Photographer CamillaRiccardo Studio – Fashion Editor Roberto Strumolo – Model Roxane Plaza at Fashion Model Management – Makeup Marta Vetere at The Green Apple Italia – Hair Nicholas James at The Green Apple Italia – Casting Isadora Banaudi – Fashion Assistant Giada Bettineschi, Casting Assistant Francesca Della Spina – Interview by Federica Romano
Top Durazzi – Shorts N°21 – Sweater on Shoulders Extreme Cshmere – Shoes Miu Miu – Earring Versace / Bodysuit and Lingerie Dolce&Gabbana – Sweater on Shoulders N°21 – Earrings Swarovski
What’s the most unexpected or quietly funny moment you’veexperienced during a shoot or a casting?
Once, during a shoot for Akris, the atmosphere on set was warm and easy. At some point they asked me to smile for a take. I answered very frankly: ‘I’m a model, no one ever taught us how to smile.’ Everyone laughed, assuming I was being witty, which I am, but this time I was completely serious. The idea of smiling on cue, of slipping into that bright, effortless girl character, made me genuinely nervous. I still had to do it though, 15 pairs of eyes on me, waiting. I felt strange and exposed. But I did it. It’s an exercise I’ve had to repeat a few times since. It gets easier.
Before stepping in front of the camera, do you have any small rituals that help you feel grounded or present?
Not really, it depends on the vibe of the set. If there’s a bit of pressure in the air, I’ll retreat into my book, get into my own bubble. If the energy is lighter, I go and talk with the team, create a connection early, so the whole day has a good foundation.
Bodysuit and Lingerie Dolce&Gabbana – Sweater on Shoulders N°21 – Earrings Swarovski / Total Look Versace
Dress Issey Miyake – Shoes Blumarine – Socks Versace / Jacket Blauer – Top Onitsuka Tiger – Shorts Intimissimi – Bag Biagini – Shoes Miu Miu
When you stepped into the world of houses like Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, or Gucci, what did you discover about yourself? Was there an experience that quietly changed you?
I think the experience that changed me the most was working with Sabato De Sarno during his time at Gucci. The atmosphere he created went beyond his collection. I think he did something delicate, beautiful and timeless, which for me represents what Gucci is about. I’m more than grateful that he brought me on that journey, to witness how a collection comes to life from the archive to prototypes to endless conversations about the smallest details of each garment. It helped me understand fashion differently, and the great amount of work that goes into a single collection. This experience also taught me Italian, because I was too curious not to try and give it a go, to have my own quiet opinion on what was being said. But behind the walls Sabato also created the best atmosphere, he has this power to gather people around beauty and craftsmanship in the softest way possible. He was happy and excited about his job, and I think it was contagious. One thing that proves it is that most of the fitting models I had been working with at that time have ended up moving to Milan. It was a really enriching experience both personally and professionally.
As you move through this industry, what has it revealed to you about who you are, beyond the surface?
This is not the best industry to understand who you are beyond the surface, as the surface is precisely what you’re working with. But it made me grow up, and it gave me a space where creativity was the main driver of any project. As a law student, most of my work experience had been quite conventional. This opened a different way of approaching work, one I hadn’t really expected to find in a fitting room.
Dress Givenchy – Shoes Durazzi / Top and Sweater on Shoulders Extreme Cashmere – Skirt Fabiana Filippi – Shoes Ferragamo
Who’s Roxane, in the spaces where there are no cameras, no expectations, just you?
Maybe the first thing is that I’m a bit more shy than what people would expect from a model. I don’t always feel fully confident or sure of myself. But if the energy around me feels right, that shyness can disappear quite naturally. Otherwise I’m quite studious. I just graduated from my Masters in Intellectual Property Law, and you will basically always find me with a book in my hands or writing. As soon as I can, I find my way to nature, a park, anywhere I can put my feet on the grass.
When you look at the images created of you, do you feel seen, or do you sometimes feel like you’re meeting another version of yourself?
I actually do feel seen. I’ve been surprised by how comfortable I can feel in front of the camera, and in impersonating different characters depending on what I’m wearing. I’ve mostly been able to be fully myself in this work, and that’s quite rewarding.
Total Look Versace / Dress N°21 – Earrings Swarovski
Your body exists both as something deeply yours and as part of your work. How do you hold that balance?
It hasn’t really been a question of balance for me. My body is mine, no one can touch it or see it without my consent. My agent Loïc, from Apparence Agency, made that clear from our very first meeting, and it has been something repeated and reinforced throughout my years of working. As long as that stays true, I don’t feel a tension between my body as something personal and my body as part of my work. I’m glad the industry has made it a non-negotiable, for models of every age, and it needs to continue this way as we are still very exposed. The one moment where this can become a problem is when the changing room of a show is in the middle of the HMU, or when photographers are allowed in the backstage while we are changing. It happens mostly in smaller shows as there’s budget for bigger, more private spaces, but I think it’s something production and show organisers need to be really careful about.
Have you ever gone through a moment where you had to rediscover or redefine your relationship with yourself?
A little bit, yes. Getting into such a demanding industry, I struggled at first with setting limits around my own availability. I was taking a lot of planes, waking up before dawn and going straight from the airport to set. It was exhausting, and I had to learn how to listen to my body and not push so hard.
Total Look Prada
Total Look Miu Miu / Total Look Ferragamo
What does femininity mean to you today?
It took me a long time to form my own idea of femininity, because I was always very skinny. I had the morphology of the girls in the magazines, the ones everyone said you shouldn’t identify with, shouldn’t take as a standard. And I understood why. I knew they didn’t represent the full reality of what a woman’s body can be. But they looked like me, so where did that leave me? It was a confusing place to stand. And yet I was always being told I couldn’t be certain things because I was a woman. You’re too hairy to be a woman. You have such a flat chest for a woman. You’re too tall to be a woman. You’re too loud to be a woman. Your voice is too deep to be a woman. You’re too opinionated to be a woman. You can’t go to that country because you’re a woman. You’re too pretty to be taken seriously. All my life I was too much of a woman for this and that, but in the end I decided I was the best form of woman there is, the one you can’t put in a box. Femininity for me is anyone who has the guts to speak out when society has formed them to believe they shouldn’t. It’s anyone who’s not scared of going against the flow. Someone who I can show their roughness alongside their tenderness, someone who doesn’t tolerate the intolerable, and who knows when and how to tell someone they’re wrong or misinformed. Someone deeply empathic and caring.
In a world that constantly reflects images back at you, how do you protect the part of yourself that remains unseen? And do you feel that this hidden self is your truest one?
I don’t think my hidden self is the truest. On set there are so many people working around you, and I find it genuinely fascinating to talk to everyone, to understand their story, where they come from, how they ended up here doing this job. I like to share my own journey too, my origins, the things I’ve done, the ideas I’ve had, the books I’m reading, the museums I’ve visited. I think that, by being fully myself, no one can reflect back an image of me that’s different from who I actually am. Whether as a model, a student, a writer, or a young woman, all of it is me.