Mariacarla Boscono (May 2003)

Mariacarla was born in Rome on September the 20th of 1980, under the sign of Virgo. Today she’s the only Italian model who has an international success. With her thin body she looks like a blade of grass grown up too fast, delicate as a cloud but she has a character of steel. At the age of 23 she’s travelled around the world a lot of times, she’s walked on the smartest catwalks of the planet and for the “Donna sotto le stelle” show in Piazza di Spagna in Rome, she took a tumble that made her gaining the audience sympathy. Yes, because she, very professional, laughed and started again her regal descent from the Roman staircase.
It is said that under the sign of Virgo born the beautiful ones.
“No, I only knew that they are scabby, not beautiful.”
Is money important for you?
“I’ve got money in a young age and I still don’t really know what they are. I’m not a spendthrift but not even a tight-fisted.”
How did you become a model?
“A Roman friend of my mother went for dinner. He had seen me as a little baby and then he met me again when I was 17. At that time I’d like to be a ballerina, a woman writer, a polo player, not a model. But he told my mother: “Your daughter is very nice, may I shot some photos?” He sent them to Milan and they got to Piero Pazzi’s hands (who still takes care of me today) who soon said that I should model.”
Polo player? How did it cross your mind?
“My brother Francesco, who lives in the States, is a professional player and has his own ranch, and horses.”
How many brothers do you have?
“Two. Carlo lives in Biella (Italy) and is a great glider pilot, he flies with paraglider and twin-engined plane.”
You are beautiful, very beautiful. But you’ve got small breasts... is it a problem?
“I didn’t really watch myself in the mirror ever. I don’t tell myself “oh God, I’ve got small breasts or I’ve got a big bottom... I take myself as I am”
And can you be like this and be a model?
“In my opinion it’s the key not to be swept away by it when it ends. Beauty is ephemeral. If the beauty pattern changes, you cannot do a course to adjust yourself. And you can’t either make your own beauty pattern. There are a lot of things beyond beauty.”
For example?
“I’m a person that’s pleasant to be with, and this counts. Because when you have to shot photos from 9 in the morning till 10 in the evening, people you work with should have nice time with you. In short, you must have something to say: a personality.”
What is shame for you?
“Shame could be lots of thing, also an expression you don’t want to say. Shame as you mean now, that is nudity, doesn’t concern me. Because I think not to have been vulgar ever. I don’t interpret maliciously a naked bosom.”
How many languages do you speak?
“English, French and Spanish.”
First kiss: could you tell me about it?
“First kiss?! It wasn’t really a kiss. I was in London, at a friend’s house to learn English. He was 15, I was 14 and I didn’t speak a word of English, but I understood that he was kidding me and saying I wasn’t either able to kiss. In short, it wasn’t really love, but only a sort of challenge. And so there was this lips-touch...”
How was that boy?
“He had red hair. I wonder why, in my life, especially when I was younger, I’ve always have red-hair boys close to me. My childhood best friend, Erik, has red hair. And do you know when you feel that sorrow, and you don’t know what is it about, and then you understand you’ve fallen in love? Well, my first feeling like that was for a red hair boy. My first boyfriend had red hair, too.”
And your first time?
“I was 17.”
And was it love?
“Mostly we were fond of each other. We had been together for long time, more than 2 years. My first boyfriend, my first everything, and he was such a good person. It was kind. I’ve always had sex in a very confidential way, it has never been a dirty thing. I told it to my mom at once.”
And what did she say?
“She already knew it. They already know everything, don’t they?”
Do you like the beautiful ones?
“I’ve never looked for beautiful people. Although my current boyfriend is very pretty.”
Why?
“Every so often I think that beautiful ones are a little bit superficial.”
Have you ever been left by someone?
“Oooohhhh yeeeeesss. My second love. I’ve discovered passion with him, the raging love, but after one year he simply told me “bye bye”. I couldn’t believe it! What! I’d been so bad for months. But then life went back and now I say: thanks heaven!”
And does passion scare you?
“I think that nobody could make me suffer again. Let’s say I’ve almost made a barrier. With my current boyfriend there was big passion at the beginning, and then, obviously, passion changed into another thing. It is now three year since we stay together and he is, first of all, my friend, my lover, my confidant. He’s the person I love to spend time with, to talk with, make things with. But know I know I could be left, and I stand at attention.”
