Now Casting: Ash Foo

START
body

With her cropped hair, curated personal style, and lean frame, Ash Foo fits right in with today’s rising models. But just months before returning to the catwalks of February’s fashion month, the 23-year-old was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy in the fall, and kicking her cancer into remission, Foo was given the green light to go back to work. Walking for the likes of Jil Sander, LaQuan Smith, Adeam, and more, the Canadian model had an impressive season, all the while bringing awareness about cancer and inclusivity. Now calling Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill home, Foo speaks with CR about her career and passion for shopping vintage.

Do you have a favorite modeling memory or highlight?
“I’ve just been very lucky and fortunate that I’ve been able to work with such great people and I don’t have the scary stories I feel like most models have. I feel like I’m pretty lucky in that sense.”

Do you have a favorite designer or anyone you’re looking forward to working with?
“I’m grateful for whatever comes my way. I don’t have a specific client that I strive to work for. Whoever likes me and appreciates my look, I appreciate them.”

What about for your own style?
“I shop a lot of secondhand consignment [and] vintage. I’m very much more of the sustainable fashion kind of person. So that’s where I mainly do my shopping, but then I sometimes splurge on shoes because you wear those all the time, and it’s worth it, like an investment.”

Do you have a favorite vintage shop in New York?
“There’s so many good ones in the East Village. Tokio 7, so good. And one called Ninth Street [Vintage]. It’s also very good, but that one’s quite expensive. Then places like Beacon’s closet never fail. You just need patience. Whenever I go back to Toronto I like to hit up Value Village, just spend like three hours there.”

Have you always been into fashion?
“When I was 16, they used to have Toronto Fashion Week and I remember begging my mom to take me to go, but you had to be 18 or older to go inside. She took me and I would stand outside the tents in the cold just watching all the models get ready and being like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so cool.’ But I didn’t know that I wanted to be a model. I wasn’t self aware like that. I appreciated fashion and magazines, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do in it. Then, when I started modeling, [I realized] I can use this as an opportunity to network and to see what jobs are there in the industry.”

If you weren’t modeling, what do you think you’d be doing?
“Before I started modeling I was going to go to school for fashion marketing. Something like advertising–I really enjoy stuff like that.”

What do you like doing in your free time?
“I like outdoorsy stuff. I enjoy being outside. I take my dog out. My boyfriend’s a trainer, so I have to work out with him all the time. I like to take trips that are very much involved around hiking and stuff like that. My best friend and I, we hiked the Grand Canyon and I loved those experiences. I’m still trying to work on what my passion projects are, put them together to make something cohesive. So far it’s bits and bobs of things that I like.”

Do you have a favorite place you’ve traveled?
“I’ve been to a lot of cool places on my own outside of work. With work, when you travel you don’t get to see around and do your own thing. I’ve been to India, Norway, and Iceland. I really love Norway. I got to see the Northern Lights and it was amazing. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in the whole world. The people there, the lifestyle–goals. I want to live like that–to just live off what you have, live off the land.”

END

prev link: https://www.crfashionbook.com/fashion/a31246554/ash-foo-model-interview/
createdAt:Thu, 05 Mar 2020 15:35:02 +0000
displayType:Standard Article
section:Fashion