When I started out, I wasnโt being booked for certain shows because of the colour of my skin. I didnโt let it rattle me. From attending auditions and performing at an early age, I understood what it meant to be black. You had to put in the extra effort. You had to be twice as good.
I thought we could reach more people with a show than with publicity. Also when youโre going to do publicity, you have to choose your muse. You have to choose the person who stands for everything that youโre doing. A boy and a girl. And then, is she young? Old? Blonde? Black? What skin color does she have? Is she soft? Hard? Romantic? Is he tough? Muscular? Skinny? So you automatically kick out a big group of people who donโt identify with the person that they see in your publicity. In that way a fashion show is more neutral. You already have a group of, like, 40 or 50 models.
Iโve said it often, but there are very few. Theyโre not necessarily the most beautiful women ever. Jean Shrimpton, Kate Moss, Dietrich, Garbo โ they all had that quality. Itโs a mystery. The idea of beauty has expanded. The Romans had a very particular idea. I think a lot about the seeds of beauty. As a kid there was a shop that sold packets of seeds. I was obsessed with the idea of these little black things growing into different kinds of beauty. Magic.