Imperial Girl
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Twenty-year-old model Devon Aoki is not only a phenomenal woman in a material world, the Japanese-American Benihana heiress and mixtape connoisseur is an entrepreneur in her own right. Stylist and long-time friend Lysa Cooper builds with Aoki on her up-coming Jeans line, new fragrance and the independant relationship between urban culture in fashion and music. Imperial Girl There's just so many different sort of stories and stuff. I don't even know really which one is the one that I should go with. [laughs] I guess it really started when I came to New York when I was, like, maybe 12 or 13 years old and I met you! That was the first time that I was really exposed to the fashion crowd. I moved to London within the next couple months or something. You moved there with your family? Yeah, I moved there with my mother and my little brother and my older sister. And then I guess from being in New York, I did this photograph for Interview magazine called "Lovely Rita." My agency says that Kate Moss brought the picture in and told them that they should, you know, sign me. And then it happened, and then in my early career we did a lot of jobs together. She was a big help to me when I first started. How did you end up meeting [Chanel designer] Karl Lagerfeld? I met him the conventional way. I just came in for a casting, and he saw me, and I was booked. And that was it. Love at first sight. Yeah, I love him. [laughs] I can't really think of Karl in fashion terms, you know? I see him in terms of my friendship with him. I see him as this really gentle and sweet person. Of course, when you've been near him when he's designing, you can see that creation for him is effortless and genius, you know? 'Cause his mind is absolutely so fascinating, the dimensions of his mind and the way that he sees the world. I'm really excited, happy and blessed that I met him. And the fact that he saw something special in me is wonderful and crazy at the same time. Where do you see fashion going right now, in its relationship to urban culture? Urban culture gives birth to fashion trends in the first place. It's on the streets where trends are set. Do you see a relationship between fashion and music? I believe fashion and music play an enormous part in helping promote a universal appreciation and understanding of, like, other cultures. I think they [go] hand in hand. I'm really happy to be involved in fashion, because I think that the idea that music and art have the power to transform something unfamiliar into a medium of beauty is powerful. What kind of music are you listening to right now? What's in your CD player? I listen to all the mixtapes, you know? They're so good. But I have a lot of CDs, too. What's your favorite mixtape? Is it DJ Clue? Yeah, he's good. I like all of them. But, I guess my favorite artist who is constantly in my CD player-there's two: Marvin Gaye and AI Green. 'Cause that's all you need. And then of course, Jay-Z. My record collection is just so...listen to punk rock, jazz, to fuckin' funk, to, you know, rap, hip-hop, whatever. R&B. Ilisten to everything but mainly it's about AI Green for me. The coolest thing about New York [is] the fact that I can be listening to, let's say, a Tony Touch mix CD, and I'll hear the new Jay-Z song. And then I'll walk into Nobu, and Jay-Z's sitting down at a table. Yeah, New York is crazy like that. It's a really intimate community that we have here. It's weird for me, because growing up in London, and then being in New York this year, it's such a change. It's the first time where I really feel like, God, you can go to a place and see the same people every single night. And also you have strong friendships with people that are doing things in the worldlike Damon Dash. Yeah, I love him. I have so much respect for him. He's really giving, and he has so many progressive ideas about the world, he's great. Damon is one in a million, for sure. There are rumors in the street that we can expect a new jean line. Uh. . . [laughs] That's totally happening. I'm actually doing all the samples and stuff now. We're in production. I'm doing a couple little other projects, jeans projects. I'm doing something with nylon right now, actually. It should be out soon, six months or something. And also, you told me something about a scent line? Yeah. There are fragrances on the market right now, but the ones that I like, they're so ridiculously overpriced, which to me is insane. So I want to do oils that [are] a lot less expensive with the same quality. I want a really pure concoction. And I'm doing bath salts and stuff too, for girls and for guys. I don't want to say that guys shouldn't use bath salts, 'cause they might. My dad does. Your dad [is] a wildly successful and entertaining businessman [Benihana restauranteur, Rocky H. Aoki]. Have some of his ethics and drive rubbed off on you? Yeah. I've been so lucky. My dad's such a huge part of my life, and he's been one of my biggest critics and supporters at the same time. He's really helped me to focus and establish a work ethic. He's always been really adamant about me knowing what hard work is, not taking things for granted. Stuff like that. People are under the impression that because of who he is, you lead this elitist rich life. Having also [lived] with my mother and stuff, I really felt that I had to work in order to help out. Just for myself, I prefer having my own money. You're half Japanese, half American, right? Yeah. One thing I noticed [about the Japanese] is a constant drive to do the next thing. I really appreciate that as a culture. My father is the perfect example of that. He's always looking to do new things, to have his hands dabbling in all these different fields. He's such a fantastic person, but really I grew up with my mom. She's the best. And it was cool; it's funny when you grow up with racial, biracial parents. when other people tell you about What was that like? A lot of people look at you and they can't really make out the mix. You only really become aware of your cultural uniqueness when other people tell you about it. So when I was young, I had no idea. I didn't think about it like that. I didn't really think that I was different. My mother and my father were always so confident and ultimately comfortable in their own skin, so comfortable with each other that the color of their skin was never an issue. I was like 13 when I realized that racially, I was considered atypical. My mother and my father created a really positive growth environment for me. And that's what it came down to. My parents are the biggest supporters of the concept of one world. You know, it was never strange for them to be together. That's amazing. There's a whole section of the Japanese culture right now that's really into Jamaica and Rastafarianism, changing their hair and their lifestyle. That's the highest form of flattery. Totally! I mean, they do it with their whole heart involved. It's not about what's cool or what's not. It's about really and truly how they feel. And it's very honest there. I think people in Asia-1 don't know about everyon~but it's a very honest culture. And I think, why sit there and criticize, and say, "Asian people bite off of America's trends?" That's so stupid. You know what I mean? |
