Vogue
Prologue.
‘Vmagazine’s Model of the Month: Arabella Richards’
Entering the Manhattan loft that our interview had been scheduled in, I expected a to see a lot of things; agents buzzing around, Dom Perignon on tap and racks of designer clothes that cost more than my house – I expected nothing less from Chanel’s newest face and Christophe Decarnin’s personal muse. What was surprising was seeing Arabella Richards sitting on the wooden floorboards, hunched over, hands covered in oil pastels as she coloured in swirls of mosaic colours that danced across a large canvas amidst the chaos that bustled around her. “I used to do holiday art programs at the community centre growing up...” Richards told me as she wiped her hands clean before we were lead by one of the numerous worker bees into a quieter, bright naturally lit lounge room. “...It’s what keeps me sane. I’m proud to say that Art’s my one vice, oh and coffee I suppose.” she laughed as two steaming cups of Arabia’s finest were placed on the table separating us. I came ready to interview the fashion industries next Supermodel, and instead I actually met an insanely humble and grounded twenty-year-old who just wanted to prove she wasn’t Kate Moss 2.0.
Whilst Richards has a great love for the fine arts – attested by the Rauchenberg combine she just bought at Christie’s to celebrate her first ‘real’ paycheck – it’s her strut along the catwalk and the numerous print ad’s she’s featured in that she’s famous for, despite her consistent proclamations against that claim. “I don’t really think of myself as a supermodel, I’m not. Supermodels are these mythical and ethereal beauties – I’m just some girl from California that makes a good clothes-hanger!”
Whilst she hails from the sunshine state, you wouldn’t know it by her attitude, “I’m such a bad Californian - I hate the beach and I have the biggest fear of large bodies of water and absolutely refuse to get on a boat. I shit my pants every time I have to drive over a bridge even”. Richards, who stands as one of the modeling industries shortest models – only just breaking the 5”6 mark – has her Middle Eastern heritage to thank for her in demand beauty; shocking dark chocolate locks, green eyes and olive skin. Her parentage is what is truly remarkable about her and she says her unique upbringing is really what grounds her. Abandoned by her biological parents on the steps of an Israeli hospital, Arabella spent her first two years of life in a Tel Aviv orphanage before being extradited to America by Medicines San Frontier when Herzliya was attacked. “After coming to America, I spent maybe three months in a US orphanage before being adopted by my parents. The matron’s in Tel Aviv had named me Arabella and my parents kept that name for me. The Richards are my family, the only family I acknowledge at least and if people didn’t already know I was adopted – I’d tell everyone they were my biological relatives”.
Family is central in Arabella’s busy life and it was actually Richards' brother that introduced her into the modeling industry, landing her a job when she was just a fresh-faced sixteen-year-old. “Justin has been in and out of bands his whole life, and when I was sixteen he made me model his band’s merch. That’s where Marie, my manager, found me - on MySpace in a homemade tee and she tracked me down, screaming her heart out and acting as if she’d found fucking El Dorado”. Richards might as well be the lost City of Gold; after being taken under the wing of former-model-turned-agent Marie Cantina, she was a part-time freelance model for two and half years before being introduced to head designer for Balmain, Christophe Decarnin in late 2007. “It was a week after my 18th birthday, and I had done a couple of print ads for Sass and Bide and my first runway for Ksubi, but at the time I had just gotten off a tour with my brother’s band and hadn’t really worked for a couple of months. Marie calls me up one night and says ‘New York, be there in two days’ and for some fucked reason I agree with her and next thing I know I’m at some fancy-ass after party for the MET Gala and I get introduced to Chris and it just clicks.” After their introduction in New York, Decarnin flies Richards out to Paris for a week where he designs his entire 2008 collection around the eighteen-year-old. She opens and closes his Printemps runway show and features in his print ads – “She’s the most beautiful model to me, she’s not average - She’s shorter and she has breasts and she’s all legs and the most amazing higher set cheekbones. I saw her and thought she was imperfect perfection” Decarnin has said about his muse.
