VERONIKA KUNZ

PHOTOGRAPHY PAW GISSEL, AMGMT

STYLING ISAAC PÉREZ SOLANO

TALENT VERONIKA KUNZ

MAKE-UP & HAIR NICOLA FISCHER

USING CHANEL SS25 MAKE-UP COLLECTION

CASTING DIRECTOR SUNE PALNER, AMGMT

SPECIAL THANKS ELEONORA SUTTER & KUNZ MANAGEMENT

INTERVIEW CAROLINE RYAN

Veronika Kunz moves through the landscape of fashion with an enigmatic and somewhat roguish charm. There’s a three-dimensional, almost confronting feeling to the Swiss artist and model’s photographs –likely informed by her painterly approach to light and movement, her two disciplines feeding into one another in a sort of perpetual dialogue. The accompanying images offer insight into life in her new studio, located just outside of Basel. Inhabiting jewels and pieces from Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2025 collection, the following images see Veronika captured on a cold winter’s day in her new surroundings. Speaking to Veronika over a long and delightfully meandering call, we talk about losing time, gaining control, and the pain of parting with her pieces.

BELT, NECKLACE AND

BRACELET, CHANEL

So where are you today? You moved from Basel a few years ago, right?

Yeah, a lot of things in my life are changing. It's a lot, but it feels very good. I moved everything. So I just changed my studio and my apartment. [Turns laptop around to show part of the studio] I'm only going to show you the nice part of it.

The light is really beautiful.

Yes, in the morning to midday it's really nice. But the rest I will not show you because it's a catastrophe.

Have you ever lived outside of Switzerland?

I haven’t actually. I don't know, I guess I have a good family, a good connection here. And for now it’s not possible to move. If I could choose, if I could put my family in a backpack, I think I would move. I think I would probably go more into real nature. Here in Switzerland, it's not that easy to really go to the countryside. You need to be a farmer or have a lot of money.

Do you think moving influenced your work?

Yeah, definitely. I think moving means moving away from being stuck. Moving is moving, that meansa lot of change. A lot of change. I moved because I did not feel connected with myself. It was like I was in a vacuum –and actually for quite a long time, maybe a year, or more than a year. So I wasn't working on almost anything. I was sort of stuck and didn’t know how to create or to do something instead of consuming. I mean here also I sometimes feel that I still have a hard time to be in that energy, just to want to create. But I like that kind of work to start a new system and rearrange. It's also very creative.

So with your work, your art, then also your work as a model, do they exist in two different realms for you? Do you approach them separately or do you see that they have parallels?

For me, the idea of being a ‘model’ or being an ‘artist’ doesn't really say anything to me because at the end, it's always just me. So whether it’s me being alone by myself or if I am with others it’s all one.

Do you think fashion photography shares a language with art?

Yeah I mean it should, it's a medium of creativity, so it's definitely art. If there is substance to the photo, and if I can feel the substance. That's very important. Because if not, I have seen it a thousand times where it’s just okay.

Yeah, I guess it depends on the authenticity of exactly the work that you're doing in terms of a shoot.

I think art for me is when you can feel it. Because I believe that every object has a frequency. So that's also what I see in art from friends or art that I see (which is sometimes because I'm not really looking at art actually at all because I did not go to school and I have no fucking clue). For me it’s very simple. I guess because for my work it’s always something coming from the inside out. Reflecting on myself in a different way, psychologically.

LIPSTICK BY CHANEL

NECKLACE AND BELT, CHANEL

Yeah I mean, I guess with modelling it’s more of a shared experience. It’s a collaboration with your photographer, art director, stylist. Whereas I guess with your art it’s quite individual. So naturally, they become separate entities.

Yeah it’s only about myself. And by that I mean my connection or lack of connection to the outside world. Because that’s what I feel influences my art. How I feel in the world.

I read you talked about honesty in your work but how do you maintain that authenticity and honesty without the perception of others influencing you? Because as a model you're perceived constantly and that is an essential part of your work, but when you're working on your art how do you navigate that?

Yeah, I am honest. I think that art is about being able to really let go of what people might think. While creating, if the creating becomes the background to getting money or a career it’s not to work. I mean, if you’re very good at socialising or have a good background maybe it’s going to work. But to really, touch someone else in a way that they might have felt the same way once or to feel anything out of it, I deeply believe it only happens when you are able to be present in the creation of the work.

How would you describe your artistic process?

My process is very uncomfortable, to be honest. Because for example, last year I think I only did one piece. My creativity is very connected strongly with myself and the outside, and what my surroundings are. And my life changed a lot in the last two years. I realised who I am and for the first time in my life I could say, hey, I'm a fucking cool person. I'm not going to let myself have relationships or surroundings that are not good for me. Everything in my life changed except my family thank god, because we have very honest conversations. But the rest, my whole social circle changed and also my management.

Yeah I mean it can get diluting in a way, if you're not in an environment where people are feeding you so it sort of picks away at you instead?

Yes exactly, where people are taking from you. Once you do understand who you are, you realise what kind of relationship you want and for me I cannot lie to myself –well, I mean of course I lie to myself about some things that I can’t accept –but I try to always be very honest and I cannot sell myself out to something that I cannot stand behind.

