Supermodel Coco Rocha strikes a pose at New York Fashion Week
It may be over 20 years since Coco Rocha was first scouted to be a model at an Irish dance competition, but she hasn’t forgotten how to create an impactful moment.
The Canadian model, 35, was the star of Christian Siriano’s autumn/winter 2024 catwalk show at New York Fashion Week on Thursday night. Rocha modelled two looks for the buyers, press and celebrities in attendance at the Plaza hotel, among them Clueless actress Alicia Silverstone and Succession’s J Smith-Cameron.
One was a chocolate-brown coat-dress with strong shoulders, a belted waist and an asymmetric cape sleeve. The other was an ivory gown featuring a corseted bodice, a toga-like skirt and a cloud of sheer fabric obscuring her shoulders and decolletage.
Siriano, who interned with British design houses Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen before finding fame on US fashion design reality show Project Runway in 2007, is known for his eveningwear. He said the collection was inspired by the 1984 David Lynch film Dune, and its earthy, sunset-like colours.
“I was watching the film and looking at posters from the original, and I was like... what if we lived in this world, this desert, this other planet?” he told Fashionista.com. “It is apocalyptic, but also what would you wear for evening? What would you wear to a gala if you had to live in this other realm?”
Rocha has long been a friend and muse of the designer, regularly modelling in his shows, even during the pandemic and while pregnant with her third child in 2020. Like Siriano, she has also had a presence on reality television, appearing in The September Issue, as a guest judge on America’s Next Top Model and in a 2022 appearance on Project Runway.
She’s turned posing into something of an art form, training up-and-coming models, among them Kendall and Kylie Jenner. She has taught at Harvard University, and established the Coco Rocha Model Camp in 2018.
