Top model Saskia de Brauw is styled by Elissa Santisi in cruise 2020 getaway clothes lensed in ‘Model Behavior’ by Quentin De Briey in New York harbor. The Dutch style icon, known for her androgynous beauty, intellectual rigor and refreshing honesty, is interviewed by Jane Mulkerrins for the December 6, 2019 issue of Porter Edit.

Saskia de Brauw makes it clear from the get-go that we are reading about a serious environmentalist. De Brauw lives in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood with her partner photographer Vincent van de Wijngaard and their three-year-old daughter Luna. After living in Paris for seven years, the family relocated to New York about seven years ago.

Praising the beauty of the neighborhood while admitting that grocery shopping is not readily available, the model explains that her family’s wheels are a cargo bike built for groceries. Like a growing number of fashion industry professionals, de Brauw keeps a tally of her carbon footprint.

“I use Cool Effect, but there are others – you fill out the hours that you fly and pay a little bit of money that goes to environmental projects like reforestation and providing villages in developing countries with LED lights.” She is making equally impressive environmental efforts at home. “I changed my shampoo for a simple block of soap shampoo, and when I go to set, I bring my own coffee cup, water container and cutlery.” That’s exemplary, I remark. “I think everyone has to do that,” shrugs de Brauw.

The model wasn’t initially thrilled with the pace of New York, but then she began her meditative walks.

One day, she and van de Wijngaard turned her meditative jaunts into a film and series of photographs called Ghosts Don’t Walk In Straight Lines. He shot her as she walked the length of Manhattan, from 225th Street in the north of the island to Battery Park at its southern tip, wearing a full-length custom-made coat by her friend, designer Haider Ackermann.

The images became exhibitions in London, Amsterdam and New York and also an art book.

Known for her androgynous physical looks, Saskia accepts the reality of being mistaken for a boy much of her life. Factually-speaking, glamour is not a word of particular significance to her.

“Yes, I think hair is very important here,” she muses. “You have your hair done for the weekend, and you get your nails done. Who has time to get their nails done?” She stretches her long legs out as she ponders this. “In the Netherlands, there is a practicality to life. You’re on your bike, so some hairdos really won’t work, and you can’t wear a hat – it’s going to blow off your head. You’re not going to wear heels all the time, because that’s not practical on your bike either.” She chuckles softly. “It’s not very romantic, perhaps, but I think maybe the Dutch woman is just very practical.”