COCO-COLA: Karl Lagerfeld poured a lot of himself into his latest collaboration: with Coca-Cola Light in France. Not only did he design a special aluminum bottle capped in vivid pink and adorned with his unmistakable, emphatic silhouette — dark suit, high collar, jutting ponytail — he also shot the ad campaign. The fizzy images, featuring models Coco Rocha and Lagerfeld regular Baptiste Giacobini, are slated to break across France on April 28, including in magazines and on billboards. One of the billboards will be splashed across Galeries Lafayette which, along with Colette, will get a jump on selling a limited edition boxed version of the bottle, with matching bottle opener, priced from 47 euros, or $64 at current exchange. Lagerfeld has long been a fan of diet cola, and says he prefers to drink it in a delicate crystal goblet to accentuate the taste. To wit: Rocha hoists her Coca-Cola Light in his favorite Lalique glass, dressed in fingerless gloves and a high-collared look from his signature collection for spring. Next up for the indefatigable Lagerfeld? A campaign shoot for the fall Karl Lagerfeld collection, this time featuring Giacobini and Iris Strubegger.

Source: WWD.

After finishing her high-energy struts on international haute couture runways, and when long photo shoots under hot lights for magazine covers are done, Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha likes settling in at home with a good book on her custom wrought-iron bed overflowing with fluffy pillows.

Set within a bedroom niche that’s been treated with gold Venetian plaster for a rich and sumptuous feel, Ms. Rocha calls this her very favourite spot. “To make it extra comfy, I bought the softest, most luxurious mattress I could find,” she coos. “And the large chandelier over my bed gives the whole room a cozier look at night.”

Ms. Rocha’s residence is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,000-square-foot condo with a 500-sq.-ft. terrace on an upper floor of a New York City highrise in the upscale Gramercy Park neighbourhood. It’s a corner unit with floor-to-ceiling banks of windows, facing south and east for maximum daylight. “If you are on the southern balcony, you can see historic Gramercy Theater and clear across Manhattan from the East River all the way to the Hudson,” Ms. Rocha says. She loves ambling through the quiet streets of this enclave in the Big Apple’s vibrant core.

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Famous for her striking features, fierce walk and bubbly personality, Toronto-born Coco Rocha may be an international supermodel—not to mention Vogue magazine darling and model muse to the likes of Steven Meisel and Jean Paul Gaultier—but the 21-year-old is careful not to let the attention go to her head. “I’m one of those funny girls that didn’t know what a supermodel was, nor did I know they even existed,” she laughs. “From the beginning I never expected anything, I took it very step by step and I think that’s the best way to do it because I was just thrilled with each new thing.”

And despite her supermodel status, Coco isn’t about to rest on her laurels now. In fact, she may just be the hardest working girl in the biz. Between fittings, fashion shows and magazine shoots, Coco somehow finds time to charm industry heavy-weights as a correspondent with Entertainment Tonight and E! Talk, design her own fashion line, ROCOCO, which she hopes to debut at the end of this year and plan her upcoming nuptials to muralist/interior designer James Conran. “It’s a busy time but I have a lot of people who support me and help me out so I’m really lucky!” she says.

After the frenzy of Paris Fashion Week—where she rocked the runway for coveted shows a la Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and of course Jean Paul Gaultier—Coco took time out to tackle our infamous Model DNA questionnaire and giving us the scoop on her plans for the big day.

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Coco Rocha might have just happily accepted her engagement ring from James Conran–but she’s already finalizing her big wedding day. “I’m getting married in three months,” she told us backstage at Dior. “I can’t believe it actually, but I’m so excited.” And where will the ceremony happen? “We getting married right here in France,” the model told The Daily. “A friend has this beautiful house here so we’ll bring everyone here!” As for the dress? “I know exactly what’s it going to look like and who’s making it, but it hasn’t actually been produced yet. But the time is ticking!”

Source: Fashion Week Daily.

Coco released a statement in response to the New York Times article printed about her.

There has been quite the commotion over the recent articles about me in the New York Times and The New York Daily News. As only a few select statements of mine were printed I find it necessary to properly express my point of view, without outside editing.

I’m a 21 year old model, 6 inches taller and 10 sizes smaller than the average American woman. Yet in another parallel universe I’m considered “fat”… This was the subject of major discussion this week and the story that was spun was: “Coco Rocha is too fat for the runway”.

Is that the case? No. I am still used and in demand as a model. In fact I find myself busier than ever. In the past few years I have not gained an extreme amount of weight, only an inch here and there as any young woman coming out of her teenage years would.

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“I don’t do nudes, I don’t do semi-nudes, I don’t do cigarette shots,” Coco Rocha was saying on Sunday evening before the Diane Von Furstenberg show at the Bryant Park tents. “It took me a long time in the business to realize I didn’t have to do everything people told me I should if I wanted a career.”

Ms. Rocha is a model. Who isn’t nowadays? It used to be that kids wanted to grow up to be astronauts, police officers or doctors. Now it would appear that modeling is the career default of anybody who doesn’t have two heads. Ms. Rocha, according to a well-rehearsed story, was discovered by a scout at an Irish dancing contest in her native Vancouver, British Columbia. Whatever her real name is (apparently Mikhaila, which lacks the show-business pop of Coco), it was quickly altered, and she was sent to see Steven Meisel, the photographer who is fashion’s resident Pygmalion. Mr. Meisel photographed her in 2006 for the cover of Italian Vogue, and there followed in short order a series of high-profile jobs on catwalks, in magazine editorials and in advertising campaigns — enough of them to fill three fat paragraphs on her Web résumé.

The adjective before the word “paragraph” in the previous sentence was chosen for a reason. Despite all the recent blather about promoting wholesome body images and encouraging designers to scale up sample sizes — and a prevalent fantasy that the industry has suddenly embraced people of all sorts and shapes — fat in fashion remains anathema.

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Coco Rocha is currently reporting on Fashion Week with Veronica Webb for public-television channel NYCtv Life; when we encountered her (and her entourage of cameramen) at the Arise African Collective show last night, she was looking longingly at the catwalk. “A year ago when I got to sit and watch most of the shows, it was a surreal feeling. But as much as it is fun sitting here, when the music starts I’m like, ‘I wish I was on that runway,’” she admitted. Rocha also finds herself defending the models when she overhears audience members discussing them: “Sometimes a girl will come out and people start to murmur, and you hear them say things, and you’re like, ‘Shh! Shut up! I’d like to see you try!’”

So what’s it like to be reporting on designers she used to model for? “Being treated as a reporter, they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s here! Let’s make this place look good.’ It makes me smirk — it’s funny.” Rocha is also in the process of designing her own line, Rococo, and she’s using her journalistic access to enhance her personal knowledge: “I find myself asking what it was like when they started, since I’m trying to start my own line,” she said, adding that some designers have been particularly helpful. “Zac Posen was very sweet and was like, ‘Come on down, I’ll explain things and show you things.’ His boyfriend as well. So that was super sweet. I was expecting a lot of people to be shaking their heads — and people are — but that just makes me want to prove myself even more.”

Source: NY Mag.