In addition to being a prestigious top model and designer, Erin Wasson is cataloged as an it girl, that is, one of the fashionable girls or muses of the moment, someone who encapsulates a style with which the public wants to identify. That makes me wonder: does the fact that Wasson isn't punctual for our date, nor does she present a clean image but fantastically slovenly and stylish, does it explain something about our time? Wasson has already turned 30, she is blonde, very skinny, with a penetrating blue gaze, a frank smile and wavy hair. She lets out a loud laugh at my observation. «But what is the importance of being an it girl, if the it changes every week? It does not validate you in any way », she says sitting on a terrace on the Lower East Side. Her husky voice and the conviction with which she speaks give character to her words. Neighbor for a few years and muse of designer prodigy Alexander Wang, she was an occasional stylist in his first shows and somehow created a new category: models that act not just as mannequins, but are also capable of inspiring the creators themselves.

Wasson is Texan, from Dallas, and perhaps that's where she gets a charisma and rebelliousness a la Scarlet O'Hara. She raves about the art scene in her hometown and mentions the Renzo Piano-designed Nasher Sculpture Museum as one of her favorites. "People stick with the clichés and make fun of how ladies dress up, but the truth is that there are very educated people there," she points out. Erin has added a touch of bohemian rock & roll to the southern belle stereotype; although music, she assures her, is one of the few fields in which she is clear that she would not get involved. She has, yes, a complete vinyl disco in her New York penthouse, where we take these photos.

Stella McCartney sweater, Ash leather boots, Assad Mounser necklace.

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She arrived in New York in the year 2000. She was 18 years old and still thought that she would end up going to an art or cooking school: at that time she did not think that her thing with fashion would last more than six months. He settled in Williamsburg, but “when I was two years old I decided I had to live between New York and California, so I've been moving from coast to coast for a decade. It's like a dance, but happiness is one's responsibility, it's something you can't delegate. New York is a city where work matters a lot, directs your life, and in California there is a more relaxed atmosphere. They are like Jupiter and Mars, two different planets. And to illustrate it, nothing more graphic than what he is wearing. «What is a relaxed style? In New York it's what I wear today », he says pointing to his somewhat shabby T-shirt, knee-high boots and sequined striped pants. «The pants, after all, have paillettes, it is not a tracksuit or shorts as it would be worn in Los Angeles. In this city you get dressed in the morning to spend the whole day in the same clothes and in Los Angeles you change several times. What does she think when dressing? “As soon as I start to overanalyze it, I shut down and put on some jeans and boots,” she says with a laugh. "But in the end it's about believing in yourself and not getting too carried away by trends."

Her career as a model began when her father submitted a photo of her to a contest organized by The Dallas Morning News. "I won and they gave me my first interview," she recalls mockingly. "It all happened overnight." She did not take it too seriously, but a contract with Maybelline marked the turning point [since 2002 she is the image of the firm]. “Fashion is an insecure world and this made everything more solid. Let's say the cards were on the table and it wasn't time to get up and walk out in the middle of the game,” she explains. She has paraded and posed for countless magazines and campaigns.

The Kooples shirt, Balmain skirt, Christian Louboutin shoes, Tom Binns silver chain.

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Are you still having fun? "It's a job and that's always better than lying on a couch. There are things that I like, but there are also days that I would punch." Wasson adds that her advice to any girl who wants to be a model is to stand up for herself and find her own voice. Alexander Wang was the one who allowed her to have it. "I saw that she trusted me, my perspective and that opened up a lot of opportunities for me." Her rebellious reputation gave way to a new phase. “You have to learn to swallow your ego and think big, because the ego is dangerous. It's not about stopping being who you are, but about biting your tongue from time to time and knowing when to shut up and when to fly », she points out.

Former American model and actress Lauren Hutton is Erin's role model for the way she has aged and her attitude to fashion. Like her, Wasson has made the leap to the cinema. She first made a cameo in Sofia Coppola's latest film, Somewhere (2010), and the film inspired by the novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, in which she has one of the leading roles, has just been released in the US. She speaks enthusiastically of the experience. «I was used to having everything under control and knowing my profession in depth and, suddenly, in the cinema, I felt lost. The only thing you can do when something like this happens to you is to trust that others know what they are doing, having decided that you are there. Playing a character is like a therapy that disturbs you, you discover things that you didn't even know you had.

I had to google how to write a check I'm such a pathetic human being

— Amaran Sun May 03 17:03:00 +0000 2020

Loewe jacket, Zadig & Voltaire t-shirt, Masscob panties, Perle de Lune necklace with musical notes, Malababa star necklace, Erin Wasson stone necklace.

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Wasson, needless to say, likes women with character. "In my family we all are," she laughs. That has probably helped him keep his feet on the ground. So, when she has a day off, she says that she likes to do normal things, like going to see a friend who works at a canning company in Maine. «It is wonderful to be with people to whom you do not have to give explanations. They are friends who understand you even if you don't speak and who don't care where you come from». Apparently, her environment is not dazzled by her life as a model and actress.

They even ignore her style advice. Her mother –the same one who instilled in her that she should not live to work, but work to live– does not give up heels; and her sister, when she was pregnant, there was no way to convince her to wear tight clothes and give her tummy a rocker touch.

She is restless and curious, she likes to read (especially Steve Martin's novel about the world of art: An Object of Beauty); and one of the films that has impacted him most recently has been the documentary about Bob Marley. Erin has designed collections for the surf and skate brand RVCA and for Zadig & Voltaire, and has created the jewelry firm Low Luv. Her next project is a documentary in Argentina. «You have to try new things and follow your path, let inspiration come to you without important what others think. Honestly, I think I'll end up on a horseback ranch."

Zadig & Voltaire vest, Ash boots, Fallon gold chains.

eric guillemain

Hat by Erin Wasson, by Maison Michel, printed shirt by Balmain, pink cotton briefs by Les Petites, fringed necklace by Shourouk. Erin Wasson bracelet.

eric guillemain