15 Minutes More...

So there you were, thinking "Oh no, he disappeared again and he's not updating", weren't you? Just kidding... anyway, October has been so busy, or maybe it's just that time just seems to go faster and faster and it's something one never has enough of? I mean, really, it's like sand slipping through one's fingers, I never seem to have time for anything these days. Maybe it's a side effect of getting older? Because, yes, my dear ones, I celebrated my birthday this month (and since I'm a disaster and didn't do it earlier, I want to thank everyone for remembering and for all the lovely wishes). 44! So, hm, yes, I guess I look not that bad, considering, but still, even if it doesn't show that much on the outside yet, one feels the age on the inside... like this thing of time going faster. Actually everything goes faster... except hangovers, which last for days.

Another thing that happened in October is that I was featured in the Spain edition of GQ magazine, in an article by Mario Suárez, and photographed by Daniel Alea... which actually must not be in the newsstands anymore since I suppose the November issue is out... it's still here on the website if you want to check it out. OK, this is awkward because on one hand I feel sort of proud, but on the other hand it's kind of embarrassing... anyway, another 15 minutes of fame.

The original text is in Spanish, of course, so here goes a quick translation (edited and probably botchy, I'm very bad at translating, I can think in one language or in the other, both is beyond me. Sorry, I'm blonde):

Not everyone can say he walked the Yves Saint Laurent runway as a child. Though in Alejandro van Rooy's case (Vancouver, Canada, 1968) it was logic being Willy van Rooy's son, one of the most famous top models from the 70.

"I have memories from Yves Saint Laurent, but of course, as a child you don't realize, he always had a pair of children at the end of his shows, and I walked dressed as a harlequin. the last time I saw him was in the early 90's", he recalls. But Alejandro's family is interesting on both sides, his father is the Canarian painter Salvador Marón. And like that he was raised among art and fashion, in a hippy atmosphere, with a nomadic childhood in a multitude of countries, until settling down in Madrid 25 years ago, where he has worked as illustrator and fashion designer for brands like Javier Larrainzar, Tintoretto and Cortefiel.

"As a child I wanted to be a painter like my father, but when I was 14 my mother took me to a Saint Laurent Couture show, and when I got home I started filling a sketchbook with drawings of dresses… up to today!". He, who from his blog, The Pilgrim, analyzes the esthetic universe of the man of today, is modest about his mother being a muse for Helmut Newton: "She is my mom, when she came back from a runway show she would give me dinner".

His parents live in Los Angeles and conversations by Skype are necessary to shorten the distance: "Maybe in some ways we are not a typical family, but our everyday is very normal". Alejandro carries his family name with pride: "it's wonderful to see young people who admire my mother, as a model or as a designer". Not everybody can boast of having a mother who has appeared, several times, on the cover of Vogue.

ALEJANDRO VAN ROOY PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE CORTEFIEL OFFICES.

OK, that's it for today, it's like I took my ego for a walk... à la prochaine.