Karlie Kloss is among the stars in London for the British Fashion Council's Fashion Awards on Monday evening. We caught up with the Swarovski ambassador before the ceremony to find out what she loves about the awards, and what she has planned for Christmas.
Why do you think the Fashion Awards are so important for the fashion industry?
Well it's an exciting night for the entire fashion industry because it really celebrates so many different creators within fashion… There are awards that focus on supporting emerging talent so it's some of the biggest names in fashion and then also some of the next generation designers and names that become the biggest names in fashion so it's an exciting night!
What are you looking forward to most about tonight?
Selfishly it's when I get to see a lot of my friends! I feel like London is very central so with fashion spanning all four corners of the earth it's rare that we're all in the same room.
Do you have a special song when getting ready? What about styling tips?
This is more just a practical thing, whether it's going out for a night with my girlfriends or going to a big event, I always eat a proper meal before I go. Fashion dinners are generally not particularly focused on the food... So I make sure to eat a proper meal!
Maybe this is the mid-western girl in me, I'm always very practical about 'Okay do I have enough room in my clutch for my key and my phone and my credit card? Are my shoes comfortable, is my jewellery going to stay in place? Tape - you know wherever you may need tape... So I have a checklist I run through, is my phone charged?Practical things.
Who are you wearing tonight?
You will have to wait and see!
On working with Swarovski:
Before I became a part of the company and got to work with them so closely, I did not know how to properly say Swarovski! I had to do a voiceover of saying it properly so they could dub that over an advert I had done before. Nadia teaches people how to say it in an easy way, someone told her in a store in Dallas that they tell customers, 'Oh honey, yes its real easy you just say 'swore-off-skiing', like Swarovski!'
It's a company that has such presence all around the world, and I really mean all around the world. Everywhere I go, whether it's the airport or in Piccadilly Circus, NYC or on a bus it's a massive, massive brand that really has so many great creators behind the brand but it's a family business at its core, it's very much run in that manner so it feels really intimate and I really love that.
On Koding with Karlie - how she got into coding and why does she love it so much?
I'm a nerd, I'm a total, total nerd! Well, I like to understand how things work, even on the first shoot with Swarovski and different family members were there talking about the crystal cutting and I spent my lunch break fascinated listening to how they are at the cutting edge of using laser technology and special technology to do what they do. One of my hobbies was learning how devices work - my Uber app, Instagram, or even Google or how these things we take for granted, how they work.
What really put it together for me was meeting the founders and the creators of these companies and these apps and businesses, they were creating technologies that scales the entire planet, reaches so many people and creates tremendous value in a very short period of time. I was really fascinated by what they knew and what this secret language was that made it all happen and built it all, and it's code! It's essentially just a logic based language that's very mathematic but it's essentially a language and I basically wanted to learn a language.
Plans for Christmas
At home with my family, I plan on not leaving my house, not leaving my pyjamas for like … five days, at least!