“Something I always look for in an outfit is to have a standout piece.”
― Coco Rocha
“I think being true to yourself is ultimately the best way of living.”
― Coco Rocha
“For a small population, Canada has always had a very strong and vibrant style.”
― Coco Rocha
“I think, as long as you’re secure with yourself and happy with yourself, it really doesn’t matter what the world around you thinks.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’ve always been the type that, every few months, I’m like, ‘Let’s change the haircut one more time.’”
― Coco Rocha
“If you’re posting pictures to platforms like Instagram or Twitter, be selective about the one you post. If I’m capturing a sunset, I’ll take at least 10 pictures. I’ll then filter them using other apps, enhance them. Then, I really pick the best image of perhaps 30.”
― Coco Rocha
“Whenever I really get serious about something, I pull my hair back into a tight ponytail. If you see me with that, you know I mean business.”
― Coco Rocha
“I remember working with Agyness Deyn. At the time, she was the only one who had short hair as a model. I remember being so envious of her because we would all be getting our hair pulled for two hours backstage, and she was getting a new haircut almost every other show.”
― Coco Rocha
“So many girls second-think their pose or what they’re doing. And, in turn, the photos will come out really unnatural. I say to really give the camera a performance – that, and make sure you’re comfortable with how you look, and give it a good smile and a filter.”
― Coco Rocha
“Be current. Know and comment on current trends and news. Don’t be the last one entering a conversation.”
― Coco Rocha
“In the beginning, the clients would say, ‘This is too much,’ but over time, the ones I liked kept working with me. They’d say, ‘It’s not too much. Coco can still be Coco. She still gives 100 percent when she’s on a photo shoot.’”
― Coco Rocha
“To me, true style icons have been few and far between. Elizabeth Taylor comes to mind. I never got to meet her while she was alive, but she is one of those people I have always admired in terms of her sense of style.”
― Coco Rocha
“I love modeling, and I want other girls to enjoy the experience.”
― Coco Rocha
“I don’t do nudes. I don’t do semi-nudes. I don’t do cigarette shots. 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.”
― Coco Rocha
“Fashion can be a very fickle lady, especially when it comes to models – fashion likes to turn on its own.”
― Coco Rocha
“I think there can no longer be such a thing as hitting a wall on a photo shoot. If I ever hear a photographer say to me, ‘OK, what else?’ I should retire, because that should never happen now having experienced just how much the body is capable of doing.”
― Coco Rocha
“My besties do Victoria’s Secret. I just don’t do it.”
― Coco Rocha
“I was once dressed as a mermaid for a Jean Paul Gaultier show. My legs were bound into a fish tail, so I had to come down the runway on crutches. Halfway down, I was supposed to unzip the fish tail to reveal my legs, but the zipper broke, so I ended up stabbing my fake nail through the fabric of the zipper and ripping my way out.”
― Coco Rocha
“Braveness, for me, is running into my basement with no socks on. There are huge spiders down there!”
― Coco Rocha
“Connecting with fans is very important to me and useful, too! It’s almost as if I have my own focus group. If I put up one picture that gets 1,000 likes and one that gets 15,000 likes, it gives me a big clue as to what people like to see.”
― Coco Rocha
“When I started my first blog years ago, I just wanted to share my perspective. For a long time, models had been these mute pretty faces – and I wanted to have a voice.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’ve always thought of modeling as a performance, so I don’t mind kind of pretending. I kind of pretend in a lot of my poses that I am a ballerina or a hip-hop dancer or a grunge performer.”
― Coco Rocha
“I think, in general, models tend to do their favorite faces or their comfortable face, but your facial expression is just so important. You don’t want to have an editorial of 20 photos where it’s just you giving a ‘Zoolander’ face.”
― Coco Rocha
“In ten years of modeling, I’ve trained myself to relax and be able to use my upper body.”
― Coco Rocha
“We have to come into this industry so young, and you have to learn to take it as it is. I was scouted at 14, started modelling at 15, and lived in New York at 16.”
― Coco Rocha
“Previously, someone would interview me, and if they liked me, it’d be a great story. If they hated me, it’d be a horrible story. I had no way to say anything. Social media changed things for people who didn’t have a voice.”
― Coco Rocha
“As a high-fashion model, I have long had a policy of no nudity or partial nudity in my photo shoots.”
― Coco Rocha
“Everybody knows that, in general, a basketball player needs to be tall and a fashion model needs to be skinny, but how skinny is too skinny?”
― Coco Rocha
“Girls are told they’re not skinny enough, or they hear, ‘She’s old. She’s boring. We’ve had her. She’s not tiny anymore.’ A lot of people don’t take into account the vulnerability of these young girls.”
― Coco Rocha
“If I want a hamburger, I’m going to have one. No 21-year-old should be worrying about whether she fits a sample size.”
― Coco Rocha
“I won’t work with Terry Richardson again.”
― Coco Rocha
“Models are supposed to be a muse to you. Why is a muse always the same body type, the same look? It’s boring.”
― Coco Rocha
“At the beginning of my career, I was nervous to talk. I was just a very young girl. You don’t want to upset anyone or frustrate anyone – you just want to work.”
