This story originally appeared in i-D’s ‘Rihannazine‘ Special Edition, no. 01, 2020. Order your copy here. For this one-off project, Rihanna put a series of questions to the women shaping culture today, and invited them to share their visions for 2020.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Anna Ewers, and I’m a model.
Where did you grow up?
In Freiburg, Germany. It’s a very small town and it’s very beautiful.
What’s been your biggest success this year?
Definitely climbing Kilimanjaro! Which was very hard, so I’m very proud of it. I wasn’t in training for it, I just went for it – very spontaneous and very fast. It took seven days to go up and down. Every time I went for a run after that, it felt like the easiest thing in the world! You are so anxious about getting there, and then on the last day it’s one step, but it’s incredibly hard because you have no oxygen. You don’t know where is up, where is down. On the way back down we actually did it in one day rather than two because we were so happy, we were like: “I’m never sleeping in a tent again!” I couldn’t walk for five days afterwards.
What would you say was your biggest failure?
Well, there are a few failures, but there is maybe only one I can talk about. I’ve lost my way on the catwalk a couple of times! People think it must not be that difficult for a model to remember the way to walk, but sometimes when you’re nervous it can be complicated. I remember at this one show there were a few different rooms. You had to remember to turn into them, and I lost my way and ended up in a room I was not supposed to be in, and I came out 15 seconds later because it took me a while to figure out where to go. It was a bit embarrassing – but there was a very funny Instagram video the day after. I consider that a failure, because there’s not that much for a model to remember. It’s like, “Come on Anna, you can at least remember where you have to walk!”
As we’re heading into 2020, what are you taking with you into this year, and what are you leaving behind in 2019?
I’m taking all my adventures and excitements into 2020, and I’m going to leave my exes behind.
If you could ask Rihanna one question, what would it be?
I would ask Rihanna: how do you keep so calm and cool doing so many things? It’s crazy. I would freak out. And she always seems super chill!
Credits
Photography Mario Sorrenti
Styling Carlos Nazario
Hair AKKI at Art Partner using Oribe.
Make-up Kanako Takase at Streeters.
Nail technician Honey at Exposure NY using Tom Ford Beauty.
Set design Jack Flanagan at The Wall Group.
Lighting technician Lars Beaulieu.
Photography assistance Kotaro Kawashima, Javier Villegas and Jared Zegha.
Digital technician Johnny Vicari.
Styling assistance Raymond Gee, Erica Boisaubin and Christine Nicholson.
Tailor Thao Huynh.
Hair assistance Rei Kawauchi, Takao Hayashi and Motome Yamashita.
Make-up assistance Aimi Osada & Megumi Onishi.
Set design assistance Akaylah Reed and Joe Arai.
Production Katie Fash.
Production coordinator Layla Némejanski.
Production assistance Fujio Emura.
Casting director Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING.
Casting assistance Cicek Brown for DMCASTING.
Model Anna Ewers at Elite NYC.
Lede image Anna wear dress Fenty