Breaking Boundaries with Koi King

October 18, 2022

In the fashion industry today, transparency is emphasized and authenticity and representation are vital. So many times we’ve seen ads highlight and showcase the old, same old, same old, yet we are currently living in an age where that just isn’t cutting it anymore. So who do we turn to when making that change? We look to industry trailblazers who are leading the way and opening up spaces for diversification and accurate representation. And that’s where we turn to and chat with model, chef, and musician Koi King who is doing their part in changing the script.

Having been scouted during the BLM protests in 2020, King is more than just the labels that the industry likes to box people into. They are all of the beautiful intricacies and intersectionalities of what makes a person authentic and real. office had the opportunity to talk to the multifaceted creative about how they get started on their modeling journey, what representation looks like, and what makes them, them.

Interview by Cassie Jekanoski
Photographer: Chiemeka Offor
Stylists: Ife Ibraheem and Grace Miskovsky
Makeup: Aliyah Abeni-Taylor

Continue reading for an exclusive interview below.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing pretty well. I'm actually getting ready because after this, I'm gonna go to boxing class. It's cool. I mean, I'm in a pretty good mood and I feel like I've been biking more often. So I feel like my moods just been improving from biking. So it's a good morning.

Yeah, I feel like that's the best part about New York is just being able to bike everywhere.

Yeah, it saves so much time.

Talk to me about how you got started modeling. How was it in the beginning of your journey?

I feel like, since I was in high school, everyone was like, "Koi, you should model." And I thought about it once I graduated, but the track I was on was that I was a chef. So I was more focused on being in the restaurant, cooking food, and learning about stuff like that. Then when I moved back to New York, like 2019, I was like, "You know what, maybe I should do this." So I started freelancing. It was very low key just because I was still working in restaurants six days a week. 2020 I was out protesting and that's how Liv scouted me. She was like, "Hey, are you represented?" And I was like, "No, not really, but I freelance." And then she was like, "Well, do you want to be represented?" And I was like, "Yeah, I'm down." Because of the pandemic I had stopped working in restaurants, and I was trying to figure out what my next move was gonna be. I ended up booking my first job with Diesel which was really cool. I ended up meeting with One Management in the office and I was hella nervous because it's a huge agency. I was really nervous because one, I knew that for the industry, I'm short. And the other thing that I was more concerned about was being non-binary and how they would represent me. And also me being disabled, and how they would represent me in the best way for all these intersectionalities. But so far, it's been a wild ride, and I'm learning so much of the industry and just how I want to present myself to the world. I'm just glad that I have Liv and my agents at One. So it's been a pretty interesting ride so far.

I feel like everything sort of aligned for you, and got you to where you are today. Just in recent years, I feel like the industry has grown and progressed a lot, however, there are still things that need to be done. How would you like to see the modeling industry continue to change?

Well, everyone uses catchphrases, like, "Oh, you know, we're inclusive," but when I look at agency rosters, with their inclusivity, I don't see it. It's one thing to go out into the public and be like, "We're inclusive, we're trying to make changes," but you're not hiring models that are also following that need for change. We see it a lot, especially in this industry, where it's a trend to be inclusive. It's a trend to be the one person that's including everyone when it shouldn't be a trend. We're humans, we're not meant to all be the same. So when you're telling me that you're inclusive, but I see no non-binary models on your roster, I see no disabled models on your roster, and most of your models are white, it's not giving.

How would you say that MultiiMedia and One back you and see you for who you are?

I think it's really important for models to really vibe with their agents, and really let them know what it is they need from them. Because one of my first conversations with Liv was, "Yeah, you're gonna represent me as a model, but I'm a human that does so many other things. And that's not the only thing I want you to push for me, especially when you're talking to other people, because I'm still a chef at heart." I still cook when I need to, I make music, and I make art. When it comes to One, my biggest thing with them was really advocating for me, especially before I even get into the room. One I'm non-binary-- that's my biggest thing. I'm disabled and of course, a lot of the times when people look at me right off the bat, they can't tell. That's the thing with invisible disabilities is that unless people are really paying attention, they can't really tell that I am. When I go into these castings, I tell my agents at One, "Did you let them know before I go in?" I think that's my biggest thing that I've taken from both my agents is them just being like,"Just go in there and be yourself." And if they don't hype you for being yourself, then fuck it. Either way, you're gonna continue to do what you need to do, as long as you're doing it as yourself.