― Coco Rocha
“Having good style really just means having a decisive eye and being able to put things together in an aesthetically pleasing manner. It’s not a matter of spending a lot of money and throwing it all together.”
― Coco Rocha
“I think it’s important to wear clothing that means something to you, and so I always try to make sure I’m wearing at least one item that has a personal meaning to me.”
― Coco Rocha
“If you think of any past artist, there was something that they looked at that inspired them to make their most famous pieces, whether it be the ‘Mona Lisa’ or ‘Venus Rising.’”
― Coco Rocha
“I always think that some of those moms who are rocking cool fashion looks while walking their little babies in a stroller is just the bomb. You don’t have to, all of a sudden, have to transition into ‘mom’ outfits from the ’90s just because you became a mom.”
― Coco Rocha
“I think it’s fun to dress up, although sometimes you do get a little tired of it, but I definitely try to have a different look every day.”
― Coco Rocha
“To be honest, the thing is I don’t really like clothes. I mean, it is cool, but I like tech. I am a tech girl. A secret nerd – there, I said it.”
― Coco Rocha
“I don’t get to keep the dresses I wear. It is not fair.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’ve always been the kind of girl that takes every day as it comes.”
― Coco Rocha
“Weirdly enough, in my 14 years of modeling, I’ve only worn a blonde wig three times. I have no idea why I’ve never been given the option to really try blonde as a model. But here I am doing it on my own.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’m that type of person that loves change.”
― Coco Rocha
“I usually don’t usually go for fluffy, bohemian-chic pieces.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’ll probably always have some black in my accessories, but it’s also important to have a pop of color.”
― Coco Rocha
“French designers are classic, chic, and traditional.”
― Coco Rocha
“Designers from Milan think that ‘more is more,’ like Cavalli and Dolce & Gabbana.”
― Coco Rocha
“Having worked with many of the world’s top modeling agencies for the last decade, I’ve seen what works and doesn’t work in managing a model’s career.”
― Coco Rocha
“People who rooted for me and were impactful in my career knew everything about me. They knew my goals, my likes, my dislikes, what I wanted out of my career.”
― Coco Rocha
“Nowadays, we have to break the molds to what it means to be a model in 2016.”
― Coco Rocha
“I was the first model to get a blog and talk about anything in modeling.”
― Coco Rocha
“Usually, a model gets two to three seasons, or a year and a half, and that’s it – you’re done. For me, it will be 10 years.”
― Coco Rocha
“Oh, the dilemma of the summer music festival. On one hand, we ladies try very hard to look cute walking around those muddy fields in our cowboy boots and cut-offs. On the other hand, we want to look like we really didn’t try at all and just rolled out of bed looking this way.”
― Coco Rocha
“A little personal trick: apply brown eyeliner throughout the day and then just add a little black over the top for a night look.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’m kind of getting over the whole Manhattan life. I’m from Vancouver, and that means mountains and a lot of space.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’m not fussy.”
― Coco Rocha
“If you are a new, upcoming designer, you’ve got to think of new, cool ways to make the industry look at you. Don’t just get stuck in a rut, show your clothes, and be like, ‘You should like this.’”
― Coco Rocha
“I hate when people say, ‘Well, this is unfair for the underdog.’ Well, the underdog should try harder.”
― Coco Rocha
“We get all excited about collaborations. You get excited to hear that Rihanna has something, because Rihanna is a singer, and she has amazing fashion. You want to see what she would create. I don’t get upset and think, ‘Someone else is going to do better than me.’ You’re like, ‘Oh, good for her.’”
― Coco Rocha
“I will definitely hook up my daughter if she decides to be a model.”
― Coco Rocha
“My faith is everything.”
― Coco Rocha
“When I was asked to be a part of ‘The Face,’ I was like, ‘This is exactly what I do without cameras.’ I didn’t find it any different than what I usually do for young girls – giving runway tips or just explaining how the whole industry works – but now you have, like, 19 cameras on you, documenting you while you scratch your nose.”
― Coco Rocha
“When someone tells me that I’m not real, I say to them, ‘Well, what about me isn’t real?’ I have not changed my figure. This is who I am.”
― Coco Rocha
“You always wonder when you get pregnant what projects and opportunities will come in or come knocking.”
― Coco Rocha
“Oftentimes, my career as a model is based around glamour or creating a fantasy world. That in itself is not a bad thing, as I think art and inspiration has its place in society.”
― Coco Rocha
“For me, anytime I see a mother truly loving her child, famous or not, it brings a smile to my face. I think most people would agree.”
― Coco Rocha
“I think balancing work and family takes constant adjustment. Its not something you can say you’ve accomplished and move on.”
― Coco Rocha
“Jean Paul Gaultier is not only immensely talented but also a genuinely sweet and kind person.”
― Coco Rocha
“My wedding dress is a piece of art that I’ll treasure forever. It was designed and created by Zac Posen. I gave him only the tiniest bit of direction when he started, and the end product was more beautiful than anything I could have imagined.”
― Coco Rocha
“I love Africa, especially Botswana. I could see myself retiring to a little tree house there one day.”
