Beautiful warm weather temperatures have returned to the city, just in time for Joan Smalls and
Coco Rocha to help David Yurman toast to summer!
The jewelry brand hosted their annual Summer Soiree on their rooftop in TriBeCa, complete with breathtaking views of the city for fashion insiders’ pleasure. But while some were transfixed on the horizon, Modelinia was beside ourselves looking at the stunning, brand new campaign images decorating the walls, starring Joan and Arizona Muse! “As soon as I came in, I saw an image of myself [in the campaign] for the first time,” exclaimed Joan. “To finally see everything we did that day, it’s like wow! It’s so iconic; it’s full of memories that I’ll remember forever…” We just had to know, is it weird walking down the street and coming upon a picture of yourself? “It’s always weird seeing yourself super big,” Joan said. “As soon as I look I look around to see if anybody notices me looking at myself, but nobody does at all!” Don’t worry Joan…Modelinia always recognizes you!
In keeping with the theme of summer celebrations, Joan dished on her plans for the rest of August, which includes a trip home to Puerto Rico, as well as the island of Vieques, for beach relaxation and sun bathing. Fresh from an earlier trip to Mexico with her hubby to celebrate their year wedding anniversary, we caught up with Coco to discuss her new jewelry collaboration and charity initiatives.
Ever the ambitious and driven model, Coco partnered with Senhoa to design a jewelry collection to further the empowerment of women. Senhoa girls are removed from the sex trade in Cambodia, educated, and taught to create jewelry for a living. Coco was first introduced to the organization thanks to one of the members of the video crew during her wedding, learned of their hard work, and decided to become involved. “We decided that instead of throwing a party, I would design a line. They work with their hands, so everything is beaded, everything is with little crystals. It’s actually quite amazing material that they work with,” said Coco. “Everything is going to a good cause. We don’t keep any of [the proceeds] and the Senhoa people are good about making sure the money is in the [right] hands.”
In the perfect pairing of initiatives, Coco is looking into ways to merge her hard work for both Haiti and Senhoa. “We plan on somehow involving the Senhoa girls. When you come to the show, we give you the jewelry and the proceeds go half to the Haiti kids and half to the Senhoa girls. So its like the girls in Cambodia are helping the girls in Haiti.”
It goes without saying that Coco’s an absolutely beautiful individual, but what’s more impressive than her posing power is the drive she has to help others. We could all learn a thing or two from Coco’s endless hard work and devotion to giving.
