I appreciate and return to this series, Nick. Inkling of a chance for Round 2? It’d be great to hear from Kirsten Owen, Shalom Harlow, Jessica Stam, Devon Aoki, Linda Evangelista...
I hope you asked Amber about the editorial she did with Meisel called "Grey Gardens." Looking at that editorial changed me from then on I knew fashion had power to tell such interesting stories. Its not just about clothes. Amber is one of the best models.
Amber and I talked about the incredible Versace campaigns she did with Steven. He has done so much amazing work there will always be great stories that don't get talked about. Thanks, Nick.
SHOWstudio I understand. There's so much to talk about and you can't possibly talk about everything. Thanks for the response, Nick, and for providing great fashion content. I always enjoy watching these interviews along with the panel discussion. :-)
She doesn't know her whole story. When she talks about the scout that just "found" her it was because it was my Dallas agent recommended that the scout from Milan that Amber is referring to, go to Tulsa to scout for models and the reason she told the scout to go to Tulsa to scout for models is because that's where I'm from and I had just been selected to model in the Paris Haute Couture shows out of all the models in the Southwest here in America (pre Amber Valletta's international debut in Milan), so I put Tulsa on the map as a place that a modeling agent would even scout. Before me, the scouts flew over Tulsa and went to scout in Dallas but because of the success I had by modeling in a few Paris Haute Couture shows in 1990, my Dallas agent told the Milan scout to scout the mother agency in Tulsa that Amber and I started with. Amber really down plays that our Tulsa agent groomed girls like she and I to learn how to not only walk but how to talk to the high end clientelle of some of the local women's fashion stores in Tulsa. This was told to me by my Dallas Agent. Things don't just happen for models, someone paved the way, me and her Tulsa agent (that took me to lunch to pick my brain about how my career was going so she could help Amber). I was signed to Elite NY in 1984. I got myself signed with Elite in NY by doing my own research about who to contact (pre Google but I didn't want to live in New York even though I started landing modeling jobs within 2 weeks of arriving (thank you John Casablancas) and I based myself out of Dallas because I decided to get married and then 3 years later I gave birth to my daughter who I got signed on with Ford NY and IMG NY and London, her name is Jade Gotcher. I'm glad I didn't get too caught up in the modeling world, I enjoyed the experiences that I had modeling because of traveling to places I would have never seen but other than that well, Amber is lucky to be alive today because of the things I knew in my gut might happen to me if I had based myself out of New York (her drug addiction) which she has so bravely spoke out about publicly. I'm glad she survived being a model in New York. Anyway, Tokyo Fashion Week was my favorite and my daughter really enjoyed modeling for Kate and Naomi for Fashion For Relief in London. I'm a mother agent and professional photographer in Tulsa and I love what I do.