― Coco Rocha
“Everyone always remembers my dancing.”
― Coco Rocha
“Don’t get me wrong: ‘America’s Next Top Model’ is fantastic. They’ve done 20 seasons, so they’ve obviously done something right. But I think what ensures that the winner of ‘The Face’ will become a working model is the prize – a year-long contract with a cosmetics company is huge.”
― Coco Rocha
“I find it funny to look at people who are people-watching, and, don’t get me wrong, I like to people-watch, too. But it’s an interesting thing when people on the street just stop and ask you, ‘Are you Coco? Can I take a photo of you?’”
― Coco Rocha
“It’s especially important to make sure all clients are happy. You don’t want to get stuck into a corner and for people to think you now only have one look.”
― Coco Rocha
“I’m obsessed with historical English royalty.”
― Coco Rocha
“I would have loved to meet David Bowie.”
― Coco Rocha
“If it weren’t for my Irish dancing, I wouldn’t be modeling.”
― Coco Rocha
“My mom’s half-Irish, and my dad’s half-Irish. We don’t know much about my mom’s side, but my dad’s mom came from Belfast and married my grandfather, who was from Wales.”
― Coco Rocha
“I didn’t know anything about fashion. You would see me in the biggest sweater with jeans or the tightest elastic pants. Not nice clothes. My mom took me a lot to consignment stores when I was younger, and I never really got to go to fancy high-class stores, so… vintage was like a step up.”
― Coco Rocha
“Models can be people, too. But the only way to do that is to kind of step up and keep doing new things that no one has thought of, from new websites to new blogs, a newscast, doing speeches, talking to kids. It kind of opens a new headline every time: ‘Oh, a model hasn’t done this before; a model hasn’t done that before.’”
― Coco Rocha
“When I started modeling, I didn’t feel like I had a big sister to tell me how this industry works.”
― Coco Rocha
“I was always excited by the idea of having my own company, but models are rarely serious when they venture off into something else, be it acting, singing, or starting their own business.”
― Coco Rocha
“When you wear something different, you have to be confident that not everyone may get it at first.”
― Coco Rocha
“When I started, I knew nothing about fashion. I remember, my first day going to my agency, I was wearing these huge bell-bottoms – they were patchwork corduroy and denim, which, at the time, I thought were amazing. My agent told me, ‘You have a casting with Prada – you have to burn those jeans.’”
― Coco Rocha
“When I first started modeling, I had the chance to walk the runway with Naomi passing by me, but I didn’t know anything about supermodels. But when I saw her backstage, she complimented me on my walk, and I thought she was so nice – everyone was freaking out that I didn’t know who she was.”
― Coco Rocha
“You can teach a girl how to model, how to take a pretty picture, and how to walk, but you can’t teach personality.”
― Coco Rocha
“Whatever you do, never do the duck face – that’s the worst look for any girl out there. Some girls think that pushing out their lips looks fabulous, but it doesn’t.”
― Coco Rocha
“Moms or soon-to-be-moms put a lot of pressure on themselves.”
― Coco Rocha
“As a woman, sometimes we stress on always being of the moment, and that is a lot of pressure, especially for young girls.”
― Coco Rocha
“A lot of people might think the job of a model isn’t necessary anymore, but just like an actor, singer – how they make you feel a certain way – how watching a dancer gives you emotion, models can do the exact same thing to many different people.”
― Coco Rocha
“You can definitely notice a girl who has confidence versus one who’s thinking, ‘How are they judging me?’”
― Coco Rocha
“As a model, we come in the room, and we are casted just on our looks. I think I’m funny; I think I’m clever. But in the end, they’re picking me for my cheekbones or if I’m tall enough.”
― Coco Rocha
“One of my favorite poses was when working with Steven Meisel. It was one of my first photo shoots with him, and we were trying to get the cover of Italian ‘Vogue.’ Then, I literally took my Balenciaga hat, pulled it down, and gave a rolling-eye, ‘ugh’ face, crossed legs on the floor. And lo and behold, that was the cover of Italian ‘Vogue.’”
― Coco Rocha
“It’s hard sometimes because people don’t take a model seriously in any sense. Unless she’s taking a photo, that’s as good as she is.”
― Coco Rocha
“I hate when people say models don’t have personalities; what does that even mean? Everyone has a personality.”
― Coco Rocha
“I don’t think it’s fair for people to put fellow beings down just because they’re only known for their looks.”
― Coco Rocha
“The funny thing is that, for some reason, people think when you’re pregnant, you have to start wearing maternity wear and wear flats and look Mom-ish. I don’t know exactly what people expect of people who are pregnant, but there’s definitely a lot of moms out there that look super fabulous all the time, and I guess that’s my inspiration.”
― Coco Rocha
“Don’t have just anyone run your social media. I think it’s insane when brands or celebrities relegate their social media to an intern or someone who does not know them well.”
― Coco Rocha
“Personally, even though I have a great PR team, no one except my husband and I touch any of my 10 social media accounts. It’s a lot of work, but I know that my brand, my image, and my voice are authentic to me.”
― Coco Rocha
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