Model Julia van Os’s Beauty Secret Is to Touch Your Face More, Despite What You’ve Been Told
The Dutch model reveals her beauty and fitness essentials—and her genuinely surprising Hollywood actor doppelgänger.
Though the model Julia van Os channeled the quintessential Libra for W’s spring horoscope fashion story—“some glamorous girl in a pink dress, Princess of Monaco, doing her makeup,” she said on the set of the shoot—van Os herself usually opts for a more understated brand of beauty. (But, in classic Libra fashion, she’s also not opposed to doing it up from time to time. It’s all about balance, after all.)
In the nearly three years since her breakout Fall 2015 season, van Os’s ability to disappear into various looks has earned her a diverse array of credits. She has appeared in campaigns for the likes of Calvin Klein and Alexander McQueen and walked in shows for brands as varied as Chanel, Kenzo, Balmain (multiple times over, because creative director Olivier Rousteing likes to keep his favorite models close), and Dolce & Gabbana. Here, van Os dispenses her beauty tips, like how she combats jet lag and why, despite what you’ve been told, you should probably be touching your face—as well as her unexpected, though not unwelcome, doppelgänger.
Your look in three words: Simple, natural, healthy.
Medicine cabinet snapshot: Iron, vitamins C, B12, and D3, echinacea, melatonin (for never-ending jet lag).
Best advice from a facialist: Don’t forget to moisturize your neck.
Good skin starts with: Less stress, more water.
SPF of choice: Fifteen for my face, 30 for my body.
Makeup miracles: Filling in your brows.
Most underrated product: Vaseline. You can use it to take off makeup, put it on your eyelashes at night to make them stronger, put it on cracked heels, mix it into your night cream, use as lip balm, etc., etc.
Never leave the house without: Moisturizer.
A good hair day starts with: Very unpredictable for me, to be honest. Sometimes it just decides to look good. When I have somewhere important to be, it usually decides not to…
Nails must be: Short and clean.
Beauty from the inside: Is everything. Smile a lot, laugh a lot. That’s what people will remember about you, not your flawless contour.
Exercise obsession: Yoga! I’m training to be a yoga teacher right now.
Drink of choice: Coffee, until wine (it’s 5 p.m. somewhere).
A woman’s fragrance should: Put a little smile on her face every time she smells it.
Spa-cation: I love Aire Ancient Baths in TriBeCa. Or a good old Russian baths visit after a night out. Not exactly a relaxing experience, but it does the trick.
TSA-friendly essentials: Hand cream, lip balm, leave-on face mask to prevent dehydration, eye mask for after-red-eye-straight-to-work situations.
In-tub must read: The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho.
Best advice from mom: You’re the only one who sees it/cares. Which is usually true when it comes to any insecurities.
Best-kept beauty secret: Lymphatic drainage massages. (Learn to do them on yourself—only takes 15 minutes, and it will save your life one day.)
Beauty myth you’d like to debunk: Don’t touch your face. There [are] so many muscles in your face, and they need to be touched and massaged to be kept in good condition, just like any other muscles.
Definite doppelgänger: No idea. Someone on the Internet once said I looked like Tom Cruise. I was like, “Hmm…I’ll take that.”
Your Spring 2018 Horoscope Comes to Life
After moving from Los Angeles to New York City to pursue writing, Paloma Elsesser found herself modeling. Her big break came when makeup guru Pat McGrath chose Elsesser to appear as one of the first faces of McGrath’s new beauty line; since then, she’s become a sought-after model for the likes of Fenty x Puma and Fenty Beauty by Rihanna and Eckhaus Latta. And, seeing as Elsesser counts Chrissie Miller—the designer behind the label Sophomore and the daughter of fashion’s favorite astrologist, Susan Miller—among her friends, it’s perhaps only to be expected that she take a passing interest in the movements of the stars. (Her parents are “super into it,” she noted; Elsesser herself used to follow it more closely than she does now.) “I do see how my sign manifests in many of my behaviors,” Elsesser added. “Aries, I believe, are fiercely loyal and very intense, because we’re highly emotional. We’re, I’ve noticed, very talkative, outgoing, competitive.” She paused for a beat, lowering her voice to a singsong whisper. “Oopsy.”
Paloma Elsesser at IMG wears Prada jacket, Gap t-shirt, Marina Rinaldi pants, Jennifer Fisher hoop earrings, Bond ring, and Prada shoes. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Gramercy Park Hotel, Dishful.