In one of your Instagram posts, you made the comment saying, "My very existence breaks boundaries." Can you elaborate on that?

Because of all my intersectionalities, being a black, non-binary person from the Caribbean. That shaped my whole life and just having a lens on life that I think a lot of people didn't have. I say that my existence is, in itself, a protest. Because if the times were different, I definitely wouldn't be alive. I think I think about that every day, especially with the laws changing, and our rights being taken away. I think about it every single day, because I know that there are people in the world that wouldn't, to this day, want someone like me to exist. I want to show other people that they too, can be themselves wholeheartedly, and still be fine. When I go out into the world, I keep that at the forefront of my mind, because I know that it's true. I know that if the laws were to change a lot of people would be against my existence.

Would you say that you use modeling as a vessel to leave your mark and to tell your story?

Yeah, it definitely is one of them. So when I'm on set, I try to articulate that as much as I can. So those conversations can be had and people keep certain things at the forefront of their mind when they're on set with other people who may look like me. I also do it through my art, and through my music, because I feel like my whole purpose is to create. And in that sense, I get to create things that might help someone else, while also sort of putting out what I need the world to see for myself. So it's kind of like a win-win situation.

Has there been a favorite campaign of yours where you felt your most authentic self?

Yes, the Marc Jacobs campaign I did for the Perfect Fragrance came out last month. From beginning to end, I think that was one of my favorite campaigns I've done just because of how they coordinated it and the fact that they really let everyone be themselves on set. We got to pick out exactly what we would wear on a regular basis, how we wanted our makeup to be done, and our hair. Also just the kind of questions we were asked. I feel like being on that set and doing that project was one of my favorites. One because, it was based around my queerness, which isn't something that I get to talk about within the campaign universe. It's like, "Oh, you're queer, cool." But that campaign I feel like they took their time to be like, "Okay, what is it that you as a queer person like? What changes do you want to see and how do you feel like you're represented? How do you think that your existence is perfect?" And I know a lot of people hear the word perfect, and they're like, nobody's perfect, but it's like perfect in your own self.

It's nice when you're on set to be seen as you versus just as the figure that is pushing a product. Because at the end of the day, we're all people we have our stories to tell.

For sure. It's just like, yeah, it's a model with a pretty face who's selling you a product, but it's a human with life experiences with things that they like to do.

When do you feel your most beautiful?

This might be chaotic, but honestly when I'm in the middle of a breakdown, because I feel like that's when I have the most important realizations about what I'm trying to do. And understanding why I'm in the middle of a breakdown. I think for me, it's beautiful, because I'm someone who has DID, so a lot of the time my alters and I are always going back and forth on decisions and things we want to do and choices we have to make. So when I'm in those moments of chaos and I feel like I'm crashing, I take a moment to really see the beauty and the fact that I'm only thinking that I'm crashing, because I want things a certain way. That's when I take the time to be like "Hey, Koi, you've done so much, you've come such a long way, and you're gonna continue to do so much. This little thing that's bothering you right now is not that big of a deal." I think that's when I feel most beautiful because I'm making space for myself to feel okay. Even in the moments where I know I don't, I'm still giving myself that space and I'm still giving myself that love. I feel like it's easy to love other people especially when they're having a hard time, but to love yourself, when you know that you're not really in the right space of mind, or you're not really having the energy to do a lot is when I feel my most beautiful.

You kind of talked too a little bit about your other interests and passions, like being a chef, art, and music. Can you talk a bit more about what those look like?

I feel like all of them are connected or come back around at some point. For my modeling, I feel like my art comes out in that way. Whenever I model I think about the silhouettes and the shapes I'm making. When I'm painting, I'm truly connecting it to everything in my life because sometimes when I paint, I never usually have a full idea of what I'm painting. I just let my mind be like "Here's a brush, here's the paint, here's the canvas." So by the end of the painting, I usually realize that I'm talking about stuff in my paintings that I've been thinking about what's going on around me. Now when it comes to my music, it all relates back to experiences I've written about. I think that because I'm so centered around all of the things I like to do, they all come back to each other. So even sometimes when I'm cooking with my friends or just making family dinner, I'll have some idea for a song and I'm like, "Oh shit, hold on, I need to write this down!"

