Swiss garçonne Tamy Glauser first sprung into our sartorial consciousness back in 2012, when fashion was having one of its periodic fascinations with androgyny (although Tamy hates the word!) Amongst the Casey Leglers and Erika Linders of this world, Tamy found herself modeling for Givenchy menswear, but there was more in the cards for her than this boy-meets-girl fad. Her striking physique – part Grace Jones, part Kate Moss – got her noticed by Nicolas Ghesquière, who handpicked her to walk for Louis Vuitton’s fall/winter 15 show and resort runway. Today, her future has never looked brighter: she’s now represented by Next Models (the agency behind the careers of Arizona Muse, Caroline de Maigret and Anna Cleveland, to name a few). Based in Paris, she can be spotted in cafés in the Marais, cigarette in hand, with pal Bianca O’Brien. We sat down with Tamy as she ate vegetables and drank coffee, before fleeing off to a fitting, to find out all about her.
1) Her real name is Tamara but don’t call her that…
“The only time I heard my real name was as a child, when a parent or a teacher screamed it in my direction. It was my bad kid name. Which is probably why I still prefer hearing ‘Tamy'”
2) Sociology drove her to modeling…
“I was studying sociology in university, first in Switzerland and then in Berlin; I started modeling on the side to make some cash. One thing led to another. Today, I model full time, but sociology has given me incredible tools to analyze what I see. Fashion is a constant field-trip.”
3) She is 30, not 13. And loves everything about that…
“I don’t think I could do what I do if I were any younger. I am the way I am because I found myself. And that takes time. You’re clueless as a teenager…and it’s a very tough industry to enter at such a young age.”
4) She is the daughter of a Nigerian princess…
“My father is Swiss, my mother is part Swiss, part Nigerian. She actually descends from Nigerian royalty, she is officially a princess. A certified one. I’m very serious.”
5) She’d rather you don’t ask her about androgyny…
“I’m sick of this word which has been sticking to me since I began modeling. I’ve heard it so much, it almost sounds like a disease. Interviews always want to know why I look androgynous, what it all means. But to be honest, gender codes vary so much from one country to the next that you can never categorize anyone. If you want to call me anything, call me a tomboy, it’s cuter.”
6) As a child, she wanted to be a farmer…
“I grew up next to a farm, I loved animals, I wanted to have a lot of them – so I came to the logical conclusion that being a farmer was the ideal job for me.”
7) She is vegetarian–and so should you be!
“I’m not judging you for eating steak tartare right now, but I don’t think I could eat something I couldn’t kill with my bare hands. The meat industry is totally sanitized, so you forget what you’re eating – but the earth would be in a much better state if everyone gave up meat. But again, I’m not judging you.”
8) If you want to make her happy, introduce her to girls or cigarettes…
“My Instagram account used to say ‘girls and cigarettes,’ two things I can’t live without and which seem to always be connected in my life.”
9) She never leaves the house without covering her head…
“With a hood, a jumper, a scarf, anything. I feel protected, I move through the city unseen, I become Ninja Tamy.”
10) Modeling turns her into an actress and chameleon..
“When I walk for Louis Vuitton, I suddenly feel transformed into this rich bitch. It’s unlike what I wear day-to-day, but for a short while, I really become that woman. For Alexandre Vauthier, whom I walked for during couture, I become this African queen; for Zadig&Voltaire I turn into a bohemian Parisienne. It’s a similar rush to acting.”
Credits
Text Alice Pfeiffer
Portrait Christoph Wohlfahrt
Catwalk photography Mitchell Sams