| Mid-afternoon: a disappointingly droll Spring
day, the phone chimes and its that young Elite model fresh from her London assignments
calling up for a bit of dancing and dining. We haven't rendez-voused in months so I invite
her to drop by NYW. Coincidentally a TV crew France 2, is haunting the premises doing a
profile on Metalab, the company that sponsors NYW. At the tail end of the shoot the
breathtakingly beautiful Hermine ambles in on impossibly long legs, wearing The Off Duty
Model Uniform : skin tight black pants, a sexy leather blouse and the requisite Prada
clutch. The camera crew drifts in from the main loft and immediately all focus shifts onto
Ms Wilson who is reluctant to be filmed in what she calls her "raw moment ". The
crew will not be dissuaded and so for the rest of the evening we are trailed through
Metalab. It becomes clear to NYW publisher Stephan Moskovic that Ms Wilson is The New
Visual we had been seeking. During the inadvertent interview session, she emits a
diva-esque self-possession, flirting and teasing the men arrayed around her like so many
helpless sycophants. |
| "It wasn't my idea to do this modeling thing",
she later confesses in her lilting Trinidadian accent." I came to America to go to
school. I was going to Howard University and this guy in Washington was like, you really
should model. He sent me over to this small agency and then I was like, money for standing
around. I could do this. So when Elite came about I figured well---I've got nothing to
lose. So I went with it " Like all young models, she is prone to talking shop,
impatient to be clocking more work. |
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| Having worked the last Paris collections,
having nailed a one-pager in June's Bazaar, having just shot the new Sak's catalogue where
her companion model was Nadja Auermann. it was clear she was on the starting ramps of what
could be a shimmering career. The next day she had an Amica shoot with Hiro and the
following week she'll be off to Miami to play centerpiece in the new multi-million dollar
Lucasaid spot for British telly. Out of curiosity I start flicking through her book. It
was rich with beautiful images but they were heavy and dark and murky. Dark lipstick, dark
eyes, heavy attitude, quite in contrast to the spirited and mischievous woman sitting with
us. A thought formed itself: wouldn't it be interesting to construct a temporary identity
for Hermine. She could give us that frission of Up! Summer! Bliss! This was of course,
easier said than done . How do you transform adjectives into images? , How will concepts
be made concrete? And that's where the right photographer comes in. |
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