If you could describe Koi in three words, what would they be?

I'd say unpredictable, student, and light.

I like that you chose “student” because I feel like we're always learning and we're always growing.

And that's why I say that because I'm a student of life. I feel like no matter how old I get, they're still going to be things that I don't know that I'm learning. And I think that people sort of overlook that part of life where it's like, you don't know everything. We don't know everything and we're never going to be able to know everything. So just learn what you can learn and listen to what you don't know. I say light because I feel like that's my main thing that I try to do. Wherever I go, I just try to bring light to people, because I feel like I know what it's like to not have light around you, and feel like everything is dark. So I try my best to just help people see that.

And then unpredictable…

Unpredictable, because I never know what I'm going to do. People always inquire, and I'm like, I won't know until it's happening. So you can never predict what's going to happen.

If you could tell your younger self something with everything you know now, what would you tell them?

Stop worrying. I think as a kid, I was riddled with anxiety about life. And it's weird to think about it and say that now because I was always the kid that had all the questions-- I had so many questions and the burning need to know the answers to them. I was just worried about what I would do with my life especially when I figured out that I was queer. I was stressed because I come from a religious Rastafarin family. So I think I'd just tell younger Koi to chill out and really enjoy being a kid. Because I feel like when you're a child, you don't really realize that that's the only time you'll get to be a child. I think it's important for us to recognize, especially as adults, that when we do eventually have kids that we don't make the same mistakes.

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

I think the only thing I'd want to say is for people to really start paying attention to what they say, and how they put it out into the world, especially with what's happening right now. It might seem like everything is chaotic. But it's really important for us to find community and ground ourselves in community and within each other. Because at the end of the day we need each other. We need human connection and I think that's the strongest thing that we have as humans is our connection to each other. So I think that now more than ever, it's important for us to continue to do that.

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After 30 years and over 100 cult fragrances, COMME DES GARÇONS PARFUMS 1994–2025 BY SIMONETT & BAER launches this month

December 17, 2024

“I have to add that the topic is, of course, an irrational one, because it's not art and it's not fashion. It has to do with scent, which is something in the air,” explains Dino Simonett, renowned art-book maker and designer/publisher of the new COMME des GARÇONS x SIMONETT & BAER book, which details 30 years of CDG perfumes.

“The moment you smell something is irrational,” he continues. “This book transports you and brings you to the idea behind the perfumes. People have gotten thousands of art catalogues from me, but this fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy, you know? Because everybody has this bottle; and that bottle smells like this on them; and this bottle I need; and all the memories and everything. I like it a lot that we made this.”

As fans and family of the world’s coolest brand prepared to gather at Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris to celebrate the launch of the book, our Editor-At-Large Paige Silveria shared some coffee and cigarettes with Simonett to discuss his wild trajectory, making books with Joseph Beuys and Tilda Swinton early on, and the importance of nonconformal thinking.

By Paige Silveria

This fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy.

Paige Silveria: Tell me about yourself. You make books.

Dino Simonett: My books are my art. Each book might be a painting or sculpture. And you should not do the same sculpture all the time. When you hike somewhere, you never should go the same way back home — this is something my mother taught me when I was young. In the same way, it's boring to make the same stuff all the time. So I try to find a way to invent my own language.

PS: This book you’ve made is really beautiful.

DS: It’s hyperrealistic larger-than-life images of boxes and flacons in an endless row presented on paper the thickness of a children’s book.

PS: I loved how it said in the press release that you woke up one Sunday morning and the idea for the book suddenly came to you.

DS: The backstory is that Remo Hallauer [COO of COMME des GARÇONS International] is a true book lover. We met at the Offprint book fair in Paris. And one day, shortly after peak COVID, this email came from him asking if I’d think about a possible collaboration with one of the young stars here — and no hard feelings, but it didn’t work out. So then, as it is in life, which is the essential thing, you have to have an idea. And most of the time, they’re not good enough. You have to have another and another and then you go, Ah ha! Perfume.

