29-year-old Canadian model Crista Cober as been working well for the past eleven years. I see her career as the slow burn along a fuse, which is now exploding with an incredible coup: a multi-image Balmain campaign shot by Mario Sorrenti with the worlds top models as co-stars: Adriana Lima, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Joan Smalls and Isabeli Fontana.
She’s the latest in WWD’s Model Call series. Here are our highlights:
My first agency in Toronto told me that it’s a great career, a great job, but to be careful not to make it my life. Everyone used to ask me, “What are you gonna do when you stop?” But I always wanted to do other things while modeling…the possibilities were endless. I’ve started and stopped four times. You’re self-employed, and you kind of hold all the cards, so you can stop and restart. I did that a bunch of times.
I went to South America for eight months; went back to Canada for a bit; moved to Paris a second time. I didn’t really take [modeling] seriously until I came to New York. I came, I needed a visa, and it’s a bit more serious here. Agencies here are more focused on giving you a career as opposed to just giving you something to do every once in a while.
What I still want to do, but 10 years down the road, is [to study] nursing, get a midwife degree and work abroad doing midwifing.
My favorite moment, funny enough, was when my booker called to let me know about Balmain. I was shooting on a beach in L.A. when she called and she was, like, “Hey, did you check your e-mail? Check it, I’ll stay on the phone.” Which I thought was a bit weird. But it was so nice for her to want to share that moment with me. I was so happy to have the opportunity. Everyone was congratulating me, but I was like, “Wait a minute, guys. I still have to shoot it, and it still has to look good. When it actually comes out, then we can all be okay, this is awesome.”
In 12 years, I’ve done one show, which is amazing to me. […] I’ve always had a strong build with broad shoulders. Probably for the first 10 years, agents would be like, “You have to be smaller.” The size of your hands, your wrists, your bone structure — for shows, all of that is important.
Read the full interview here.
Crista is represented by Next Models in Toronto, New York, Paris, and London. She’s represented by View in Barcelona, Dominique in Brussels, Le Management in Copenhagen, PMA in Hamburg, and MIKAS in Stockholm. You can follow her on Instagram.
