From Model to Mannequin: Coco Rocha becomes immortal

She’s arguably Canada’s reigning supermodel: a catwalk sensation, an editorial queen, and a perennial Voguette. She’s performed Irish jigs on Gaultier’s runway and is slogan-worthy enough for her own Henry Holland tee. But this week, Coca Rocha reached a bizarre new career zenith when she came face to face with her own Rootstein mannequin at a cocktail party hosted by Richard Chai.

Since the 1950s, London’s Adel Rootstein Mannequin company has been creating eerily accurate “life sized dolls” of fashion and entertainment’s most charismatic players, including Twiggy, Joan Collins, and even glamazon queens Jodie Kidd and Karen Mulder. But the company isn’t stuck in the past; unsurprisingly, Coco Rocha is preceded by Agyness Deyn, whose slim frame, peroxide pixie cut, and tomboy sensibilities are the hallmarks of contemporary androgyny.

At first glance, Coca’s mannequin is a dead ringer for Karen Elson. Why? Coco 2.0 sports flaming red hair. But, in fact, art imitated life: Coco herself has suddenly gone auburn (at the suggestion of a photographer, we hear. The inverse of Olga Sherer’s makeover, perhaps?) With that in mind, we have to concede that the plasticized Coco respectably mirrors The Real Rocha.

With fashion fame & pop iconography going hand in hand these days, we can’t help but wonder what other models and starlets will make the Rootstein cut. Back when she still ran the company, the late Adel Rootstein famously rejected a Kate Moss prototype on the grounds that she was “too short” to emulate.

“Probably the biggest mistake of her life,” quips Kevin Arpino, who is hoping he can “mannequinize” Keira Knightley in the near future.

What other models are worthy of their own mannequin?