UPERMODEL.COM'S Dahlia Dean recently spent some time with the very
British, 22 year-old supermodel Honor Fraser in New York. Honor appeared
on dozens of runways -- from Isaac Mizrahi to Oscar de la Renta -- in
New York, Milan and Paris this past season. She attracted considerable
attention with ample panache and a style all her own. Off the runway
she's equally entrancing. Not only does she have an unusual look, but
she's animated and very charming. Perhaps she represents the new and
improved supermodel -- one who throws attitude only on the catwalk.
Honor joined us at Tortilla Flats, just around the corner from where she was staying while she's in New York, to take a rare look into the life of a supermodel on the rise.
DD: You've been referred to as Britain's new supermodel. What do you think about being labeled like that? Is it something that you feel you sort of have to prove, or does it mean nothing to you? HF: Ooh. Well, I don't know what it means. I long to be good at what I do, so if people are saying that, I hope that means that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing with my work. It's very hard to know. You can be encouraged and be told that you look lovely and, 'my God you're so good' but you never really know. If you start working with some people you think that maybe you have learned something and know how to work. To me, that's really important. If people are saying that, and it's a measure of success and a measure of being good at something, then I really appreciate it, and relish it. It can be like hype or it can be that people really appreciate working with you. That's something that I really like, because I can really appreciate working with some people. So if they really appreciate working with me, then it means something. To know that I'm really good at it would be great, but I know that I'm not yet. I hope to be. DD: I read in some articles that cutting your hair was what really helped your career take off. HF: It was extraordinary. It made such a difference. It's just a very different approach, I suppose, or very different impression it makes. It is almost an 'I don't care what my hair looks like' type of look. I could never get that with long hair. I think I do suit the concept of not caring what my hair looks like, that sort of 'boy, little kid' thing which is much more me than the girly thing. I don't spend time on some girly things, like looking after my hair. In January I cut it all off. It was below my shoulders. In fact, it was a little bit longer in front, the fringe. It was just before the Milan shows. Sam McKnight [a hair stylist] and I decided to get rid of it. It's quite short and quite spiky. It's sort of a Sheena Easton, sea urchin type of thing which I'm really into at the moment. You can't hide behind short hair. I needed to kind of not hide anymore. For some reason it did make a big difference. It did bring me out. DD: I think the same thing was true for Linda Evangelista. She used to have long hair, and before she cut it she was on editorial spreads, but no one really noticed her that much. Her career took off after she cut her hair. HF: Well, that's nice to know. That's a good omen. DD: Which shows were you in this past season? HF: Donna Karan, Ralph [Lauren], Isaac [Mizrahi], Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta.
"I never realized how pleasing it can be having thousands of people watching you."
DD: You went right across the board from really conservative, Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta to Isaac Mizrahi. It's been said that you have an ice-queen runway persona.What do you think about that? Tell me about your runway persona versus reality. HF: I love the runway. It's such a dream. I never realized that I had it in me, even though when I was very little I was always showing off. But, the teenage years brought me back into my shell and cut me down a bit. I never realized how pleasing it can be having thousands of people watching you, and imagining that there are many more thousands. I just think that's really great. There are no limits to how camp I can feel. Maybe camp is not the word, but how much I can love it, because your imagination does take off and I really enjoy it. I really like that feeling. DD: What's goes through your mind when you're walking down the runway? HF: Basically, I want to really make people watch me. I'm not concentrating because I don't know how, but I've got that energy in me to really make it unforgettable. I love that. That gives me a real buzz, to think that I might make a difference about how people think. DD: When you're walking around the streets of New York, London, Paris, who knows where, do you think you present this runway persona? HF: I think not at all. Well, I hope not because I think it puts you automatically on some podium. . .well not some podium, but I think it distances you from real life. That's not what I want at all. It's very important to have a real life. DD: It's sometimes hard for actors to separate the roles they play from who they really are. So tell me how do you differ from your runway persona? HF: I think it takes a lot longer to get things out of me in life than it does on the runway. I don't know. I'll tell you what I really feel about the runway. I'm really obsessed by stand-up comedians and comedy, probably because in England it's a really big thing. I'm always amazed how a stand-up comedian, however bad he is, if he knows something about his business, he can always be on top of the audience, for instance, involving the audience in his jokes, or whatever. He's the one with the loudspeaker, basically, so he can always come out on top if he's intelligent about it. And I figure if I'm standing up on stage, I can always come out on top. If you command your audience, which I think is the essential key to everything that is at all theatrical -- and I long to think that I have some sort of command over an audience -- I don't think you can fail if you do have that and if you give something special. So, that's what I'm trying to do. In real life I don't think it's so easy, because there is no charm, there is nothing exciting about having a command over people. It's just freaky. So, maybe that's the difference. DD: Which do you most prefer doing, advertising, editorial or runway? HF: I haven't really done much advertising before this year. It's great. I like it -- getting to know a client and sort of associating a feeling for a fashion house. I quite like that and getting to know the people and how they work and what kind of idea they're presenting. So, advertising is interesting in that way. Editorial I love because you're really searching for something beautiful. That sounds quite corny, but you're trying to create something really quite special. So, I do love that too. But, runway I really love. DD: You got Isaac Mizrahi and Ralph Lauren ad campaigns here. Those are amazing campaigns -- the two of them together.. HF: That's what's so great about it. I love the idea of it being fireworks. It's two quite contrasting designers. They're two very different ends of the New York scene, you know, which is really exciting. They have very different ideas.
Photo: Marvin Thompson as seen in the Elite Agency book
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