Does he have a red hair?
“No. He’s dark-haired, he’s from Valtellina, more than a photographer, I would say he’s a digital artist.”
What do you read?
“Elsa Morante, Isabel Allende, Coelho, Camilleri...”
Sports?
“When I have some time I go horseriding. And I practise yoga.”
How is New York?
“It is a big experience, but not easy. American culture is difficult to live, here everything works by credits, that practically are your story in the U.S.A. Do you rent a video from Blockbuster? If you don’t return it back on time, it goes to your credits, and if you are always punctual, you gain credits. When you credits are allright, you can live your life, but until they aren’t, you can almost rent home or get a car.”
Do you go dancing?
“I’ve done it, but with the work I do, you can’t. But I’ve never been a disco-girl.”
Future?
“I think about it more and more. I have a lot of ideas and none. I’m a little bit confused. I would like to have a travel mag that could instil feelings.”
Cinema?
“I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it, yet. It could be, but I would never make a movie without making an acting-course. Because, unless you have a great talent, you are not born as an actor. Moreover, an actress-model, they are so racist!”
I know you have a dachsund...
“Yes, she’s Kaja, she comes from a Bob Marley album, since I love him, his culture, and what he sings...”
Do you support soft drugs or not?
“I’ve smoked, but I don’t do it anymore because it gives me a great paranoia. And I don’t like doing what most today’s young people are doing, come home at night and their only thought is to smoke a hashish cigarette. I relax more with a plate of pasta, writing my letters, go for a walk.”
Favourite colours?
“I love colours, but I wear in black, my colour is white, but I love red, green, lightblue.”
Your fears?
“I’m afraid of the plane, I’m afraid of the death, I’m afraid that this life will escape from me and I haven’t had enough time to breathe it and appreciate it.”
I know you’ve made a wonderful journey to Mongolia...
“With the Trans-siberian. It was great, the best experience of my life, last place on earth still not global. There, it is not even ancient, it is prehistoric. There’s nothing. There isn’t a bath, warm water, food, there’s only a lot of cordiality, infinite landscapes, lunar, an inner peace. Marvelous. And besides, the freedom to be myself, Mariacarla, without New York, the taxi, tha car, the make-up, the money and all the silly things of today’s world. Being there with my sleeping bag and my boyfriend.”
Regrets?
“Only the fact that my life seems to be escaping me too fast. I would like to be bored, sometimes.”
Do you dream?
“Yes, a lot, in colour. Great stories, great movies. It’s me travelling, going, talking. In fact, when I get up, I’m almost more tired than I was when I went to bed, and I remember them very well. And if I liked a scene, I draw it.”
Are you good in painting?
“Definitely not. But since my boyfriend makes these very surrealistic photos, I like giving him ideas through the landscapes I dream.”
Are you superstitious?
“Before going on the plane I have to do my rite. I have to take with me my amulets, things I cannot tell anything about.”
Something you never separate from?
“An earring, my mother has the other one.”
Maybe you are a child tied to her mother's apron strings?
“Uhmm, maybe still a little bit. I cannot get along without hearing her, but I call her once a day, not more.”
Will you have children?
“I will have a lot. I have my theory, more or less, after all we’ve been created to do that.”
Plans?
“Now I have a non stop month of travels, fittings, shows, seeing people, never stopping, sleeping a little. It will be very tiring.”
How do you recover?
“I sleep for a whole week the moment it finishes, also if it is 1 p.m., I close in a hotel and sleep. Usually I get sick.”
Friends?
“Very few. Not because of the life I do, but because I live in New York, where people is pretty cold. I would not say they are false, but scared. They give you their cell phone number, you call them and even if they have the phone in their hands, they do not answer but make the answering service answer, then they listen to the message and call you back. They have no contacts, they do not talk, they’re very scared, and I don’t know why. My friends are the same I’ve grown up with, those of Rome.”
Do you know what is sorrow?
“Unfortunately I’m not lucky in this sense, although I’m young I’ve lost some friends of mine in a tragical and stupid way. I haven't understood the meaning of death, yet. I’m not religious, but when I’m afraid of something I talk to someone higher that I can’t name with God, Allah or Buddha. But it scares me thinking about this life that, someday, will finish.”