This Balenciaga Model Wants to Unlock Your Astrological Secrets
Many of my colleagues and some of my friends have gotten their birth charts read several times over. They’ve come back with revelations and thoughts about what the future will hold. But I don’t do astrology. I don’t know astrology. I’m a non-believer of moon signs, cusp signs, and rising signs. Plus, the concept seems like a lot of work. In order to get one’s birth chart read, you need to know the city you were born in, date of birth, and the exact time of your birth. (If you cannot find your birth certificate, consider yourself screwed in the world of chart reading! Luckily, I have mine.) One night, bored and restless under lockdown, I found myself scrolling through Instagram, when a story posted by Olivia La Roche of the vintage store O. La Roche caught my attention. La Roche had gotten her birth chart read by Ilana Kozlov, an artist-model who specializes in astrological readings. La Roche captioned her post “highly recommended it.” With nothing to do, I decided to take a leap of faith and scheduled a reading over the phone with Kozlov.
As with any kind of esoteric forecasting, there were aspects of my reading that could apply to everyone. Anxiety. Insecurity. Emotional. Feeling closed-off. Yada yada. But in the process, Kozlov had also shed light on parts of my life that only I knew about, that existed nowhere on the internet. Maybe there was actually some sort of energy in the universe or planet alignment when I was born that was somehow dictating my path? Maybe a gravitational pull from the moon? Whatever it was, I was intrigued.
Kozlov, who identifies as gender non-binary, hardly fits the fortuneteller cliché. In fact, they have a great spoof video on Hollywood psychics on their Instagram in which they wear a black wig and a flowy green dress, flash tarot cards, and attempt to shill vitamins. (Covered in tattoos, Kozlov instead opts for a more pared-back wardrobe that includes white-ribbed tanks, jeans, and hoodies.) The 25-year-old artist-turned-astrologist may also appear familiar to fashion fans. They were scouted by a model agent back in 2015 while buying a couch with their friend in Los Angeles. The next year, Kozlov, scored a spot on the runway with Balenciaga.
Kozlov has a long history with what they term as the “occult,” a word that they say they have a difficult time using because it “has been so sensationalized.” Growing up in Hollywood in a Russian-speaking home, Kozlov was immersed in Eastern European mysticism. Their Ukrainian-Russian, Uzbekistan-born mother and their aunt would read coffee grounds, a practice known as “tasseography” and keep Russian dream interpretation books around the house. At 18-years-old, Kozlov had their chart read by a friend’s mother at school who had a “kundalini awakening,” a moment that helped Kozlov to reckon with unexplainable feelings and experiences. “My first reading with her was what affirmed and brought a sense of structure and realness,” they say. “I was like, This is real. People are psychic and I am psychic and I’m not just crazy.’”
From there on out, Kozlov began intense research on the subject, which at first they found superficial. “I was kind of invested in these more pop culture types of interpretations that don’t align with my principles at all now,” says Kozlov. “When I started reading a lot of books, I was like, ‘Wait, all of the stuff you see online, all of these memes and all of this stuff is not what this astrology is. I started engaging in material that was more holistic, serious, and honored the complexities that were inherent in astrological tradition.”
As well as helping clients better understand themselves better, Koslov finds the reading to be personally therapeutic. “It has made me feel more connected to people and to understand why people hold onto certain things or have triggers,” says Kozlov, adding. “It [astrology] has changed my life in the sense that it has validated something bigger than myself. I am able to love more deeply and experience joy more freely.” And that’s something we can all relate to, whether you believe in birth chart readings or not.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
