Magdalena Frackowiak

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The Edit by Net-A-Porter
July 7, 2016

Bold & Beautiful
Model Magdalena Frackowiak
Photographer Alique
Styling Maya Zepinic


Ambitious, hardworking, certainly no wallflower: Magdalena Frackowiak walked away from an architecture degree to pursue modeling. She tells Emma Sells why you have to follow your dreams.

It’s hard to know what to expect when you interview a model. Some are funny and smart; some only want to talk about their various side-projects; and some are sweet but – how to say this politely? – so young they don’t have much to say yet.

Polish model Magdalena Frackowiak (pronounced frans-co-vi-ak) turns out to be one of the good ones. She’s happy to drink tea, vape (strictly nicotine-free) and rattle away in near-perfect English about her work, family and two beloved cats, Arturo and Greta, well past our allotted time. And, once the dictaphone is turned off, we talk for even longer, discussing the joys of Tuscany and her boyfriend of three years, Italian designer Daniele Cavalli (the pair met backstage at one of his father’s fashion shows), who lives there. She’s as captivating in the flesh as she is on the countless magazine covers that she’s racked up, too; on the tall side, even for a model, at 5’11”, and all long blond hair, feline eyes and flawless skin.

“I look exactly like my father, it’s crazy,” says Frackowiak. “The same skin tone, the same kind of fingers, the same kind of teeth, everything. It’s incredible.” Today, she’s dressed in her go-to uniform of uncomplicated head-to-toe black, wearing a silk slip – one of five that she recently made for herself – sheer black tights, mules and an oversized Cavalli sweater.

The 31-year-old has been in the business for nearly 15 years, ever since her mother – a dental nurse and fierce champion of her offspring – entered pictures of 16-year-old Magdalena into a Polish modeling competition, which she duly won. But the beginning of her career was a slow burn, with jobs slotted around finishing high school. She spent two years studying architecture at university before she decided, aged 19, to make the move to New York. Since then, she’s walked for every major fashion house from Dior to Givenchy, fronted campaigns for Prada, Lanvin and Louis Vuitton, donned wings for four Victoria’s Secret shows and earned a place on Models.com’s list of Industry Icons. She also found the time last year to launch an eponymous line of jewelry, co-founded with her best friend in Warsaw, as an outlet for her creative ambitions.

“I took my route, I took what life gave me and I’m really glad that I did,” she says. “But once I turned 30, I wanted to go back to my dreams; to do something that I had always wanted to do.”

So what’s the secret to her longevity? A mix of ambition and appreciation, an ability to make the most of every opportunity that comes her way while maintaining a relaxed, take-it-or-leave-it approach. It probably helps that, as she says, “Modeling came into my life very unexpectedly.” Growing up in Gdansk, Poland, at the tail end of the communist era, Frackowiak admired the likes of Natalia Vodianova, Isabeli Fontana and Adriana Lima from afar, but had no real expectation of following in their footsteps.

“I grew up in a very gray kind of world, wearing clothes from kids in older classes. Everything was very simple and there was no money,” she says, “so seeing those girls in magazines and on television, it was impossible for me to imagine myself there.”

Far-flung vacations were a pipe dream – the furthest Frackowiak had traveled before she started modeling was on a bus to visit her aunt in Germany – so her first big working trips to Paris, London and Tokyo were a real eye-opener. Not that the model was remotely fazed; she is self-confident and scrappy in the best possible way and, judging by the tales of her childhood, always has been. “I was a wild child, always in trouble at school,” she laughs. “I always had to answer, to be loud. I couldn’t just sit there. There was a girl at primary school who I would have arguments with until the teacher said one of us had to leave [the school]. So my mother – who always thought I was the best, I could never do anything wrong – took me out.”

Frackowiak loves every aspect of her job and she’s a self-confessed workaholic. “I’m very ambitious – I don’t want to lose any time. And it feels good to work hard; it gives me satisfaction and it makes me stronger,” she says. “But I’m very chilled, too; I think it’s important that you don’t take things too seriously, that you have fun and don’t torture yourself. You have to let the criticisms go in your left ear and out your right.”

