Renny Chivunga / Xiaohan Shen

Can you tell me about what you’re wearing?
Okay, I’ll tell you a story. I went to Brisbane in… oh I don’t know, when I came back from New York and I did the Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival, and this outfit - the skirt and the top and everything - was part of one of the looks. I remember being backstage and saying to the stylist, ‘Please! Let me know what that look is!’, and I went and found it straight after.

It [also] just so happens that was the same time colour blocking came in. I was like, ‘Oh my god! I can get away with wearing a lot of colour, and don’t have to worry about it!’ Before, you’d be on the edge if you were wearing too much, like, ‘Who’s that rainbow?’ But now, it’s like ‘Yay!’
 
It’s a lot of fun. So how would you describe your style?
I like being elegant but I will push things as long as I think I can pull it off. And if I see something really well worn, whether on a catwalk or in a magazine, I will pick up pieces that I think I can work.

Do you follow other fashion shows and magazines a lot?
Yeah, yeah. I’m always on models.com for instance.

Are you a blog person?
Yeah! My friends and I, we’re always comparing and chatting like, ‘What did you think about this look?’

How about Tumblr?
No… but my friends do send me a lot though. They’re like, ‘Oh Renny, look at this, look at this!’ So usually I spend more time with my friends doing it because I work as well as model so usually I don’t have time. But for sure, I definitely do a lot of models.com and 2threads and things like that. And I like to see all the different magazines. I flip through on my break.

Do you have any labels or designers you like in particular?
I have fallen in love with Alexander McQueen. I was in New York and I went to Savage Beauty and oh god, I was in tears.

I did a show, not for him, but for [the label] Alexander McQueen and it was a benefit, the curator of the Met was there and also [Sarah Burton and] they were talking about all the different designs and why each piece was chosen for Savage Beauty. I was so in awe, I just can’t believe how amazing that guy is. To have the main curator  of the Met to be there and talk about each piece – it opened my eyes because… [they explained] the history of the whole collection and what Alexander’s mind was going through at the time too.

But you know, I will wear anything. I don’t mind how expensive, or how cheap it is. As long as it’s going to fit in with whatever I’m picturing. I’m not somebody who goes and buys everything, I need to be like ‘Oh, that will go so beautifully with this piece’, based on what I’ve seen on the catwalk or something like that.