By December 2007, Decarnin had helped Richards skyrocket through the rungs of the Fashion ladder – resulting in a contract to IMG and landing her shows in New York and Milan fashion week as well as a lucrative deal as the European Face of Chanel Cosmetics. Despite her meteoric rise as a model, Richards is still relatively unknown by the public and admits she likes it that way. “I don’t want my face on a fucking billboard, that’s too surreal for me. Honestly, I have always said I didn’t want to be a commodity. I never want to be a celebrity model and I still feel that way. I’m quite savvy about what projects I accept; I stick to runways and print ads and don’t do magazine spreads or commercial pieces, I work maybe five months all up each year. I want to stay anonymous, be a good model and not be the next Kate Moss or Heidi Klum”. A celebrity train wreck is one thing Richards is unlikely to become, whilst her name is synonymous with the up and coming wave of young models in the design industry – not one person we asked this morning on the streets of New York knew of her. Something she smiled about when I mentioned it to her – “I could be walking out of a meeting with Marc Jacobs and the paparazzo’s head line would be ‘Marc and an unidentified female friend…’. It’s nice and I supposed it’s a bit hypocritical of me to be saying I don’t want to be famous to a magazine, but Maria would chuck a shit if I didn’t do at least one interview a year [laughs]…and it’s who I am, I can’t hide that”.
Last year saw Richards featured in numerous catwalk shows, her favourite though – “Valentino’s final show. His gowns are orgasmic and the energy backstage was just amazing, I feel honored that I can say I’ve been in his show”. But what does 2009 hold for Arabella Richards, “I only really work three times a year – for Paris, Milan and New York fashion week - so hopefully just be with my family, Warped Tour with my brother. I'm a homebody, I act more like a college student...Maybe I'll find a boyfriend? Lord knows it’s been awhile.” she laughed. Arabella Richards – a relatively unknown model who Vmagazine think should be the example: humble, intelligent and witty all wrapped up in a very pretty package. Kate Moss, eat your heart out!
- Mark Anderson for Vmagazine.com (May 2009)
Entering the Manhattan loft that our interview had been scheduled in, I expected a to see a lot of things; agents buzzing around, Dom Perignon on tap and racks of designer clothes that cost more than my house – I expected nothing less from Chanel’s newest face and Christophe Decarnin’s personal muse. What was surprising was seeing Arabella Richards sitting on the wooden floorboards, hunched over, hands covered in oil pastels as she coloured in swirls of mosaic colours that danced across a large canvas amidst the chaos that bustled around her. “I used to do holiday art programs at the community centre growing up...” Richards told me as she wiped her hands clean before we were lead by one of the numerous worker bees into a quieter, bright naturally lit lounge room. “...It’s what keeps me sane. I’m proud to say that Art’s my one vice, oh and coffee I suppose.” she laughed as two steaming cups of Arabia’s finest were placed on the table separating us. I came ready to interview the fashion industries next Supermodel, and instead I actually met an insanely humble and grounded twenty-year-old who just wanted to prove she wasn’t Kate Moss 2.0.
Whilst Richards has a great love for the fine arts – attested by the Rauchenberg combine she just bought at Christie’s to celebrate her first ‘real’ paycheck – it’s her strut along the catwalk and the numerous print ad’s she’s featured in that she’s famous for, despite her consistent proclamations against that claim. “I don’t really think of myself as a supermodel, I’m not. Supermodels are these mythical and ethereal beauties – I’m just some girl from California that makes a good clothes-hanger!”
Whilst she hails from the sunshine state, you wouldn’t know it by her attitude, “I’m such a bad Californian - I hate the beach and I have the biggest fear of large bodies of water and absolutely refuse to get on a boat. I shit my pants every time I have to drive over a bridge even”. Richards, who stands as one of the modeling industries shortest models – only just breaking the 5”6 mark – has her Middle Eastern heritage to thank for her in demand beauty; shocking dark chocolate locks, green eyes and olive skin. Her parentage is what is truly remarkable about her and she says her unique upbringing is really what grounds her. Abandoned by her biological parents on the steps of an Israeli hospital, Arabella spent her first two years of life in a Tel Aviv orphanage before being extradited to America by Medicines San Frontier when Herzliya was attacked. “After coming to America, I spent maybe three months in a US orphanage before being adopted by my parents. The matron’s in Tel Aviv had named me Arabella and my parents kept that name for me. The Richards are my family, the only family I acknowledge at least and if people didn’t already know I was adopted – I’d tell everyone they were my biological relatives”.