If you were to meet model Ali Michael on a job, she might ask you to text your mom to find out the precise time and location of your birth, according to your birth certificate. “I just did it yesterday,” she said on a recent March afternoon, “and her life was changed.” Around seven years ago, Michael—a Taurus, Scorpio rising, Aquarius moon—received her full chart from an astrologer friend in Los Angeles (“very typical, very Los Angeles,” she commented), and she’s been an avid follower of the movements of celestial bodies ever since. Still, she said she tries not to attribute too much of her day-to-day to the influence of the stars; you won’t catch her, for example, bracing for the upcoming Mercury retrograde. “I don’t want to live my life based on astrology, but I think it can be useful to make yourself aware of certain tendencies you might have,” she said. “I have two polarities inside me: One is very in tune with spirituality and a greater force, and then I have the capability to be very detached and nihilistic,” she added. “Astrology is reassuring and comforting, because it’s a force that’s greater than we are.”
Ali Michael at NEXT wears Rodarte dress, bracelets, and boots, and headband from New York Vintage. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Beekman Hotel, Dishful.
Mayowa Nicholas and Samile Bermannelli had met in passing on the fashion week circuit in seasons past, but it wasn’t until a recent March afternoon that the two Geminis discovered that they were, in fact, astrological twins: They were both born on May 22, 1998. (Bermannelli has a pair of tattoos to mark the day—on one arm, the Gemini symbol, and on the other, the number 22.) And by the end of their three hours together on set, they were finishing each other’s sentences as they outlined their shared star sign’s mercurial nature. “I hate when people say we are two-faced,” Bermannelli said. After all, it’s not that the twins are inherently duplicitous; instead, their moods change quickly, and the self the Gemini projects is not always the same as the self she keeps private. “We Geminis get irritated quickly,” Nicholas explained. But then, “we can switch, like, ‘we need to be happy now,’” she added. Bermannelli agreed. “Why do we understand each other?” Nicholas asked. Because, well, they’re Geminis.
Samile Bermannelli at Elite Model Management NYC wears Versace gown, Jennifer Fisher hoop earrings, Manolo Blanik shoes. Mayowa Nicholas at The Society Management wears Versace jumpsuit, Jennifer Fisher hoop earrings, Gianvito Rossi shoes. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Gramercy Park Hotel, Dishful.
“I’m a moon goddess,” supermodel—and Cancer—Pat Cleveland said as she took a seat in the lobby lounge of the Gramercy Park Hotel. Her sign is a famously nurturing and empathetic one: “No matter what, you’re going to be a mother to somebody,” she explained. Astrology is something that has fascinated Cleveland for a long time. An emerging model in the ’70s, she recalled an era when acquaintances would introduce themselves with their star sign: “When I first met my husband,” she recalled, “I said, ‘Oh, I’m a Cancerian.’” It turned out that Paul van Ravenstein—her husband of more than 30 years, with whom she has two children—Anna Cleveland and Noel van Ravenstein, both models—was also a Cancer. It’s fortunate, then, that Cancers are especially compatible signs. But, born June 23, Cleveland also teeters on the edge of Gemini, with a moon in Libra, and she quickly reeled off qualities she drew from each sign: a facility with words, thanks to Gemini; a penchant for comfort and familiarity, thanks to Cancer; and an eye for aesthetics, thanks to Libra. She first began exploring astrology as a teenager growing up in New York City, where she would make pilgrimages to the occult specialist Weiser Bookshop on Lexington Avenue. “Astrology is so ancient,” she said. “The forbidden knowledge—it’s forbidden to know so much about somebody, like I know about you right now.” She looked at me intensely. “Every person becomes like an exciting book to read.”
Pat Cleveland at The Model Scoop wears Nili Lotan, Giles scarf, Manolo Blahnik shoes, Cartier hoop earrings, bracelet, and ring. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Gramercy Park Hotel, Dishful.
Belarusian model Sasha Kichigina, a self-professed woman of science, once put considerable effort into debunking astrology—even calling up a friend’s astrologer just to mislead her; naturally, as a result, the astrologer was “wrong 95 percent of the time,” Kichigina said recently. But at the same time, she considers herself “the Leo-est Leo you can find.” (Her lion-like head of tousled curls, just one of the characteristics that have made her a regular on the runway at Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, and Jeremy Scott, also bears mentioning.) Outgoing by nature, Kichigina shares Leo’s fondness for the spotlight and seizing control of a situation—yet, she admitted, she’s something of an introvert. “Because there’s a weird desire to be the center of attention, you force yourself to be an extrovert,” the 19-year-old model said. “Leo says, ‘Go, communicate, socialize,’ and inner Sasha says, ‘No, no, I don’t want to be born on the 15th of August.’”
