IN HER STRIDE
She may be a top international model, but medical student Julia Nobis’s passion lies elsewhere.
She may be a top model, but medical-science student Julia Nobis’s passion lies elsewhere.
You know it’s September in New York when Madison Square Park is filled with people sunbathing before autumn truly sets in. And in a city with a higher than average proportion of beautiful people, it is also when tall, lithe models – noticeable not only for their physicality but their numbers – can be spotted walking to and from castings and fashion shows among “ordinary” citizens.
Among them is the particularly tall, lithe – and very Australian – Julia Nobis. She strides out of Skylight Moynihan at the end of a fashion week show with a coterie of models who are followed by photographers. The photographers have lingered at the backstage exit waiting to take the perfect street style image.
Ducking and weaving, I follow Nobis to a subway station. A photographer with a Dictaphone catches up her to ask what she’s wearing – model off-duty style is a staple for fashion content purveyors. “The T-shirt is from the internet, the shorts are from Australia,” she says, apologising for being unable to provide more information.
Nobis is not like the other models who trade in their fashion choices and social media profiles for coverage. “My agency tried for three years and hated the fact that I didn’t have Instagram,” she says, once we’re settled in a SoHo cafe. “But now they kind of like it, because people think it’s cool.”
Not being like the others has set her apart – the cool marker is ratified by her steadfast determination to do what she wants, how she wants to do it. Outward appearance plays a part too, but there are many models beating the same path. It takes a bit more to rise to the top and stay there, as Nobis has done. A model icon in the making, she is one of the most successful models in fashion at the moment, renowned for her punctuality and work ethic.
“You can sort of tell the girls who have just that one big season and you’ll never see again,” she says. “Sometimes it’s the personality, sometimes it’s the attitude. Sometimes, you get it completely wrong and they’re still here three years later. It’s taste, that’s all. And a lot of girls just decide to leave themselves.”
She would know. Now aged 24, she has been modelling for seven years, a longer career than many in the industry. Working all over the world, she has been flown to far-flung places for shoots – not that she has seen much of the cities. “I’ve been to Tokyo three times and I’ve only ever stayed in the hotel, really. I was in Istanbul shooting for that day only, and left the next. Belgium, I’ve done that as well … been to Hawaii.”
Friends back home in Australia rib her about her job, “because it’s so far from my normal character. I’ll be telling a story and mention that I was hanging out with Victoria Beckham and they’re just like: ‘Jules, listen to yourself. You have the weirdest life.’” (If you were wondering, Posh Spice is “one of the funniest people I’ve met”, according to Nobis. “Super-dry. Sharp as a tack.”) It wasn’t meant to happen like this. When she was spotted at a bus station in Bondi, Nobis was in high school, dreaming of becoming a doctor rather than a model. Success in modelling was assured though, when she was soon cast as an exclusive for Calvin Klein’s show in February 2010. Exclusives are negotiated so the brand gets the cachet of introducing a new modelling face – it’s their way of putting bets on who’s going to make it big.
I point out to her that on average people stay in the same career or job only a few years at a time – the millennial generation is notorious for flipping and switching. “I guess the fact that I can do two things at once has definitely helped,” she says, referring to her simultaneous university study of applied medical science at RMIT. “If I wouldn’t have been able to study at the same time I probably would have left a long time ago. I’ve handed in more than one assignment on the plane’s WiFi!” Her friends in fashion nickname her Dr Nobis. “School has been the priority, and I’ve cancelled plenty of jobs for it. Last season I had exams during the Paris shows so I was cancelling stuff left, right and centre. Everyone totally loves the fact that I study until it means I can’t work with them.”
Buzzing with a low hum of mature resolve, she is a pro at harnessing her physicality – a porcelain stillness – to showcase an imperial bearing in front of the camera. “I’m hyper-aware,” she explains, lessons learnt from modelling with Steven Meisel, who places mirrors around the space to help models angle themselves better. But Nobis was never the kind of girl who liked fashion. “I’m quite funny with all art and creative things because I’m a scientist and so I really like my practical. I’m the worst person to take to an art gallery,” she says. “I find the fashion world quite weird because I’m not sure about the idea of telling people what they should wear, but that’s being really hypocritical because I literally show people what to wear – it’s on my body!” She appreciates and respects it now for what it is, the labour, the hours, the focus and how other people perceive it. “Modelling is my job and a job is a job is a job,” she says matter-of-factly when I ask her about her career longevity. “And why not keep on doing it? Strike when the iron is hot.” Models.com has dubbed her an industry icon for her omnipresence in fashion. “I hate seeing pictures of myself, but you do always get excited as to how it’s going to end up.”
Her approach to her career is reasoned. “I can never throw in the towel, because to me that’s giving up.” But with the possibility of medicine beckoning, she just might. “I want to travel, take a break and see the world,” she says. She has worked continuously for seven years, 14 seasons straight, a staggering number for many models. “But if something comes up, if it’s in the holidays, if it’s right, then sure, why not?”