PS: And you’d already been pretty familiar with their fragrances?

DS: I’ve known this stuff since the beginning. I wore the first perfume they created. It was part of my life all the time, and I thought, It's so funny. There’s a connection with how I make the books: like two, three books a year, all collaborations and each is different. Just like their perfumes. So I immediately texted Remo.

PS: And what perfect timing, with the 30-year anniversary.

DS: Yes, but this was two years ago or so. I hadn’t had the jubilee in mind. It might not look like much, but there was a lot of work to do.

PS: Many of the advertisements and images weren’t archived, physically or digitally, right? You had to search all over for a good portion of the material?

DS: Well we also had to wait for the official deal to go through in the beginning. Adrian Joffe [President of COMME des GARÇONS International and Dover Street Market International] wanted to do it but he didn’t have the mind space at the time; they were about to open the Dover Street Market here in Paris. So we were on our own for a bit, developing the project from zero. We looked all over the Internet and tried to create the chronology. I had a young guy helping me. He kept reminding me to be patient and to continue to work on growing the book. The door was open, but we had to wait in front of the next room. So we took little steps to prepare ourselves. And stuff slowly worked out.

PS: And thank God for the Internet.

DS: Yes, because as you mentioned, there was no archive. We thought surely they’d have something in the basement. But no, that didn’t exist. At one point they sent us a list of all the perfumes so we had a clear checklist to manage. I had to become an expert.

PS: There are so many, over 100?

DS: Yeah, and at one point the CDG team was activated. It was like a machine and in the spring suddenly a load of stuff was coming. First we had to grow the grapes, then make the wine and then the grappa. And at the end, it's a really strong grappa. And so things came together, and then one day Adrian said, “All is fine, but Rei [Kawakubo] must now also approve it. This is how the system works.” But nobody had told me! So Remo met with Rei to show her the book.

PS: That’s a bit of pressure!

DS: She could have said no and we’d have to throw everything in the garbage, two years of work. There was indeed a little bit of pressure. But it was fine. She liked the book. Then at the end of this summer we met again and they asked if they could have some of the finished copies on 20 November in Tokyo. I said, “I’m sorry, what?” He was thinking that the book was finished, you know? I told him we still needed a lot of material to finish it. Sometimes it's nice though to have this pressure. It's motivating and thrilling when you finally accomplish it all.

PS: Let’s go back. How did your upbringing inform who you are?

DS: It has to do with nonconformal thinking. Most people think the same. And we’re constantly pressured as well, by everything around us to conform. You have to really fight to keep your head and so I had this upbringing with this rather eccentric mother who was absolutely nonconformistic in every way. She was resolute. Why should we follow the path of the masses? It was never my thing. Voilà.

PS: How were you in school?

DS: I was not so good at school. I was only skateboarding at that time. I was on the Swiss National Team. I even was here in Paris at a European championship when I was 15 at the Trocadero. And my mother said, “You are not going to school anymore. You need an apprenticeship. It makes no sense to send you to school any longer.” I was independent and had my first salary at 16.

PS: What were you doing?

DS: I was a carpenter making tables, chairs, all that stuff. All my friends went to high school with like 16-week holidays, while I had only four. And so it was really, really tough shit for a 16 year old. But I learned two important things. The first one was discipline; seven o'clock each day it started and lasted nine hours. And the second thing was precision; you have to do things right. People always said to me that the apprenticeship was good as I’d really use it for the rest of my life. And I always thought that was such bullshit. But actually, it's kind of true. And so anyways, the moment I finished my apprenticeship, the very last day of the last test, I went on the Interrail for one month and never went back to a carpenter shop.

PS: What’d you do after?