Sasha Kichigina at Elite wears Dior top, pants and shoes, Pologeorgis jacket, David Webb earrings and rings. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Beekman Hotel, Dishful.
Since she first emerged into the fashion consciousness in 2015—when she walked no fewer than 74 shows during a single season—Estonian model Alexandra Elizabeth Ljadov, a proud Virgo, has dipped into every facet of modeling, working both behind and in front of the camera on various video and editorial projects. She recently art-directed a surreal new video for rapper and Mr. Robot actor Joey Bada$$, and she has begun scripting her own short film, a psychological thriller set in the fashion world. (Nicolas Winding Refn, watch your back.) “I love acting and obviously, I love attention, hello,” she said, giggling. As her sign might indicate, she’s able to navigate these various projects thanks to a steadfast, organized nature, especially when it comes to her creative endeavors. “If I commit to something, I’m there,” she said. “I’m going to come through.”
Alexandra Elizabeth at The Society wears Simone Rocha dress and barrettes, Dior shoes. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Gramercy Park Hotel, Dishful.
Libra, the sign of the scales, is astrology’s great diplomat, an arbiter of harmony, “no light without dark and vice versa,” explained Dutch model Julia van Os recently. It was late morning at the Beekman Hotel in Manhattan’s Financial District, and her Boston terrier, Sid, tugged at her leash as she considered the air sign’s nature. “We love beauty and order, which is all very true,” van Os added. (She also admitted to a bit of a perfectionist streak, as well as a need to balance her social obligations with time to herself.) Van Os first emerged as one of the most sought-after models of the Fall 2015 season, during which she walked more than 40 shows; she has since appeared in campaigns for brands including Calvin Klein and Alexander McQueen and walked for the likes of Balmain, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, and Brandon Maxwell. She first found her interest in astrology whetted by a book she discovered in her grandmother’s home. “I was like, ‘I don’t really believe it’—but it makes so much sense,” she admitted, upon reading the details of her own chart. “It makes sense that everything in this world is a balance between different elements.”
Julia Van Os at Women wears Dundas dress, Swarovski earrings, Tiffany & Co. ring. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Beekman Hotel, Dishful.
It was just a year and a half ago that South Sudanese–Australian model Duckie Thot met Kanye West at a casting in New York City, resulting in her first runway gig—walking the now-infamous Yeezy Season 4 show on Roosevelt Island. Since then, Thot has established herself as one of the industry’s most formidable young models, earning a coveted role as one of the faces of Fenty Beauty and starring as the titular Alice in Tim Walker’s Alice in Wonderland–inspired Pirelli calendar. It’s not hard to see why she’s become a close collaborator of both Rihanna and Pat McGrath, endowed as she is with boundless energy and an outsize personality, which she credits to her Scorpio nature: “We’re loud, we’re cute, we’re sensitive,” she explained on a recent spring afternoon. “We’re creative little bums.” Plus, she added, “we’re quite raunchy in bed, apparently.” Apparently? “No comment! No comment,” she squealed, bounding up from her chair. “I’m not answering that question. That is a secret one.”
Duckie Thot at NY Model Management wears Dilara Findikoglu gown, Lonely Hearts bra, Araks brief (worn underneath), Chrome Hearts bracelets, Chrome Hearts ring on right hand, Chrome Hearts bracelets, Chrome Hearts, Bonheur Jewelry, and John Hardy rings on left hand. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Beekman Hotel, Dishful.
Wearing a crystal-encrusted grill across her incisors, transparent sunglasses whose lenses were dusted with glitter (perhaps not the most practical, but cool as hell), and a fluffy, cropped bomber jacket, Jazzelle Zanaughtti—the model who is also known by her Instagram handle, @uglyworldwide—strode into a sprawling suite at the Beekman Hotel on a recent March morning. Zanaughtti is a Sagittarius, the extroverted, adventurous fire sign—though she hardly keeps apprised of the migrations of constellations. “I barely know my own,” she admitted. Nevertheless, she listed a litany of Sagittarian traits with which she identifies. “Free-spirited, likes to travel,” she said. “Adventurous, rebellious, intense.” Instead of following the stars, Zanaughtti prefers to take her spirituality with sage and Palo Santo, with which she smudges her apartment each morning. As Mercury prepares to enter a retrograde period, it’s never too soon to start banishing negativity. The ritual, in addition to its cleansing properties, has another benefit: relieving the smell of cigarette smoke inside the flat.
