Meet supermodel (and star of “The Face”) Coco Rocha (left, with finalist Margaux) who has shared her experience filming the high-stakes modeling competition on Oxygen. Rocha, Karolina Kurkova and Naomi Campbell each selected four girls to compete on their team, with losing teams submitting models for elimination each week.
Rocha live-tweeted Tuesday night’s finale from our @StyleWatchMag account, and we incorporated some of our favorite Tweets throughout her final blog, in which she reflects on how far she and Margaux have come as a team — and who really wins in the end.
Tonight I’m also tweeting on the @stylewatchmag handle. Yep, sat here with TWO LAPTOPS! #socialmediapro twitter.com/cocorocha/stat…
— CocoRocha (@cocorocha) March 27, 2013
Well, here we are: The final episode of The Face. It seems like just yesterday we had 24 girls and now all of a sudden we’re down to four: Team Karolina’s Devyn, a mother from the Bronx who all three mentors fought for on day one; hardworking and sweet Ebony, also from Team Karolina; Team Naomi’s former Miss Universe China, Zi Lin, who has been one to watch all season; and finally the beautiful Margaux from my Team Coco, a quirky model after my own heart who won me over on the first day with her risky head shot. Together, for better or for worse, we never played it safe as a team and we always strived to think outside the box.
The final stretch: The girls are introduced to the Director of Public Relations and the Director of Trend Development at Ulta Beauty, the clients who will ultimately pick one girl to be the face of their brand. Their final test run involves learning about products and interacting with customers at an Ulta beauty store. Team Karolina’s Devyn, who works in retail, and Ebony, a preschool teacher, both seem very comfortable with the customers.
Zi Lin gives it her all and does well despite her language barrier. Naturally a shy girl, Margaux pulls through and is very warm and engaging. When asked what the brushes are made of by a would-be client, she admits that she doesn’t know the answer. I was very happy with her response, as admitting you don’t know something is much better than making something up (which we saw Team Naomi do to their downfall last week).
But seriously, has anyone yet figured out why I was supposed to check my lipstick? #TheFace -oh-so-coco.tumblr.com/post/457839571…
— People StyleWatch(@StyleWatchMag) March 27, 2013
The girls give it their all: Photographer Dusan Reljin gives the girls one last shoot to help Carrie and Molly of Ulta decide which girl should be The Face.
Margaux is first and needs no time to warm up; as far as modeling and posing go, this girl is a machine and gives Dusan one amazing shot after another. She works with her facial expressions, her angles and even her hands. I could not be more proud of my little protégé.
By comparison, Ebony (Team Karolina) falters. She is a little slower in finding her groove and seems to be unsure of her angles. Devyn makes up for her teammate’s shortcomings with a great connection to the camera. The clients have no problem choosing a usable shot from her work. Zi Lin is last and, with warning from mentor Naomi to not “do that pageantry thing,” serves model all the way.
It’s evident these four girls are the best in the competition and all deserve their spot in the finale. However, in reviewing the pictures, the client decides that Ebony does not have what it takes to be the face of Ulta and she is sent packing before the final runway show.
This season of The Face opened with the girls watching myself, Naomi and Karolina walk in a Zac Posen show at Lincoln Center, so it only seems right that it closes with the girls actually walking alongside us in another Zac Posen show. All three girls look amazing and we all feel like proud mamas.
Here I am looking SUPER anxious backstage. I got my first gray hair shooting #TheFace! #truestory twitter.com/StyleWatchMag/…
— People StyleWatch(@StyleWatchMag) March 27, 2013
And the winner is…Taking into account everything they have seen, the representatives from Ulta decide that The Face will be (drumroll, please) … Devyn! Personally, I believe that any one of the top three girls would have done an amazing job with Ulta, so Carrie and Molly couldn’t have made a bad choice.
Margaux takes the loss in stride. In the modeling world we hear “no” just as often (if not more) as we hear “yes,” and although she didn’t win the Ulta campaign her story does not stop here.
Margaux has since been signed to my agency, Wilhelmina NY, and is being guided by the same amazing agents who have worked with me for the last decade. This last month Margaux was featured in Virgin Mobile’s television spots (airing between commercial breaks of ‘The Face’!) and recently shot a campaign with Target.
All very impressive accomplishments for any model, and I, for one, could not be more excited to continue to watch and mentor Margaux and all my girls as they expand their careers in the months and years to come. You have not seen the last of Team Coco!
Hope you guys enjoyed the show! This is @cocorocha signing off for the night! Xx Coco
— People StyleWatch(@StyleWatchMag) March 27, 2013
