(Madrid, 49 years old) receives us at the offices of its producer, in Madrid’s Pintor Rosales street. From there they work in the new campaign of, a signature of which she is an ambassador, and finalize the details of how they will communicate the reopening of the store that the firm has in Valencia. “We want to do it with love and respect for the delicate situation that the city has lived, but at the same time it is seen that Valencia continues,” he says.
He studied law as he became a model of great national and international projection. How did he get it?
Well, it took 10 years instead of five (laughs). I always coincided with the exams of June and September with the haute couture. So, unless by date I would coincide and I could introduce me to the exam, it was complicated. But, at that time, we had much less distractions. Keep in mind that there was no Internet, with which I had just worked, read or studied. Then there was no possibility of seeing a series or being with the mobile, social networks … all that takes time and concentration.
Normal that I did not take it out in five years with an agenda of parades and covers that I had …
I thought that between leaving and staying at home studying and advancing things, because I was advancing things. That does not mean that I have not had a normal life. I have left everything that had to go out with all my friends of the time and we have gone to all the holidays. I have not missed anything. But it was more focused because when I had time I dedicated it to study. Studying law gave me a discipline, an order and taught me to know how to prioritize. But I think I managed to get the race fundamentally because I didn’t have many distractions.
Did he like the right or did he want to please his parents?
The truth is that in my house everyone has studied law. Brother, uncles, grandparents, everyone. And there are only two architects, three now with my brother, who are the only ones who have not studied the right of the whole family. I liked architecture much more, but at the time of Coun it was when I was chosen by Ragazza magazine. My teachers told me that if I wanted to try to be a model, I was not very compatible with architecture. Finally, I decided by right because my father said it was something that was going well for me and that I could use in my model career. I ended up. At home, ideas are shared, ideas, judicial decisions and I have been able to participate.
And his father was right? Was it well?
I think so. The contracts go through me, I read them and I know what they are talking about.
Before you mentioned discipline, have been working in fashion since the age of 16, what role does discipline play in such a long career?
I am disciplined, I have a team that helps me to be disciplined and with which I can be disciplined, because if I could not dedicate me to so many things. I have to handle many issues at the same time. The first, my family. Also my model career, which was my plan A and remains my plan A. I have created a producer like a plan B for when my work as a model failed. But, for now, it turns out that it has not failed. I have also recently created a representation agency. I am unable to say no to the appetizing and beautiful projects. Perhaps the secret that my career is long to work a lot, I am nonconformist and I am always looking for new things. With my model career I could have accommodated me. I could even work. But curiosity kills me and I love to interfere in the projects and see them grow.
How do you get everything?
Thanks to my team, to have my husband Alfonso, who is a padrazo, to family support and to have my mother to two buildings … My team are my hands and my feet. Without help at home and here in the office I could not, in any way, get to get everything I get.
What is it like working with a brand like Rabat?
I forget the years we have been working together, they are as a family … working with them is fantastic because it is a company that – being familiar and having very clear values and knowing very well where they are going and how they want to communicate – they are very advanced and curious. And I love that because I like brands to move with the new times and evolve. It is a brand that mixes tradition with modernity, with a very solid and involved team. It is a pleasure to work like this and be your ambassador.
Now reopen in Valencia. Do you have any special connection to the city?
I have been a couple of times in Valencia, but we have been waiting for this reopening for some time and giving it a return to how we wanted to do it because of the delicate situation of the city. We did not want to enter overwhelming and show only one store., Which also collaborates closely with the brand and is from Valencia, has guided me. It is very nice and endearing. It is the type of relationship I like to have with brands.
How important are jewels in a well -armed style?
I think sometimes the jewel goes first and then clothes. Many times it is the look that is at the service of the jewel and not vice versa. I use them every day, I don’t believe in jewels for special occasions. I always carry a chain of my father (take it out and the sample). They close the circle of styling.
What is your happiest memory as a model?
I have many. But everything I do with Armani is very special. Each parade, every time I see it, every hug … every time I greet, I fall out tears …
What has meant for your career?
A lot. He has taken me by the hand for many years, our relationship has evolved and has adapted to both his time and my personal times. He has respected my motherhood and the years go by and we continue machine things.
Has it been your great inspiration?
I have a lot of admiration. He is a very inspiring person, not only in the aesthetic, that is obvious. It is a unique being. He is looking for eternity, but I think he already has it. You don’t have to look for more because it is eternal. I think there have been key people in my career and he has without any doubt.
I understand that he also marked working with Óscar de la Renta.
Oscar was completely the opposite of Armani: he spoke high, colorful, very effusive, very affectionate … He was the one who signed the first visa so that I could go to the United States. He and his wife were always aware of me. Then a family relationship was also created. I have never been interested in ephemeral relationships. I like what you get in projects that you have given time.
I have never heard him talk badly about the fashion industry. Is it because of your smell to choose who works with or because you do not like to argue?
I do not like anything, I don’t like to discuss. For example, at home, with my husband Alfonso, before entering a conflict, we try to solve it in any way before. The conflict gives me a lot of laziness. The truth is that I do not like controversy, but I have not had anything controversial in my career. I like to move with discretion. On one occasion, something hurt and I said it. And I have really had a very good relationship with the fashion world, I can only say beautiful things, I have worked with all those photographers who are supposed to be so controversial, but I have never had any problem, I never had any problem with stylists, with other models … Nothing at all.
Do you think it has been its intuition that has protected it?
I was there, in the heart, in the mess. Maybe they didn’t see me like a dam. I have surfed the dangers well.
Now that he works in front and behind the cameras, with his producer, how do you see the model profession?
I see that it is very difficult to be only a model, they demand a lot on social networks and that becomes another career. Now they are required things that are out of reach because having followers is not something that is under your control. At the same time, I think that perhaps being a model is now more fun, more momentary and much more open and inclusive. Now all personalities enter, and all the figures of the body, and it is something wonderful because in the end the entire population is represented.
Are we too many slaves of ‘Like’?
There has always been pressure. Now is the like And the followers and before it was that Anna Wintour took us two pages of an editorial. We spent eight to six pages and the world fell. In those days that was a catastrophe and until the magazine was not quiet. We are always suffering for one reason or another.
Was Talking Italian opened many doors?
My grandfather Fernando spoke Italian and gave me a dictionary. My uncles, which were like my idols, listened to Baglioni, Batistti … I learned a lot through the songs. I started studying Italian long before I was a model. Armani, for example, only feels comfortable speaking his language, so he gave me pleasure, to be able to communicate with him fluently. I never thought I was going to serve me so much, but the truth is that I speak Italian every day. In a while I will have a call with Italian customers. And now it is my children who study Italian.
