INTERVIEW / January
quickly! Especially nowadays. There
are so many, many girls in the fashion
industry: ‘skinny bitches’, plus-size,
Instagram models, all kinds. There’s an
awful lot of competition. And that’s why
everyone’s looking for personalities.
What have you learned about yourself
during this time? Here I’m reminded by
something you wrote to me before this
interview, about how you’ve been doing
this work for half of your life, and you
don’t even really know what created
what – whether your career has shaped
I enter my character,
my game, and become a
different person
your personality, or whether you as a
personality have shaped your career.
But perhaps your career has only un-
leashed your true personality?
You know, I hadn’t really thought about
that... I remember being quite shy before
I started modelling. It was hard for me
to even go outside to play with the other
children. I preferred to sit by the window
watching them instead of joining them.
Maybe I opened up a bit in school. But I
tried expressing myself in other ways –
I did a lot of sports, I played volleyball,
I was in the drama club, I danced, I
played chess.
When Nils did my first photos back
then, I just thought, ‘Oh God, this is so
dumb, I’m just gonna stand here now,
and he’s gonna take pictures of me...’ But
when I saw the pictures, I started think-
ing, ‘Man, I could be anything!’ After all,
that’s what I had been doing the whole
time up until then – I was anything and
everything! I was a volleyball player, I
was an actress, I was a chess player, I
was a dancer. Because as a model, you’re
a character. And like in the theatre, you
have to embody a character. I really liked
the fact that, once the hair and makeup
are done, I become a different person
and don’t feel like myself anymore. I en-
ter my character, my game, and become
a different person.
But when we do family photos, I don’t
know how to pose. Honest.
I believe you.
Really?
Yes. Others might say, ‘What are you
talking about?’ But I understand what
you mean by embodying a different
character. Because at home you’re not in
character; there it’s the naked truth, you
are only yourself.
That’s why I can get startled when I see
a camera pop up in front of me outside
of the work environment. Wait, wait!
Who am I? But it’s completely different
at work. I’ve had black hands up to my
elbows, and I think to myself, ‘I could now
play the evil character!’ I’ve been given
that foundation, and then it’s easier to
play around with it. As opposed to not
having anything and being just me, the
way I really am...
Confidence about myself is the best
thing I’ve acquired in this job.
And what can a model stumble on?
Parties (laughs) and the illusory feeling
that everything is permitted. The feeling
that you have complete freedom once
you’re away from home...which, of course,
means that you don’t have to report to
anyone. But that never ends well, because
freedom actually means responsibil-
ity towards yourself. The state of being
responsible for the consequences of your
own actions.
Not getting enough sleep again, being
late or not showing up at all for work...
Sorry, but word spreads very quickly in
this industry, and very quickly you could
find that no one wants to work with
you again.
Some girls can’t handle being away
from their families for so long. That’s
one of the negative aspects of this work,
the time that you lose with your loved
ones and friends. You’re often alone,
especially while travelling. Actually, you
end up spending quite a lot of time by
yourself. Or else you’re at work a whole
lot, each day with a different team, dif-
ferent people. Lots of the girls find this
inconstancy difficult.
You have to have a very strong core in
order to endure such inconstancy.
There are people who really like having
an office job, regular hours, a regular rou-
tine. They’re happy with that, and that’s
great. But I know I could never do that.
I find inconstancy exciting – the places,
environments, and people around me al-
ways changing. I’d definitely lose my mind
in an office. I like never knowing what will
happen next. bo
ELĪNA DOBELE
Boutique
Mednieku iela 7, Riga
+371 22301197
www.elinadobele.com