Move Over Cindy Crawford

INTERVIEW BY ANNETTE LAMOTHE-RAMOS

PHOTO BY RICHARD KERN

Calvin Klein tank top and belt, Gap jeans, Harley Davidson boots

Of course you recognize Jenny Shimizu from Steven Meisel’s ubiquitous new Calvin Klein CK One perfume ads that are covering magazines and billboards around the world. And you’ve probably seen the ads on TV with all those strung-out-looking weirdos (including Quentin Crisp and Jennifer Trux!) standing around, chattering or “slam dancing” while Kate Moss, the new poster child for “the waif look,” intones, “CK One… a fragrance for a man or a woman.”

Even among all the freaks, Shimizu manages to stand out in just a tank top, tattoos, and jeans, looking like the hottest tomboy you ever saw—a lezzie who could get any girl, gay or straight. ANYONE. Even like, I don’t know, Madonna or Ione Skye, let’s say. It seems like, ever since last year, when that

Vanity Fair

cover of Cindy Crawford shaving k. d. lang’s face with a straight razor came out, lesbians are suddenly very chic. And Jenny Shimizu is the hot dyke of the moment.

Before she was discovered at LA’s hip gay hangout Club Fuck last year, Shimizu was a garage mechanic. I know, right? She has a tattoo on her tricep of a sexy lady wrapped around a giant wrench, and she collects vintage motorcycles. Though she is certainly tiny enough to fit in with the current “heroin chic” trend of anorexic-looking models, she doesn’t give a shit about that and insists that she eats Big Macs all the time. And, oh yeah, can you name one Asian supermodel? Yeah, well, now you can.

Vice: Is the CK One campaign your first modeling job so far?

Jenny Shimizu:

No, actually my first job was a couple of months ago at the Hollywood Bowl. Calvin Klein did an APLA [AIDS Project Los Angeles] benefit with Tina Turner. That’s what he hired me for. Then he told me, “You’re coming to New York.” You don’t really say no to Calvin.

Is there anyone else you’d really like to work with?

Yeah, I’d love to do something with Gianni Versace. But I feel like that might be a slim chance in hell.

You have a few tattoos, which is not so common in fashion. What do they mean?

You know, just random points in my life. I got my first one in college, just a few years ago. A big biker did it. I’d read about getting a tattoo before in some magazine and they said, “Tip the guy in cigarettes.” So when I finished I was like, “How many cigarettes do you want?” and he just looked at me like I was an idiot. I didn’t get to give him any cigarettes.

The style of the CK One campaign is very laid-back—is that similar to what you normally wear on a daily basis? How would you describe your personal style?

Yeah, those are actually my clothes. My boots, my jeans, my t-shirt—no, actually that was Calvin’s t-shirt. It’s all basically how we normally dress. I think that was Calvin’s vision for the whole campaign.

Were you a fan of his clothing before the ads?

Nah, I couldn’t afford his clothes. Are you kidding me? I could afford the underwear.

So you weren’t wearing Calvin Klein jeans in the ads?

No, those were Levi’s.

How long did it take to shoot everything? Everyone looks extremely bored. Was that what you were all instructed to do?

It was six days. So at any point in time you’d be called up—“Jenny, it’s your turn to shoot.” And you’d be napping! Seriously, I napped the entire six days. Whenever they yelled at me I’d get up, jump into the studio, and just shoot. I think that all of us were tired of talking. We were all just reading magazines or lying down. And that’s why it came across that way. We look bored, and it’s true.

Why is everyone so skinny? Did anyone eat on set?

I think the new trend is skinny. I feel like it’s always going to get skinnier and skinnier. I don’t think it’s a trend that will ever end. Eventually they’ll have to start making a size 0! [

laughs

]

The campaign is very different from anything that has ever been done before. Do you think it will have an impact on fashion? What do you think it will change?

What I like the best about it is that there are a lot of people of color, people you normally wouldn’t recognize walking down the street as being models for Calvin Klein. I think he’s definitely doing something very different, and that will catch a lot of people’s attention. Whether or not it’s a positive or negative impact, it’s different. It’s going to cause quite a stir.

What else do you like to do when you’re not in front of the camera?

I like to listen to Alice in Chains and Madonna. Some Salt-N-Pepa. My musical taste varies.

Since you’ve started modeling have you met anyone famous? Do you have any famous friends?

I haven’t met anyone famous yet. But I’m hoping I get to meet Fran Lebowitz. She’s amazing and I love that she wears suits.

Where do you see yourself in, say, 2009, 15 years from now?

God, that’s so far away! 15 years? Probably living on a farm. Raising some animals. You know how celebrities always say that? “Just kicking it on a farm, raising some animals, eating food from the garden with all my babies.” Yeah, I’ll probably end up wearing Birkenstocks in a women’s separatist camp somewhere in Canada.