Coco Rocha, The Diageo Brand Ambassador On Being the Queen of Posing, Her New Label and How She Likes Her Scotch...

Tell us a little about your association with Diageo?
“Well, Diageo is an amazing luxury spirits company that pretty much makes every drink you love. I’m one of their global ambassadors for scotch, which has been so fun and such an adventure.”

How do you drink your scotch?
“It depends on the time of day! If I’m at brunch, I love a scotch cocktail with some lime juice, sugar and mint leaves. If it’s early evening and I’m out with friends, I might have a scotch with gingerale. If I’m home with my husband, I may just have it on the rocks. It never gets old.”

What kind of woman do you associate with Diageo scotch?
“I think she’s confident and enjoys a good conversation. She walks into any room and people are intrigued by her.”

What kind of girl were you growing up?

“I spent all my free time learning dance and competing in it (Irish dance in particular). That kept me busy, so I didn’t have time to be distracted by boys.”

How long does it take you to get dressed in the morning?
“Now that I have a little baby, it takes me about two minutes! Any longer than that, and my daughter will be pulling all my clothes out of the closet!”

You’ve been called the ‘Queen of Posing’. What are the three things a girl needs to be great at posing?

“Well, you need confidence, practice, and you need to be open-minded. So many girls think that there is only one way they can pose to look intriguing or beautiful. I go on social media and see some people who literally do the same face and pose in all their pictures! I created a book a few years ago called Study Of Pose, which was literally 1,000 poses, back- to-back, (inspired by art, film, music, fashion, pop culture). I made it to show that there are many, many ways of expressing yourself through movement. ”

What made you decide to start your own clothing line?
“I thought a lot about what was missing in the market before we started designing at CO+CO. I realised that for many girls, it’s really hard to find clean, architectural pieces like we see in high-fashion magazines and runway shows at a realistic price.I wanted to offer girls this aesthetic with amazing fabrics.”

Tell us three key pieces everyone should have in their closet?
“A good pair of black heels, a comfy jumpsuit, and an oversized sweater.”

And lastly, tell us a little bit about ‘The Coco Moment’...
“This one time, Jean Paul Gaultier dressed me as a mermaid with my legs bound together into a fishtail and I hopped down the runway on crutches made of coral. Half the way down, I was supposed to pull a zipper to release my legs, but the zipper didn’t work, so I pushed my long nail into the fish- tail and ripped it bottom to top. Most designers would go berserk over a model ripping a garment, but Gaultier loved the theatrics of it. Another time, he asked me to Irish dance down his runway to Scottish highland bag pipes, and it was dubbed the ‘Coco Moment’. From then on, I was forever known as ‘Coco, The Irish Dancing Model’.