What age did you start painting? Or were you always painting?

Always. My dad is a very inspiring and creative person. I mean, he's a hippie. He's not good with society or behaving how a normal person should be or paying taxes or anything. That's really not his thing, he's not able to do that. But when we were young he would never just give us a phone or something,he would always make us go outside or create something. We used to create little movies in the kitchen. He was always into creation and not consuming.

Yeah I think it's super important when you're growing up to have to just sit and make and do things and not just watch TV, but to actually work with your hands.

For many of the problems that we have in society, I think it comes down to that. I realised in the last two years, when I had this crisis, that I was just going out and buying shit. I bought and bought and I was not creating anything. I was just looking for distraction. Which is very easily done. With Instagram or TV but also with buying things. There are many ways to distract yourself. And then you’re not creating, which I think is actually the key. We know the theory but then in the real world, it looks different.

So are you actively trying not to consume and buy things?

Yeah. After I realised what I was doing, I learned that I actually haveproblems, like real problems. And if I reflect on myself with addiction, it's a big topic for me and I do try to find some ways to not get trapped. Because it is a trap. Just spending time on my laptop or phone is one of my biggest addictions.

BELT BY CHANEL

TOP, SKIRT AND BRACELET, CHANEL

LIPSTICK, CHANEL

When did you get into modeling?

Well, in Switzerland, I was 19, but I first went abroad when I was 24.

Did you actively pursue becoming a model or did someone discover you?
I was discovered on the street at 13. I did a show at the Basel design schoolbut my mom stopped me from doing anything else at that age and I'm very thankful for that. Of course at the time I had a big crisis about that decision, but I am very thankful because you need to be of an age to mentally handle all the situations that come up in fashion.

What is your experience like on set?

Modelling for me is still something dear to my heart and I still love it, but it has to be a collaboration. I mean, if I get paid enough money, okay I'm not going to say anything and I'll do whateveryou want. But if it's a case where they want to use my name and my face or it is an editorial, then I believe that you will get the best outcome when you are able to trust the universe and give control to all involved. It's very important to realise that that means responsibility falls to every person on that set. Because if so, then it's amazing, it's really nice and it also gives a lot of energy.

Because it is an energy exchange, right? And I guess it is in a way, also about control, whereby everyone has to relinquish some level of control.

Yeah I’m the last one to have control on a set [laughs]. But that’s good because if I’m under pressure I’m the last one that should have the control –being under time pressure is not a thing for me. But in my timeas a model, I have been in many situations where either the question of power is the problem, or where the photographer or someone who is in charge is young, who cannot handle the pressure (which is understandable). Or people who think that their point ofview and their aesthetic is the only thing that matters. If that happens, even still, sometimes, I can cry. It’s a horror.

I have been through many a time where I have done a shoot and they say oh it's really about you, we want your opinion, but in the end I’m the clown because they were like oh yeah do this, now can you please lie on the floor and now with your legs up and then suddenly the hairstylist starts to give me instructions and it becomes really hurtful because I don’t feel seen.

Yeah it becomes an immediate disconnect, it can be very delicate that tether.

Yeah, it is very delicate. Everyone on set has a responsibility. It's not going to work out if you just take, take, take.

Do you have a favorite shoot you worked on?

I mean I cannot say that I have a specific favourite shoot but I think my favourite kind of shoot is where everyone is consciously present and wants to get the best outcome from it. For example, I just had a shoot a few days ago where the hairstylist was so cool because she was consciously and completely there and was looking at the results. And when you have a person like this, just one person it can change the whole attitude of it all. It's also the opposite if you have a hairstylist –I mean, some peoplemight think, yeah okay the hairstylist it's not that important –but if you have one person in the room who is just taking and not giving this can fuck up the whole shit.

With the photographer, I try to understand their view, their vision. Which is a shared creation in the moment because we are connected. But if there is a situation where it's not a shared creation, I'm not going to give my soul for something that hasn’t earned it. Then I'm just going to do whatever the fuck you want, which is fucking shit. So let's do your fucking shit. I'm not like, oh, you want left? Okay, here’s my left.

Yeah, as a model do you still get a lot of people who sort of say “oh you're just a model”?

Yes, for sure. They think there's nothing in your fucking brain and you have no clue of light, or position. or whatever. I try to give you different kind of options of the side and maybe there is one in the beginning that you don't like but it's just one frame and it's going to change very quickly because then I will show something different. If someone is treating me like this, or the whole team is treating me like this, that shows me how they see me. They see me only as an object. I am just their fucking object. Because otherwise, they would be connected with me.

Yeah and I think that good fashion photography is where you can really feel that the model, the woman in the image, is the subject. She is not an object. But you can fully feel in an image when someone is clearly an object on that day, which can happen.

Yes I’ve seen this many times, actually. Many times it's like this. Especially with younger models, because a younger model is not going to complain. They will just give you the side, which you probably don't like. And then you say, oh no, please relax your mouthand then it's going to be horrible. I’m thinking now about how I see myself as a model, how people see me, and whether I am an object or not... and it happens a lot. That has definitely had a big influence on my art.

