Catwalk
The journey of a woman in fashion.
Spotted on the street at the age of fifteen, Nathalie Cros-Coitton became a model. But forty years before #metoo, she quickly realized that respect for her body was not a priority. She distanced herself from the world of luxury and entered adulthood with curiosity: she wanted to observe, understand, and have fun. She lost herself in the wild Parisian nights of the 1980s, at the legendary Palace and Les Bains Douches. She saw how bodies changed, consumed themselves, and deteriorated: AIDS was already wreaking havoc. She took on a series of jobs at rock festivals, had many exciting, sometimes confusing encounters, and returned to fashion by founding her own modeling agency. This time, she was the one who found the girls, negotiated their contracts, guided them, and defended them, just as she defended herself in the jungle of a world where women did not yet have their rightful place.
From the nudist beaches of the 1970s to the catwalks of major fashion shows, from the "supermodel" era to the #MeToo revolution, this book traces not only one woman's journey, but also the evolution of modeling and fashion, and above all, the evolution of how our society views the body—the body we display or want to hide, the body we transform, the body we fantasize about...
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Publication
November 10, 2022
Format
130 x 205 mm
272 pages
Price
19,90 €
ISBN
978-2-9580712-4-0
Diffuser
Excerpt
"I had an orange-colored childhood. Bright and bitter. Not sad, but complicated. I didn't feel safe. I didn't know what it meant to be carefree. My father used to say, 'When I die, I only want you at my funeral. You and Pink Floyd.' That kind of statement was like a collar around my neck, a dog collar that had been trained, a tight leash, and my father's hand holding the lead. He used to say, 'Your mother is useless. Good for nothing. You're not like her." So I was like him? I allowed myself to doubt it, and I didn't think my mother was useless. Since I wasn't invited to respond, I kept my comments to myself. He would even sometimes say to me, "Don't tell her we spent the afternoon with a friend. It's our secret, it's none of her business." Forced into duplicity, into lying, and therefore into silence: that was the deviance. Apart from that, everything was fine with me. The yéyés, the gays, the naked bodies, everything suited me.
Focus on the author
Nathalie Cros-Coitton is a leading figure in the world of luxury and fashion, where she has been working for 35 years. At the head of Women Management, one of the largest modeling agencies in France, she is also President of the French Federation of Modeling Agencies (FFAM). She is known for her concern for the well-being of models and her commitment to strict ethics based on respect and integrity. Women Management also has offices in New York and Milan.
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