Model Blanca Padilla exudes a smoldering presence on the digital cover of Numéro Netherlands August 2023. Caterina Ospina Buitrago styles one of the best known international Spanish models in Ferragamo red, Emporio Armani, Givenchy, Michael Kors Collection, Missoni, Miu Miu, MSGM, Prada, Sportmax, Versace and more.

JUANKR [IG], whose career as a photographer AOC has followed and encouraged from the beginning, is behind the lens. Anne remembers suggesting to him directly that the creative pick one presentation of his name and stick with it. We know how tedious she can be at times, but AOC had four versions going at the same time.

All caps it became. Clearly, JUANKR needs no coaching these days.

Numéro Netherlands goes into conversation with Padilla who will shortly launch her second collection with Ecoalf.

You can see Blanca Padilla’s first Ecoalf Collection here. Ecoalf is a B Corp [meaning that decisions and business strategy must consider workers, the environment and other priorities and not only stockholder or owner profits], that is recognized in the top 5% as ‘Best for the World’ and separately by Merco as the Most Environmentally Responsible Company in Spain in 2022.

If You Want It, You Must Take It

Padilla reflects in-depth about her decade-long career as a model, and she makes an astute nobservation about getting started.

In this profession you cannot really wait around for the right moment or the moment that fits you. There is a moment in time and if you want it, you must take it. And I feel like the lightness and flexibility of the youth at that time really helped to not think about it too much, to just let life happen and for that path to continue.

Speaking of her upcoming second collaboration with Ecoalf, Blanca promises that second one will be basics with a twist, a bit more elevated pieces, introducing linen.

The collection was inspired by the many different elements from nature, by the fact that we are one with nature and that one cannot exist without the other. I was very happy to accomplish several points that were crucial to me, such as proximity or materials like Lyocell or Cupro. I also loved the tones we achieved through 100 % natural dying.

Pursuing Ancient Wellness Practices

Another life evolution for Padilla — one that complements her commitment to a sustainable lifestyle — is her current studying of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda. The model explains her keen interest in these studies.

In a profession that demands a lot on a physical and psychological level, I have learned that connecting with my inner world and my spirituality is really what helps me. As I am on that path, I find it interesting to share that message and potentially help others to do the same. I try for my social media to be a reflection of what inspires me, what gives me peace, what makes me feel good, information that I consider relevant or that has helped or impacted me in some way, sustainability, mental health (anxiety disorders, connecting with oneself, mindfulness world), also based on my own experience, and fashion.

On a private note, AOC finds the world so small at times. Reaching for a recent Blanca Padilla spa editorial shot at Belmond’s Copacabana Rio, the photographer was Vladimir Marti.

Yes, the same photographer we featured yesterday in ‘The Bird Cage X Dior’. That was pure serendipidity, although perhaps we missed a flamingo or two on the hotel grounds in Rio and should have known better.