Elle France: December 2008: Jourdan Dunn: Interview

Elle France: December 2008: Jourdan Dunn: Cover
(scanned by Me)

Translation from TFS

She's said to be the new Naomi Campbell.
At only 18 years old the British model Jourdan Dunn shines on catwalks and gives colours back to fashion. Meet a young woman who is completely confident in her own skin.

This day in particular she had a bit of a cough. Even models happen to cough. Did she get a cold during the British Fashion Awards when she won the title of model of the year ?

"No it happened yeasterday evening at my mother's home. I must have caught it from both her and my younger brother", she laughes. Actually all of her own paradox lies here. At only 18 years old, Jourdan is expected to have a bright future as a model, new face of the current "black is beautiful" wave that's shaking fashion. However, she's a young girl like any other besides, who still lives at mum's house in West London.

Discovered by Sarah Doukas from Storm, who also discovered Kate Moss, Jourdan Dunn quickly got people talking about her. Whereas the fashion industry was being blamed for only putting Eastern girls on the runways, the young Britishmodel with Jamaïca origins has been carefully watched this year being called the new Naomi Campbell. Four prestigious magazines (Italian Vogue, i-D, Pop & Style) put her on the cover which still happen merely to black models. Add to this her appearance on the Prada runway, in Milan. The last time it happened was actually Naomi Campbell, 10 years ago. "No wonder her success, she's so graceful and photogenic, she's got that little extra that makes the difference" says Donat, her agent from Nathalie in Paris.

She's also known for her free-speaking. Back in april she openly criticised London fashion week.

"I can see quantity of black models during castings and then, looking at the runways, they seem to have disappeared. It's not the reflexion of London's culture... "

Which had led her to says that she plans to open an agency specialised in Black, Asian and Hispanic models in the future. Right now she is still learning on her job. And getting mixed feelings from time to time. " When I walked for Prada, she says, I was in between 2 different feelings, being happy that I have been chosen and being sad to think that it's been so long since the last time a black model walked for the brand."

May Jourdan have taken benefit from the "Obama wave" ? It's been around one year that we can observe a wave of "black power". Fashion tries to adapt and meet the expectations. Slowly yet surely. Black models appear again here and there on catwalks, Jourdan and fellow models Kinee Diouf, Chanel Iman and Yasmine Warsame among others.

And, as a small revolution, Italian Vogue published a Black issue in july this year, with four different covers to be chosen: Naomi, Jourdan, Liya Kebede and Sessilee Lopez. An issue sold out overnight. Proof that putting a black model on the cover doesn't necessary decrease sales.

But don't tell Jourdan that it's simply a trend. "My fashion award is to reward the work I've done all over the year. Well, I hope so..." Seems that Jourdan will have to face a dilemna that many people from minorities have to deal with. In one hand they don't want to be considered regarding their skin colour but for their own abilities. In another hand they are proud to represent their community. "At the beginning of my career I used to cry a lot, I was wondering if it was worth going on it. Yet some young girls came to tell me I am an exemple for them. I don't want to disappoint. This job may be hard yet I don't want to give it up. This is Jourdan's other side. Behind the runway queen, behind the top model that embodies cosmopolitan culture - with incredibly refined features, a sublime posture and a precious wood coloured skin, there is this young girl, recently grown-up, who is hiding. A girl who has to evolve alone among the fashion industry. "We are quite lonely in this business. We have to deal with some incredibly over- confident people. What I miss the most is not having the same life as a girl of my age." But Jourdan manages it actually. She realises how lucky she is. She learned she's better not to take herself seriously. She explains that her job is to be loved one day and ignored the day after and that it's better not to care too much about others' compliments. And her mother who's working as an office employee and who bought up alone her 3 kids (Jourdan and her 2 brothers), helped her to stay down-to-earth. "When I call her on the phone from the other side of the planet to complain she answers: yes, you're right. Why wouldn't you work in Tesco?"

Jourdan is an amazing girl. Both strong and sensitive, eagger to be a voice for her fellows, and hungry for being professional. A girl who cryed when Obama won the elections, but who says: "he didn't win because he is black but because he's got an incrdible charisma and vision!" Accepted by Naomi the queen, who often gives her some advices, Jourdan is still very different from her, Jourdan is more quiet than Naomi at her age. "She's very polite, she's got exquisite manniers says Donat.

Better like this as the demanding divas area is over." She's a young woman of now who wants later to study business. And who notices: "when I was a child, magazines showed white women only. Would be time for a change wouldn't be? " Yes, Miss Dunn.