BIG SHOWS THAT BIG MODELS HAVEN'T WALKED IN
SORA CHOI
Alberta Ferretti
Alexander McQueen
Balenciaga
Balmain
Carolina Herrera
Chloe
Christopher Kane
DKNY (& Donna Karan)
Emilio Pucci
Erdem
Giles
Giorgio Armani
Givenchy
Hermes
Herve Leger
Isabel Marant
Jil Sander
Lacoste
Max Mara
Mugler
Nina Ricci
Pringle of Scotland
Public School
Ralph Lauren
Rodarte
Sonia Rykiel
Stella McCartney
Tom Ford
Victoria Beckham
Viktor & Rolf
cr: http://www.flaunt.com/content/fashion/wilhelmina-defining-beauty-bill-wackermann-interviewWhat is the thing that is kind of consistent among all of your clients, that one key trait? A lot of times, especially in the entertainment business, that the classic term is having the “It” factor. But what is that “It?”
There are two types, I think. For a model, it’s different from an actor or musician. It may almost be the opposite, if you think about it. An actor or musician is live performance. So they have the ability to convey something through sight-drawn emotion. They can do a performance or they can act in front of the camera. A model, many times, is in still images. It’s a very different game. And it’s the subtlety of movements, not the large gestures of movements. There are some people that you would see and you’d be like, “Oh my god, she looks like a really tall girl.” But you wouldn’t think she’s the most beautiful girl in the room, yet when you see those pictures, she’s able to convey all sorts of fantasy and personality through a still image.
When you see an actor, they come in the room, they light the room up, and they’ve got that thing. Sometimes with models, because it’s behind the camera, it’s much more difficult to see in person. And you may have this really shy 19-year-old girl, but all of a sudden, she gets in front of that camera, and you see the pictures and she’s a star.
Can you think of anybody who kind of fits that mold?
One of our models today is a model named Sora Choi, and she’s doing everything now. She’s the face of Louis Vuitton, she’s the face of Ferragamo, she’s Dior Beauty, and she just shot American Vogue with Steven Klein. She is a chameleon. The best models are chameleons. Sometimes she looks like a tough rocker chick, sometimes she looks pretty and sweet; you almost forget it’s her. We know it's her, because we shot the campaign and we work with her, but if you're looking at the advertising, the model falls away.
Seoul star Sora Choi has had a steady ascent since her debut in 2012. The model muse started in the industry by chance when she went to an agency to support a friend and ended up getting signed instead. In love with the runway (“I always get goosebumps!”), the impish walker has had a stellar year of appearances in top shows from Alexander Wang, J.W. Anderson, Prada and Versace along with being a mainstay in back to back ad campaigns for Louis Vuitton. With all that mysterious allure peaking out under her dark fringe and spirited love of movement, photographers like Patrick Demarchelier, Roe Ethridge, Karim Sadli, and Ethan James Green have easily fallen under her spell with memorable shoots in result. Her one desire? Booking a select spot on the Valentino runway in an effort to push diversity. “I did pre-fall but I want the main show. Valentino (casts) so many white girls and Asians are just one girl or two. So I want it.”
It’s a story as old as modeling itself, with a plot that could have been lifted from a Hollywood movie. When a friend of Sora Choi was too nervous to go to a modeling appointment by herself, Choi accompanied her—and, well, we know the rest. “It was quite the peculiar situation,” she remembered backstage at the Fall 2016 Louis Vuitton show. “Once we went to the agency, they signed me on the spot!”
But if she has experienced a meteoric rise—after winning the top slot on Korea’s Next Top Model in 2012, she was soon walking in major shows and shooting cool campaigns—she remains a quiet girl at heart, a young woman who insists that among her greatest pleasures is a good home-cooked meal.
She is also an avid gamer, whiling away her off-hours (she doesn’t have many!) playing League of Legends, Warcraft, and Blade & Soul. Ask her who her style icon is, and no surprise—it isn’t a human at all, but Nana, a comic about a pair of manga cartoon characters named Nanas who are best friends—one is a rock singer, the other, a shy student.
Choi says she doesn’t shop for anything in particular but waits for something to catch her eye in a window, and when you look gorgeous in everything, it’s easy to do that. Whatever she buys, she can hustle it home in the Louis Vuitton Capucines, a chic counterpoint to her personal style, which she describes as “cool, sexy, and punky.”
A few weeks from now, this lively handbag may well be finding its way through airport security: Choi is giving herself a unique, much-deserved holiday present. “I’m going to Hawaii for Christmas. I’ll lie down on the beach and say, ‘Merry Christmas.’ ”
Korean it-girl Sora Choi is charming the whole of the fashion world with her angelic face, sharp style and touch of punk. With the holidays getting ever closer, the Korean model took the opportunity to unveil her current crush: the Capucines bag from @louisvuitton. The perfect little bag to hide under the tree.