Meet Julia Schönberg, Jean Paul Gaultierâs Longtime Muse
BY LAIRD BORRELLI-PERSSON
January 23, 2020
have been many notable cameos in Jean Paul Gaultierâs shows, but the appearance that always mattered the most to me was that of the woman who everything started with, the designerâs muse and fit model turned studio assistant, Julia Schönberg. It wasnât just that she was so beautiful; here was a woman with a self-assured presence and quiet confidence. Not to mention range: Over the years she transformed herself into many guises on the Gaultier runway, from Frida Kahlo to femme fatale. Last night Schönberg made two appearances in the designerâs extravaganza of a swan songâthree if you count the navy-and-white lace dress Bella Hadid wore that Schönberg debuted on the runway in 2002.
Schönberg was born in Luanda, Angola, to an Angolan-Portuguese father and an Angolan-German mother. The family left the country during the countryâs war of independence and settled in Portugal. It was in Lisbon, at 17, that Schönberg was stopped on the street by the Portuguese model Susana Sabino, who did the couture shows for Chanel and Dior, and was visiting on vacation. âI thought it was a big joke because I didnât consider myself especially beautiful, but I [thought], Iâll just take my chance, and it worked rather quickly,â explains Schönberg from her home in Provence. Gaultier first saw his future muse in an editorial in i-D magazine and searched the model out. Schönberg made her Gaultier debut walking in the designerâs âChic Rabbisâ collection of fall 1993. âThat was the starting point, and then he forgot me for a while because I was doing other shows and he [was looking for] another image [than mine] at that time. Then, about two years [later], he called me again, and we havenât separated since.â (Well, until the model left Paris eight years ago, that is.)
Here Schönberg speaks to Vogue about coming into Gaultierâs orbit and becoming his muse.
On becoming Gaultierâs fit model:
âI started by doing the shows, and then very soon Jean Paul realized I could be a fittings model because I had the right measurements, I had the right posture, and I had the right inclination of his image of a woman. Everybody says, which is true, [that Gaultier designs for a] strong woman. I think we are all strong anyway, so this is not the issue. I think thatâŠhe likes a woman who can have a masculine attitude, but also be very, very feminine. [In this way] a person can be complete, in the sense [of their] image.
This image that he put on me is actually the image I have of myself. Nothing was studied, I was not acting, it was just part of my personality. In the beginning I was just there for some hours to do the fittings, but it soon became days because he realized that my image was inspiring for him to go forward in his research of materials, shapes, and [overall] image. His entourage is a small team and we all had something to say; it was a true collaboration. I was not the fit model who was just there in front of the mirror; we were all participating in [shaping] this new image that he had to invent each for each season.â
On Gaultierâs sense of fun:
âJean Paul is basically a very positive and happy person, and he really tried to transmit this happiness through his collections. He had the power of [giving] mise-en-scĂšnes to the shows that were so intelligent. He transformed his collections by the music, by the lights. The moods change [over time], but I think thereâs something unchanging in Jean Paul, and I think thatâs one of the reasons for his success. In all of his collections, he always tried to bring the fun because he sees reality in a fun way. And even if fashion is a huge business, for him itâs a fun business. He has to amuse himself, he has to amuse others; itâs his way of [elevating] everything.â
On diversity:
âDiversity is also one of the great pillars of Gaultier. He accepts everybody because he thinks everybody is beautiful, which is true. He just has so much respect and so much love to think like this, to accept people as they areâand he took a risk. It was a strong statement; nobody else [was doing this in the â90s]. Nobody had the courage to do it, and he did it. He stuck to his values and he showed his values; you can see that heâs a very strong man. For him, there was no other way. He showed that weâre all beautiful.â
On Gaultierâs next act:
âEvery good thing ends one day, but I didnât think [heâd stop] this year. At the same time, I think that when thereâs somebody who does great things, like Jean Paul does, he cannot stop. He probably hasâas he saidâsomething up his sleeve. I think heâs going to surprise us with something great; doing the same thing in a different way, I guess.â
On being a muse:
âI was really a small part of his creation; I think that Jean Paul is nourished by so many things. Each person inspires something different. Itâs normal, we all have different personalities and different posture and different ways of occupying a space. I think Jean Paul, being an artist, is very sensitive to what comes out of a person. Yes, I was aware that when he put something on me I could give something back, even if I cannot even explain what that was. I donât know if he can explain it, but I cannot. It was something very invisible, but it worked so well. It was so rewarding. It was really, really a pleasure to see the collection taking shape with all our energy. Iâm very conscious that, probably, I was in the right place at the right time, but Iâm also conscious that things happen because of a synergy of people, and thatâs so important. Life is made of synergy, actually.â
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
