Hana Soukupova

I’m a model, I have to live in New York.

She came for the interview late in the night. We met in a hotel near Champs-Elysées in the middle of the Fashion Week. She looked as shy as before, but when she talked you could see self-confident young woman, who was on the top.

Do you like fashion weeks?
I enjoy them very much. In the beggining when a model is new, she has to go to castings. And than she walk all runways which she is sign on. I don’t have to do that. I already have „name“. They know me, they know how I look like and what I know. So I can choose which runway I want to walk. Two years ago I’ve done 21 fashion shows during one fashion week. Now I did only 15. Just the most important.

I can hear that you have a little bit different accent? Do you have problems with Czech?
It isn’t a problem yet. But sometimes I’ve got problems… When I’m at home in Karlovy Vary, I start to speak English to my mom ) and it lasts me for a while then I realize it.

Now you are the face of MaxMara. How long it lasts then the photo which it everywhere (then) is taken?
Such shooting lasts two days. We do 15 versions of pictures and then the only one is choosen. When is shoot a group of models. Everyone of them have to know exactly what to do. Like the campaign for Escada.

Have you changed after three years in modeling?
Yes, I’m not so shy now. Formerly it takes me more time to do some pose or expression. Now I can do it immediately. It is because I can watch other models. I often read fashion magazines and I think – It is interesting expression… I could try it.

What made you happy most?
A lot of things have changed… I’m happy that I bought a flat in New York. I had lived in Manhattan, but I hadn‘t liked it there, so I moved to Brooklyn where was my new flat situated. I’m very independent.

Why did you buy the flat in NY?
It is investment. I can sell it whenever I want. For example if I would like to move to Paris. But I have to be in centre of all events. I’m model I have to live in New York.

Why?
Becouse I have most work there. All campaigns I shoot there. Even for Italian brand like MaxMara I shot campaign in New York. It is more adventage then flying to Europe. Financially and time-saving. To live in New York is also advantage cause of clients. If they want to meet me I can go to introduce myslef to them immediately.

You shot a catalogue for American department store Bloomingdales. Don’t be angry with me, but it is not prestigious work….
You are right. It is not a fashion house, brand… but the pay very well. Somebody is prestigious and somebody pay very well. I have to earn money somehow )

How is that feeling when you earn millions at you age?
Amazing. I can do what I want. I can go whereever I want, I’m independent.

Could you ever imagine that you would live a life such this?
No, I couldn’t. I talked about it with my mom recently – how would I live if I stayed in Czech. It is a huge change of life style.

What do you do in your free time?
How I said – I travel. I’ve been to Maxico alone not long ago. I attend private lessons of French. I have pottery classes. I enjoy making dish of pottery. It gives me energy. I stop thinking about everyday problems and I concentrate my thoughs.

Do you have a boyfriend?
I don’t want to talk about it. It is my private thing.

I’m only interested in how it’s difficult to have a relationship, when you have such profession…
It is not easy, but I don’t want to talk it about.

Do you miss the Czech republic?
Sometimes terribly!

Really?
Yes, I try to go home as often as possible. It helps me a lot.

What exactly?
To be with my family, friends, in surrounding which I know very well.

There was a huge scandal in fashion. Topmodel Kate Moss’ affair (it is written differently, but I don’t want to break rules of TFS) Were you surprised?
To tell the truth not. I was surprised cause of the pic. That they caught her. I think that she should be mature enough to know what is good for her and what not. Especially when she’s got a child.

What do you think about reactions of some fashion houses?
I think that they did it well. …. It is not a good for their image.

You don’t smoke, you played basketball. How do you take care about your body now?
I eat well, sleep a lot, do excersise a lot. I like skating, going to gym, playing basketball with guys from Brooklyn (where I live).

Are you proud of your body?
What a question! I can improve something always. When I dancing with my (she)friends I don’t thint to myself – My body is the best!

Really?
yes, I’ve never though about it.

A Good Coat Will Always Be A Great Investiment. It’s the sort of thing mothers say to daughters bebore packing off to university. Give me the choice between a coat and a party dress, and i will always plump for the latter. There’s smth so thuddingly practical, so schoolish about the idea of investing in a proper coat for winter. At the same time, there’s smth guilt-inducing about it too, particulary if it’s the sort of coat that only works at night and would make you look mad if you wore it on the school run.

Note what a key component they are of this winter’s collections: there are trapeze coats from Chanel Couture, cinched – waisted fullskirters from Oscar De La Renta, Marni and Dries Van Noten, brass – buttoned, navalinspired numbers from Burberry Prorsum and soft dressing-gown wrap style from Lanvin.

”It’s definetely a moment for coats,” says Burberry’s Christopher Bailey. ”They’re a more modern way of dressing, I feel, than jackets, and at the same time part of our cultural heritage, part of that whole British tradicion of not being properly dressed unless you’re wearing a coat and gloves.”

”When a woman looks in the mirror she wants to look tall, she wants to look lean, she wants to look put together,” says the mother of all coat people, Donna Karan. ”She wants to accent the positive and delete the negative, and the best way to do that is with a great coat.”

When all the coats I am to tes-drive at the door, I get thoroughly over-excited, but the enthusiasm falters a little when I try on the first, a full – length, full skirted redingote byAlberta Ferreti with a detachable panel of inky blue satin up the front: fabelous on the catwalk; considerably less on me. Lesson number one : long, dramatic styles and heavy textures are for tall people only. And it’s not good trying to get away with smaller size – as it is so easy to do if you’re trying it on when the wheather’s still good and your wearing a T-shirt underneath.

The experiment is over. Since writing this piece I’ve bought no fewer than three new coats, one of them an unequivocally evening trench of fire engine – red satin. I don’t know when I am going to wear it, or what with, but the mere fact that it’s enjoying pride of place in my wardrobe makes me feel more pulled – together than ever before.

Twenty years of Dolce&Gabbana equels twenty years of super-charged fashion, inspired by the street, embraced by the stars and brought to you by the masters of seduction. A new book celebrates the Italian design duo’s unique aesthetic.

Imagine for a moment fashion history without the imprint of the exuberant talents of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. Bra tops, brocade, corseted siren dresses and lace might never have entered the style vernacular. Leopard print would have remainded in the annals of naff and jeans would never have gone bling. And just picture the stage of music, film and fashion without the duo – bereft of their magical combination of eroticism, humour and crytal – spangled decadence. Recall Madonna (a loyal fan) on her Girlie How tour in 1993, Kylie Minogue on her 2002 European Fever tour; Victoria Beckham in her panoply of cleavage dresses and Angelina Jolie in her now legendary white suit … In defining the self-possessed and sexually empowered image of modern womanhood, Dolce and Gabbana are a turbo power.