Model Coco Rocha On Pregnancy, Posing and Speaking Up for Yourself
Getty
“Tyra Banks gave it to me,” Coco Rocha says laughing about her nickname “Queen of the Pose.” “I did an episode of ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ and she introduced me like that. I had no idea how many people were going to use it after that. It just stuck.”
The supermodel—and expectant new mom—has just published a book of 1,000 of them, a collaboration with photographer Steven Sebring called Study of Pose.
“One thousand just seemed like a good round number,” she says of how they decided to do so many, “But by eight hundred, when we were doing the poses, I didn’t think it was achievable anymore. I said, ‘Eight hundred is a big number; let’s just do eight hundred.’ I didn’t think I could come up with two hundred more.”
She did, and the result is 2,000 pages of Rocha in a flesh-colored leotard and tights—a Jehovah Witness, she famously refuses work that involves nudity, lingerie, swimwear, or sexually provocative poses—holding still against a stark background, looking more like an exquisite marble statue than a fashion model.
The poses were shot with what Sebring calls “The Rig,” 100 cameras inside a dome that fire in predetermined sequences to create a 360-degree image, and there’s also a digital version of the book where you can see Rocha’s entire body.
Last month, Rocha put on the outfit—and got in front of the camera set-up—again to announce her pregnancy, releasing an 360-video on Instagram that showed off a barely-there stomach bump. She plans to do one 360-shot a month for her entire pregnancy and, at the end, put them all together in a single video that shows her stomach growing.
“Pregnancy has been great,” she says. “I wasn’t sick. I’m definitely tired. I’m excited to grow a bump and experience everything that every pregnant woman experiences. I want to find out what sex it’s going to be and make up the nursery and all of that. James and I are wondering who this person is going to be, whose nose it will have.”
Since she started modeling in 2004, Rocha’s been unafraid to display her personality along with her body. She danced an Irish jig down the runway for Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris (an event that’s now so well-known it’s simply called “the Coco moment”), speaks about her faith as a Jehovah’s Witness, and has openly criticized the modeling industry, as well as magazine editors and retouchers.
In 2012, when Elle Brazil photoshopped out a nude bodysuit she wore under a sheer dress to make it look like she was showing more skin, she wrote on her Tumblr: “This was specifically against my expressed verbal and written direction to the entire team that they not do so (Photoshop out the bodysuit). I’m extremely disappointed that my wishes and contract was ignored. I strongly believe every model has a right to set rules for how she is portrayed and for me, these rules were clearly circumvented.”
“You learn everywhere in this business,” she says about developing the moral code that guides her modeling. “After 10 years of modeling, I feel comfortable saying what I do and don’t want to do, and many respect that.”
When Rocha began working, models didn’t say much at all—they were known for wearing clothes well and not a lot more. They certainly weren’t critiquing the industry on their blogs or posting selfies on Instagram.
She believes that young women beginning their modeling careers today shouldn’t keep their mouths shut either—hold on to your beliefs and let them inform your work, she says.
“I’m a perfect example of what you can do given opportunity,” she says. “My end goal wasn’t to be famous. It was to enjoy what I was doing. I thought it was a fascinating industry. I have had a successful career. I became famous, but that was secondary. If your goal is to model, and you have things you believe in, you can make your own path to success. “
Right now for Rocha doing it how she wants means focusing on the baby and returning to work—and her throne as Queen of the Pose—when she’s ready. “I’ll be around,” she says laughing. All hail.
