought. With this decision she's in the company of lots of other models - like Natalia - who weren't afraid of ruining their career by starting a family at an early stage. VOGUE met the Hamburgian at Hotel de Rome in Berlin. Max von Gumppenberg, photographer and father of five month old Gustav, stepped in a few times to check if everything's alright, smiled like he's very much in love and then left again to take his son for a walk outside.
VOGUE: Becoming a mother at age 24, this is very early for today's habits.
LUCA: Normally in Germany people want to work before they allow themselves to get children. But I'm working since 8 years and am my own boss which is very luxurious. Eventually we thought now's the right time. Max and I met early in 2006 in New York.
VOGUE: And you got a kid fast ...
LUCA: I had a relationship before that lasted 4 years and didn't want to start a new one so soon. But Max didn't stop me. Somehow he brought me nearer o myself. If being becomes even more being one gets more happy. I'd also heard from other women that they had the feeling too:" Now's the right moment to get a child ..." Max asked me the other day when some of our friends got married or got children:"Are we the cause?".
VOGUE: Where does the ability to listen to one's feelings come from?
LUCA: I had neurodermatitis and my mother realized very early that the things I didn't want to eat were no good for me. She listened to my feelings before even I had. Other case: In my early days as a model I'd always fall asleep in school. For one year I exhausted my body until I had a break down. It's not that I'd listen to my feelings from the beginning. I learned out of painful experience.
VOGUE: As a model you're personifying feminine ideals. Have your mother been a kind of muse to you?
LUCA: She got two lipstick and like me doesn't know how to use a foundation. My brother and me had the same haircut - done by my father. Perhaps that is why I don't take my job as seriously as others do.
VOGUE: You were discovered at age 16. How did your parents deal with it?
LUCA: They trust us three kids immensely. I really don't know how we earned this trust. They never overpatronized me. There was a time I thought they weren't proud of me. I'd always had good marks at school but they never gave any money or other rewards like other parents gave their kids. Although I think it did matter with them being teachers themselves.
VOGUE: Wasn't they anxious about you're working as a model at such a young age?
LUCA: I guess so, but they never showed it. I was at school in Plymouth when I first had to travel to Milan for three weeks to do some shows. My father visited me, but it doesn't felt like he was controlling me. When he saw that everything was going to be okay, he and my mother didn't interfere.
VOGUE: When did you realize that you're in an enviably postition?
LUCA: I took me very long. With every job I thought: "Now they've realized I'm at the wrong place and can't really do that job - they'll never book me again." After the casting at Prada I was sure I didn't fit. I couldn't quite place Prada at that time - I didn't imagine it could be the break through of my career. But nevertheless it can happen everyday you don't get booked anymore. Somebody always has to decide I'm interesting. When I go tpregnant I knew this could stop my career but I wasn't afraid.
VOGUE: Does it still happen you're too tense a a shooting?
LUCA: Yes, I suddenly get very nervous when I'm being photographed. When it comes to fashion it's my job to present the clothes and imagine what my employer want to see. There are photographers which suddenly put away the camera and look directly at the oneself. Then I feel rather uncomfortable because I would never look at the photographer the way I look at the camera.
VOGUE: How much privacy does the camera catch?
LUCA: People's favorite pictures often have been taken on days when I didn't felt quite well or was feeling sad. But that doesn't mean I let my feelings knowingly influence my work.
VOGUE: And how creative do you have to be in your job?
LUCA: I'm often stage-managing something for myself to prevent it's getting boring. Even a shooting for hair and make-up can be fun because I can switch moods and completely let myself dive into the scenery. This can be really absurd: I'm often imagining I'm another person. Often I'm an animal - I was a monkey once or a sheep. Like I change into a giraffe on crack when dancing, that's what my friends say. But you don't see anything of this at the shooting. This changing is just inside me for my own fun.
VOGUE: Sounds like the hours at a set can be very exhausting.
LUCA: It was worst when I spent one month in Japan during the summer holidays. I had two jobs per day and was being picked up at three in the morning sometimes. ANd nobody's speaking your language. Once I should laugh the whole time. In the back of the photographer there were standing thre Japanese yelling: "Happy! Happy!" the whole time. I started laughing the whole time even when I wasn't being photographed anymore. Just because everything was so absurd and I was so lonely. Even more absurd was a conference of a cosmetic company in Osaka. An employee needed to vomit out of excitement because she was allowed to shake my hand.
VOGUE: Do you want to study if there would come the time you're really not booked anymore?
LUCA: A single-room in a student's dormitory house in a little university town? I would lie to myself with this. And going to student's parties? I wouldn't do that being a mother, I'd rather stay at home.
VOGUE: Home is Berlin to you now.
LUCA: When Gustav was born at the end of september I was really looking forward to the cold and dark month there although I wasn't very often in Berlin then. At first I lived together with Max in his appartement-sharing community, five days after Gustav's birth we moved together in out own flat. At first we didn't even had a chair and the toilet was in the living room because the bath wasn't finished yet. But it was wonderful nevertheless.
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