DS: I wrote a letter to this very super famous music guy, Claude Nobs who was organizing the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, telling him I’d like to work there that summer. I mentioned that I’d just finished my apprenticeship for carpentry. He phoned me back immediately after getting the letter. He said, “Oh you’re a carpenter? You can come right now.” He was renovating his apartment in Montreux. So I stayed and worked there alone while he was up at his chalet. I felt like Kevin McCallister from Home Alone in this completely furnished apartment. And then the festival started, and there was this guy from New York doing a large mural painting. It was Keith Haring. I had no idea who he was. We became friends. Then I met George Benson and Herbie Hancock. It started from nothing and then one thing comes, another thing comes, another thing comes. This is how I started, which is maybe not the natural way. But I was following my intuition and taking chances and putting myself out there.

PS: And you're going after what you have a passion for.

DS: I think that’s the best way to live one's life. It was like my own private art school. I met all the guys I was totally hot about. I met Joseph Beuys and told him I wanted to do an art project with him. I got his number and he told me to ask for his assistant. But I took everything for granted, what people said to me. So I had this phone number in Berlin. And I called the guy 20 times until this fucking meeting with Beuys finally happened. And we met and made a small collaboration art magazine called “Quer.” You just have to stick to the stuff.

PS: Wow. You don't still have one of those copies around, do you?

DS: I had one and I brought it to Remo at one of our meetings. Adrian saw it and immediately took it … I hope he gave it back to Remo. Adrian has a pile of my stuff that he wanted to see, so that’s good.

PS: Yeah, of any coffee table in the world for it to be displayed, his is probably in the top 10.

DS: So then I decided my dream was to be a film director. There was a film school in Berlin that I applied to. They only took about 18 people from 600. We waited all week to see this list on the wall for the final call back meeting. And my name wasn’t there. I was like, “Shit!” And then a week later, I received a letter saying I’d been accepted. Later the director told me it was clear enough with my application and the art magazine I’d sent that I’d be accepted. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to tell you that every young person that wants to go somewhere, all they have to do is fight. You have to get out of your house and your small town and your comfort zone and all that shit.

PS: I agree. So you’ve made films?

DS: I made a feature movie and went to the film festival. It was really amazing and everything, but I was not Tarantino, you know? So it’s the last semester and Tilda Swinton is supposed to teach a seminar. I really wanted to attend it. It would be the cherry on top of the cake. Then she postponed it once, then twice. The third time, I’m on the tube and there’s a woman in front of me with a newspaper that says that Tilda’s super mentor, Derek Jarman, had passed away. It’s the very Monday morning that her seminar is set to begin. And I thought, Oh shit. She’s not going to be there. But then she was there after all and it was a fantastic week. There were only five of us students and we all fell in love with her. And she fell in love with us. I’ve known her since.

PS: I can only imagine. How’d you make the transition into books?

DS: You have to find out what you're really good at. I had long discussions with this guru, an old guy who was a very diligent, very bright guy. I was really miserable, feeling directionless. He asked me why I wasn’t continuing with filmmaking. And I couldn't give him an answer. Then he said right into my face, “Probably it’s because you’re not good enough.” The message was one-hundred percent received. It was a relief; I'm not a bad person. This guy told me the truth, and I could accept it. And when you can do this, you can figure out what you actually want to do, what you’re actually good at. I started making books. I made one with another film director. And we visited Tilda at her hotel, bringing one to her as a present. As we’re knocking, I thought to myself, If I did another book focused on people in this business, it’d have to be her. And she opens the door, looks at the book and says, “Oh, I would like to have a book like this on me.”

PS: These situations seem unreal.

DS: I spent five years on her book, which was an enormous success. It included stills from all her films and launched it in different cities. Fantastic shit.

PS: And now you’ve just released this soon-to-be iconic CDG book.

DS: I've learned to be patient; things can take you years. This book with Adrian and Remo took two years and I didn’t even know if it was going to be approved! Follow your dreams as much as you can. It's not so important which dream it is exactly. If I see a step in front of me, I try to take each chance I get. This is what I wish for everybody, in whatever situation you find yourself, start to do something with nothing. This book started with just a simple idea. You can not find anything like this on the Internet, this compilation, this narrative. It’s something we had to bring together with enormous work. And here we are. I think in our digital, splattered times sometimes you have to make something which is real. That you can sit with and focus on in silence and really take time alone with it.