Model Staz Lindes Doesn't Have a Message for Her 58,000 Instagram Followers...and That's Okay Nov 6, 2015 source
Rag & Bone's newest face on music, moisturizer, and the pressure to be political. Staz Lindes is a perfect picture of today's Cool Girl: a model-musician-photographer with California-bred insouciance and '90s style adored by 58,000 doting followers on Instagram. The 22-year-old was discovered in a bowling alley and has been modeling since she was 14, most recently walking Saint Laurent's spring 2016 runway show. Lindes has also played music for 10 years (it runs in her family—her dad, Hal Lindes, was a guitarist for British rock band Dire Straits) and is part of the all-girl band the Paranoyds. The rising star caught the attention of Rag & Bone, which had her take the reins on the brand's latest frills-free D.I.Y. project, previously done by fellow It models Emily Ratajkowski, Miranda Kerr, and Jourdan Dunn. Here, she shares exclusive photos from her shoot, photographed by pal Tom Mitchell, and talks about what's on her playlist, how to get her signature pout, and her take on the current conversation surrounding social media and authenticity. You took your photos in London—any significance in the places you chose? A couple months ago in the summer, a good friend of mine took me to that bowling alley. On paper it's my dream: bowling, pizza dinner, dance floor, and karaoke all in one! How has growing up in California inspired your style? California thrift stores and vintage stores are more accessible than somewhere like New York or somewhere where all the op shops are just old mall brands being donated. [i'm] able to drive all over L.A. on the weekends and come home with bags of stuff, real amazing rare vintage stuff, plus we barely have to wear warm outerwear. That obviously affects [my style] immensely. The only present [style] influence would be from my friends. Besides that, it's all quite old and dated, but a lot of style never goes bad to me. You've said you took up music because you wanted to be challenged. How so? Oh man, when I am handed a hard song or bass line or guitar part to play and I can practice and practice it until I nail it, nothing feels better. I believe if I tried hard enough I could probably play whatever I wanted. My favorite is when someone hands me a song and says, "Here, learn this bass part," and I can get it down in under a half-hour. I love all the challenges of music so much. Music holds tangible truth in whether you are getting better or how strong your skills are. What's currently on your playlist? Sylvie Vartan, Sad Girl, Walter, Wild Wing, Lee Hazlewood, Elvis, The Cramps, and The Miracles. How does being a photographer influence your modeling? I know what I like in a picture and I'll try to imagine myself on the other side of the camera when I'm posing. I try to foresee the result as I'm being photographed. You have a really minimalist beauty look–what are your go-to beauty products (especially for lips!)? My daily is just moisturizer, eyelash curler, mascara, and maybe some of this Bobbi Brown cream liner called Suede. Lips are my trickiest! As for moisturizing, I've pretty much given up on all lip products and just use face moisturizer for my lips. The Glossier lip stuff is actually pretty nice as well. I'm not afraid of getting a lipstick from a drugstore; I quite like liquid lipsticks that are matte–even though they aren't the kindest to my lips. NARS obviously has a strong lipstick line and I'm also into Hourglass. Social media and the pressures it can cause has been in the news a lot this week. How do you approach posting photos on Instagram, knowing you have a lot of followers? I try to ignore that a large number of accounts follow me, because who knows how many are actually active/aren't robots? I know a lot are young kids. I don't really know, man. I'm just doing my thing, I don't have much of a message to send and maybe that's a problem. I still don't really know how I feel about it all. Sometimes I wish I took more of a political stance on my Instagram but I kind of wouldn't know where to start; talk to me in person and I will share with you everything I believe in and disagree with. My account is purely for fun, for friends close or distant, to see what I'm up to if they want to. I travel a lot and I want people to know I'm surviving just fine!