Coco Rocha — the model of 1,000 poses — on what AI might bring to the game

Model Coco Rocha has graced countless international catwalks and magazine covers, and was a guest judge on Project Runway Canada and a coach on The Face. But perhaps she's most notable for her many, many poses. A decade ago, the "queen of posing" (so called by America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks) collaborated with photographer Steven Sebring on a book showcasing no fewer than 1,000 different poses — all captured in 360 degrees over three days. Today, the Toronto native shares her skills with students of the Coco Rocha Model Camp near New York City. 

More so than many of her peers, Rocha has long embraced new technology. She's also been dubbed the "world's first digital model" for her part in bridging fashion and tech. Who better to speak with about AI's industry-changing potential? She's already been trying it on for size.

We caught up with her at a recent event in Toronto where the AI art on display was generated using data collected from Rocha's biometrics. (The affair was hosted by Audi, and Rocha was testing out the company's new electric vehicle.)  

Earlier this year, she appeared in a CGI photo spread for Paper magazine. "We had actually shot that with no expectation of putting that into a magazine," Rocha said. "It was just our team just having this idea of using AI technology in some sort of way." And this was at a time before they could have predicted the huge leaps for AI that were around the corner. 

There weren't any clothes on set for this fashion shoot — Rocha wore a bodysuit. She said the experience was a "learning curve," but also fun and playful. "It's literally like opening up a [notebook] and just like sketching and seeing what you want to create at that point," she said. 

But a drawback of a computer-generated shoot? There can almost be too many possibilities, especially with all of the artists and experts involved. "It was like, 'Let's do a storyline of you in another world, and you are, you know, a superhero,'" Rocha said. "The problem with that is, like, you can keep changing your mind. You can keep having new ideas and never, kind of, [land on] an idea." 

In recent years, new technologies have come to market, allowing fashion brands and magazines to experiment with AI-made models, props and locations. Tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion require only a few prompts to generate images that, just a few years ago, would have taken days to shoot with a full creative team. 

Rocha is practical, but also hopeful, when considering how AI might impact modelling careers. "It could destroy [a model's career] as it could destroy so many other things," she said. "But I also say it could also create new things we don't even know of." For instance, she's seen how it can allow for more creativity. "As a model, I'm always there to interpret people's ideas," she said. "And [this Audi campaign] was the first time in my 20 years I'm being told 'We don't want you to fake it. We don't want you to pretend.… We just want you to feel and show them what you felt." 

Rocha doesn't claim to know how generative AI will impact the industry and the work of models, but she's optimistic there will be a place for adept professionals. "I really truly think hard-working people that understand, like, where the future's going, understanding that tech and fashion and, you know, beautiful product is always important to society — people that jump onto these sort of ideas are usually the ones not left behind," she said. 

Rocha advised her fellow models: "Don't be lost — that's what I'm saying. Jump on these trains."

In addition to embracing emerging technologies, she wants aspiring models to feel confident, find their voice, make an impact with their work — and heed the details of their agreements. Because AI is still unregulated, Rocha said models should read their contracts carefully and focus on "the basics of business," particularly around their likeness.  

Besides modelling in digitally-driven photo shoots, Rocha has been "playing around" with AI tools on her own. As a lark, she added a sports car to an existing photo of hers — a prop that she said would have been expensive to rent. "I just said, you know, 'ChatGPT, find me this sports car in this colour,'" she said. "And it was like, boom!"