Family is central in Arabella’s busy life and it was actually Richards' brother that introduced her into the modeling industry, landing her a job when she was just a fresh-faced sixteen-year-old. “Justin has been in and out of bands his whole life, and when I was sixteen he made me model his band’s merch. That’s where Marie, my manager, found me - on MySpace in a homemade tee and she tracked me down, screaming her heart out and acting as if she’d found fucking El Dorado”. Richards might as well be the lost City of Gold; after being taken under the wing of former-model-turned-agent Marie Cantina, she was a part-time freelance model for two and half years before being introduced to head designer for Balmain, Christophe Decarnin in late 2007. “It was a week after my 18th birthday, and I had done a couple of print ads for Sass and Bide and my first runway for Ksubi, but at the time I had just gotten off a tour with my brother’s band and hadn’t really worked for a couple of months. Marie calls me up one night and says ‘New York, be there in two days’ and for some fucked reason I agree with her and next thing I know I’m at some fancy-ass after party for the MET Gala and I get introduced to Chris and it just clicks.” After their introduction in New York, Decarnin flies Richards out to Paris for a week where he designs his entire 2008 collection around the eighteen-year-old. She opens and closes his Printemps runway show and features in his print ads – “She’s the most beautiful model to me, she’s not average - She’s shorter and she has breasts and she’s all legs and the most amazing higher set cheekbones. I saw her and thought she was imperfect perfection” Decarnin has said about his muse.
By December 2007, Decarnin had helped Richards skyrocket through the rungs of the Fashion ladder – resulting in a contract to IMG and landing her shows in New York and Milan fashion week as well as a lucrative deal as the European Face of Chanel Cosmetics. Despite her meteoric rise as a model, Richards is still relatively unknown by the public and admits she likes it that way. “I don’t want my face on a fucking billboard, that’s too surreal for me. Honestly, I have always said I didn’t want to be a commodity. I never want to be a celebrity model and I still feel that way. I’m quite savvy about what projects I accept; I stick to runways and print ads and don’t do magazine spreads or commercial pieces, I work maybe five months all up each year. I want to stay anonymous, be a good model and not be the next Kate Moss or Heidi Klum”. A celebrity train wreck is one thing Richards is unlikely to become, whilst her name is synonymous with the up and coming wave of young models in the design industry – not one person we asked this morning on the streets of New York knew of her. Something she smiled about when I mentioned it to her – “I could be walking out of a meeting with Marc Jacobs and the paparazzo’s head line would be ‘Marc and an unidentified female friend…’. It’s nice and I supposed it’s a bit hypocritical of me to be saying I don’t want to be famous to a magazine, but Maria would chuck a shit if I didn’t do at least one interview a year [laughs]…and it’s who I am, I can’t hide that”.
Last year saw Richards featured in numerous catwalk shows, her favourite though – “Valentino’s final show. His gowns are orgasmic and the energy backstage was just amazing, I feel honored that I can say I’ve been in his show”. But what does 2009 hold for Arabella Richards, “I only really work three times a year – for Paris, Milan and New York fashion week - so hopefully just be with my family, Warped Tour with my brother. I'm a homebody, I act more like a college student...Maybe I'll find a boyfriend? Lord knows it’s been awhile.” she laughed. Arabella Richards – a relatively unknown model who Vmagazine think should be the example: humble, intelligent and witty all wrapped up in a very pretty package. Kate Moss, eat your heart out!
- Mark Anderson for Vmagazine.com (May 2009)
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I don't own anything - not Vmagazine, fake author, any of the brands, designers or bands etc.