Do you think your art is, in a way, taking back some of that control?

Well, that's also an interesting subject.Art for me, whether that’s drawing or sculpture, is a medium to bring what’s inside of me, out. Sometimes I know in the moment I’m creating what that is because it’s from an emotion and then other times it's something that I maybe have not even realised yet. There are pieces I’ve created that I’ve looked at again after five years and I have to cry because it’s like I can feel the emotion for the first time again.

So yes, for me myart is actually not about anyone else, it's only me and how I am as a human being. And I have learned that I’m only going to give what I want to show, I’m not going to give too many pieces of myself away.

When did you start getting some level of notoriety for your art? Did it come further into your career?

In the beginning I had one or two paintings, and through images of my art, I think some people started to realise that I also do art. And I think these days as a model, it's really important that youhave substance, that you have something to say or to show. Because otherwise, very quickly someone else who is very beautiful, with a great aura, is behind you waiting.

I am thankful that now people who have substance are getting opportunities, as in people who have a personality not just beauty, but something also behind the beauty.

You have mostly paintings and some sculpture, do you want to explore more mediums?

I am actually very open minded because I mean I'm interested in everything. I don't produce often, not every day but more in waves, but because I have produced since I was quite young, I do have a lot. It's more difficult to stay on it and then not have too much choice because if you have too much you're stuck and you cannot decide. Well forme it's like this, because if I have too many... well, I'm a Libra. It's a nightmare for making a decision. Libra and ADHD.

That's also my boyfriend. He's Libra and has ADHD.

Oh really? Oh my god, that's horrible. I mean, sometimes I do feel sorry for the partner. Being ADHD is also fucking hard. It makes things twice as hard. I'm probably going to die sooner, because my heart rate is so high. That's the reason why I was late, actually. Because when I looked at my phone, I thought oh it's gonna be 9.30 and I looked at the phone, it was 10.06, and I was like, what? That’s not possible. I was thinking, maybe my phone is not right. I really lost the time, it disappeared somewhere.

Coincidentally the theme of this issue is ‘time,’ so on that note are you looking forwards or backwards with your work?

I think my work helps me to really get into a specific period of time because the feeling of that time is coming back and I can connect to my surroundings at that time and how I felt. I know there will be a time where my things are going to get shown and maybe sold and I don't know if I'm ready to give that away. I have never sold, until now, not even one piece. I have only given my art as a gift to people that I know.

But I have given some of my most favourite pieces away to people that I am not connected with anymore. And now I'm like, fucking hell, shit, a really important piece is now gone. Because of this, I have been asking myself what kind of a relationship I have with my pieces and how do other artists do that? If it is a piece that is emotionally connected to you and a specific time. If it was an analogue photography print, you can just print more.

Yeah, when it’s like a one-off emotional rendering of a specific time in your life it must be impossible to part with it or put a price on it.

It's part of the process, yeah, but I’m not there yet. But, I hope it will come.

LIPSTICK, CHANEL

EARRINGS, CHANEL

DRESS, CHANEL

If you see a printed photograph of yourself from a job that you've done, do you see that as an extension of yourself or as a character or part you play?

That depends if I am included in the creative process. So the thing is as a model, at the end you have really nothing to say. While on set, there is the creative part with the team and with the photographer where I do have a voice, if it is a shared creation, and then for my heart and for my soul it's like a gift from the universe. It's really healthy for the soul, heart, and body, everything. But thank god I'm older now because I have learned a lot and I know now to fight for my part of the room.

So would you say, since you started modeling, is it more that you've changed or the industry?

Good question. Well, I have changed so much. I have changed a lot. And I am actually still a very naive person. I'm very honest and I also believe in the good in people. So it has been a wake up call for me because I did wake up big time.

Do you remember the first garment you wore that changed the way you feel about clothes?

I don't think so or I probably don't remember because I come from a very simple, poor, household and we got everything second hand. But through working in fashion, I realised how much power a garment has. The quality of the garment, as well as the piece. I mean, I'm still surprised that a garment can have so much power. I know that because I have to wear a garment and make something out of it and with good pieces I don’t have to do anything, it’s really nice.

In high fashion there will be a point where you will put on something nice. So I have been in many really nice things. That's why I know how much power clothes have.

I think we’re just about running out of time, so as a last thing, what do you think is the greatest misconception people might have about you?

I think the greatest misconception about me is when people don’t take the time to really look. I actually feelthat a lot of the time I’m being missed –not truly seen. It happens so often. But when I am seen, I’m thankful. That’s something I’m reflecting on a lot right now. I moved away from the city and my surroundings because I felt disconnected there. I didn’twant to stay in a place where I didn’t feel a real connection. Now I’ve moved to this remote area, and it’s different. People aren’t just going to knock on my door –it’s not easy to get here without a car, so I’m more alone with myself. This is a big theme for me right now.

Okay, I think we’ll leave it there then.

Yeah I guess we have talked about everything that is psychologically and emotionally important to me and that is, in the end, the substance of my art.

ALL JEWELRY BY CHANEL