Jazzelle Zanaughtti at NY Model Management wears Junya Watanabe dress and necklace, Capezio bodysuit, Kat Kim and Jennifer Fisher earrings, Lynn Ban rings. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Beekman Hotel, Dishful.
Hunter Schafer, who has walked for the likes of Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs, and Helmut Lang by Shayne Oliver, doesn’t put much stock in astrology (“I don’t believe in entities that aren’t physical,” she said), nor does she consider herself much of a Capricorn—evidencing a groundedness that, coincidentally, might be her most Capricorn trait. (By contrast, she does not relate to the sign’s apparent penchant for discipline and order: “I’m told,” she said, “that I need to pay attention to a moon sign or something.”) Still, her tenaciousness and motivation show through in her every project. In addition to a modeling career on the ascent, this fall she’s heading to London’s storied fashion institution, Central Saint Martins, to study design—and, since 2016, she’s been embroiled in a lawsuit, alongside the American Civil Liberties Union, against North Carolina for the state’s so-called “bathroom bill.” So, as for that Capricornian combativeness, “I’ll fight who I want to,” she said. “Who I need to.”
Hunter Schafer at Elite wears Tom Ford suit jacket, skirt, shoes, De Beers earrings and necklace. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Beekman Hotel, Dishful.
In October 2017, Dutch model Betsy Teske, an Aquarian, made headlines when, during the Paris Fashion Week Spring 2018 shows, she became the first plus-size model (or, as she describes herself, “curvy model”) to walk for Alexander McQueen. Just a few months later, designer Sarah Burton asked her back—this time, for the Fall 2018 season, during which she appeared along with the likes of Stella Tennant and Liya Kebede. She may not follow astrology particularly closely, but she certainly identifies with her Aquarian traits: “The definition of Aquarius is me,” she said, unspooling a whole list of characteristics. “Honest, open, creative, insecure—that’s true,” she added. The sign is also a reliably intellectual one. As her career has gained momentum, Teske, an aspiring lawyer attending law school in her native Netherlands, has put her education on a brief hiatus, but she plans to return to the books before long. “It’s a hard thing to say about yourself,” she said, “but actually, intellectual, yeah.”
Betsy Teske at Muse Management wears Calvin Klein 205W39NYC dress and shoes, Tom Ford glasses. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Gramercy Park Hotel, Dishful.
The 12th sign in the zodiac, Pisces is, according to model and astrology aficionada Rachel Hilbert, “all the signs in one,” she explained recently. It’s particularly known as the artistic, shy sign, content to spend time alone—but Hilbert, a one-time Victoria’s Secret Pink spokesmodel who began learning about astrology in her early teens, poring over books at a bookstore in the New York suburb where she grew up, relates more to her rising-Gemini side. On a recent early spring afternoon, just a few days before her birthday (March 14), she perched on a chair in the Gramercy Park Hotel’s lobby lounge, a David LaChapelle portrait of Eminem looming overhead. Hilbert, endowed with Gemini’s outgoing, gregarious nature, spoke in rapid-fire sentences, outlining the contours of astrology with overwhelming enthusiasm. An avid follower of not only astrology, but also tarot and psychic readings, she may not read her horoscope every day, but she certainly consults it when confronted with important life decisions—“all the time, even though I shouldn’t at all”—and whenever a full moon or Mercury retrograde looms in the cosmos. (Mercury enters a retrograde period again on March 22.) “I never sign any contracts; I never make any big decisions; I never make any money decisions, because I get too psyched out,” she said. During the lunar eclipse in January, she did acupuncture and sound healing: “That’s the kind of stuff I love,” she said.
Rachel Hilbert at The Lions wears Alexander McQueen dress, necklace, belt and boots. Directed by Cycy Sanders; styled by Simon Robins at CLM; hair by Jimmy Paul at Susan Price NYC; makeup by Frankie Boyd at Streeters using Tom Ford Beauty; manicures by Eri Handa for Chanel at MAM-NYC; set design by Bette Adams at MHS Artists. Director of photography: Peter Mylachaski; gaffer: Brad Reeb; gaffer assistant: Ben Peck; second camera: Jason Amendolara; production assistant: Eddie Tyler; fashion assistants: Rasaan Wyzard, Jonathan Coker. Special thanks to the Gramercy Park Hotel, Dishful.
