New York-based newcomer Jazzelle — yes, that’s her full name, and no, it’s not Gisele — started modeling in Detroit when she was about 15 after her braces came off, though she’d been involved with a local talent agency since she was 11. “I moved to Chicago when I was 17 to do commercial modeling work. It was miserable and I hated it completely,” she said. Instead, she became enthralled by the nightlife scene there, working as a performance artist and drag queen, and her persona ultimately became “too controversial” for the agency, which dropped her as a result. Luckily, her Instagram account — and her bleached, shaved head and eyebrows — caught the attention of British photographer and Showstudio founder Nick Knight, and
the rest is history.
Let’s start at the beginning…
My dad’s black and my mom is Austrian and German. Modeling seemed so glamorous when I was a kid, it was like wanting to be a princess.…I started working sporadically, but I didn’t get a lot of work at all. It was a little bit of money, but not too big of a deal.
And ultimately, commercial modeling didn’t suit you. How did you start working with Nick Knight?
I noticed that
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