Meet the Model: Julia Stegner

I GREW UP IN THE SUBURBS OF MUNICH. When I was six years old I walked to school on my own with another kid – it was that kind of town. You could visit farmers to get your milk direct from the cow, and we were really close to the mountains and lakes so we did day trips to go hiking, but we’d also go to museums in the city. I feel like I had it all.

WHEN I STARTED MODELING, I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING. I get very nervous, but castings were all the same to me in the beginning, so when I met Steven Meisel for the first time I didn’t know how important he was and I wasn’t scared to talk to him. Things happened straight away for me, it wasn’t much of a struggle, and sometimes I wonder if I appreciated it as much as I should have because it just kind of fell into my lap.

IT WAS DIFFICULT BEING A YOUNG MODEL. There were times when I questioned whether I could do it anymore. It’s not a complaint about the fashion industry, it’s more about how I took it, but I definitely struggled to deal with rejection. When you’re 18 or 19, a little insecure and the way you look is the reason you didn’t get a show and all your friends did, your mind goes a little insane.

WHEN I BECAME A MOTHER, I took [things] very slowly for nearly two years and turned down most jobs. Now I appreciate modeling in a whole different way. Before it was just work, now it’s work but also a vacation in a way; I get to be something else aside from being a mom, which is a full-time job. It’s a nice distraction from what I do on a daily basis.

DAY TO DAY I’M A JEANS AND T-SHIRT KIND OF GIRL, but I love putting on a nice dress and being girly. Heels aren’t my thing though, partly because I’m such a giant – I’m 6ft 1in tall. I’ve always been the sort of person that makes herself smaller anyway, but when I go out to fashion parties and I have to wear heels, unless there’s a lot of other tall people around me, I end up crouching down because I want to be the same height as everyone else.

TOM FORD PUT ME ON THE MAP. He saw me in a casting for Gucci and I think it was my bangs that persuaded him to book me and made it all happen. At this point my bangs define me and I think that even if I wanted to grow them out, I couldn’t.

I DO PILATES FOUR OR FIVE TIMES A WEEK. I’ve been working with the same teacher, Andrea Mitchell, since 2011 and I love it. She works around me and my body and its injuries – it’s such a great workout and I don’t think my body has ever been as toned. I used to do SoulCycle once a week as my cardio workout before I had [my daughter] Emma, but I have to admit that since I’ve had her I’ve only been twice, so I should probably start up again!

Follow Julia on Instagram @juliastegner