While Frackowiak’s career may have come as a surprise, it certainly suits her – more than a decade in the fickle modeling industry, especially in this ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ era, is not to be sniffed at – and she has no intention of walking away from it any time soon.

“It hasn’t always been easy, but when I look back at my memories, there are so many of them that I’m grateful for,” she says. “I opened Alexander McQueen’s last show [before the founding designer died] and when I went to the exhibition of his work in London there were two outfits that I had worn. It was an amazing feeling. You don’t realize when you do these things; it’s only years later that you look back and think, wow, I am part of the history of fashion.”
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net-a-porter
 
I never understand her in interviews. That 'nicotine-free' comment is similar to her last interview where she says she never smokes, but she has posted two pictures of herself smoking on Instagram in the past 2 weeks..
 
Francesco Scognamiglio Couture F/W 2016.17 Paris Backstage

theimpression
 
One of the rare models who’s beloved by both Prada and Victoria’s Secret, Magdalena Frackowiak has regularly appeared on the most elite covers and catwalks for a decade. Today, Magdalena is establishing herself as a creative force in her own right with the launch of her fine jewelry brand.

Magdalena isn’t the first model to branch into design, but her line stands out for both its sophistication and the seriousness with which she approaches it. Working directly with artisans in her native Poland, Magdalena’s self–funded venture is wholly her own. In this interview she shares her inspirations and how she’s achieving her dreams.

https://postimage.org/index.php?lang=french

When I was little I would always watch the airplanes coming and going in the sky overhead. This was the time when I began to understand how much I wanted to travel and be independent, to see everything in the world that there was to discover. Those airplanes made me dream of the life I wanted to have when I grew up. I think it’s important to never forget those dreams you had when you were a kid. I haven’t.

As a model I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over the world, and that fuels my creativity. Whenever I travel, even for work, I always try to feed my mind with inspiration and new ideas by visiting beautiful places. I love to observe and explore different cultures—one month I’ll be fascinated by Spain, another month I’ll be listening to Arab music, and the next I might be learning about Japanese aesthetics.

Every day, I’m looking for those little sparks of inspiration that can grow into a creative idea. Those sparks are what I live for and what make life special.

At first, it was challenging for me to speak the language of jewelry. I needed to learn all the terms, all the tools. This was important to me so that I could really communicate with the artisans who make my jewelry. I’ve loved learning about the process of jewelry-making and all the detail involved in translating my vision from the initial idea to a sketch to the finished jewelry piece.

I studied architecture and that interest has really shaped my aesthetic. Architecture is about understanding how to manipulate shapes and forms, and that understanding helps me a lot in my work. Two architects who inspire me a lot are Shigeru Ban and Richard Serra.

I’m very focused on what I do as a designer, and learning how I can continue to grow in this career and bring my brand to the highest standard it can be.

My designs are simple, feminine, and modern with a hint of fragility. They’re for a woman who knows what she wants and what she stands for. My next collection is more feminine, playful, and lighter than my first one. This reflects how I felt in the moment when I was creating it, because my designs are very personal to me.

The main office for my jewelry line is in Poland. We have incredible talents in Poland, and I wanted to support my home country. We work very hard to achieve what we set our minds to there.

I’ve been the face of many different brands, but I always wanted to create my own. I’m very lucky to have made that dream come true and to be able to bring my own vision and aesthetic to life through my jewelry. Balancing being a model and being a jewelry designer isn’t difficult for me—I enjoy both very much, and it all follows together. When you are known as a model, though, it can be tough to make people understand that you have other dimensions and talents than just your beauty.

I’ve always felt that you need to count on yourself. You need to motivate yourself to pursue your goals every day, without waiting for something extraordinary to just happen to you. At the end of the day, you and you alone are the one who needs to do the work to make your success possible.
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thefashionography
 
Harper's Bazaar's celebration of "ICONS By Carine Roitfeld" presented by Infor, Laura Mercier, and Stella Artois at The Plaza Hotel, September 9



zimbio
 
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