"I was once stranded on a broken-down boat in shark-infested waters in the middle of the Indian Ocean for five days before we were rescued while doing a 'Vogue' shoot"

A confession of glamour colliding with mortality, the line compresses two opposing worlds into a single image: couture and catastrophe sharing the same horizon. “Shark‑infested waters” summons a primal, predatory ecosystem, while “the middle of the Indian Ocean” widens the frame to vastness and isolation. The broken‑down boat is the failed technology of human control; five days measure out the slow passage of fear and endurance. Set against the polished mythology of a Vogue shoot, the scene becomes a study in how fashion chases beauty to the edges of the map and sometimes tips into the abyss.

The story rewrites the usual narrative of editorial invincibility. A shoot implies choreography, lighting, and perfect timing. A rescue implies luck, vulnerability, and chaos. Between them lies the gap between image and reality: the cover will show serenity or drama on command; the memory carries salt, heat, and the sound of water slapping an inert hull. It hints at the industry’s appetite for spectacle, remote locations, untamed nature, while exposing the human bodies inside the spectacle, suddenly unstyled, subject to weather, hunger, and the unknowable movements beneath the surface.

There is also a quiet assertion of professional resolve. To continue speaking of the ordeal as part of the job, “while doing a Vogue shoot”, suggests a career that absorbs danger into its lore. The anecdote becomes an emblem of survival and a critique of the machinery that made it possible: the logistical risks, the competitive drive to outdo last month’s backdrop, the thin membrane between adventure and hazard.

Ultimately it is a reminder that the ocean does not care about iconography. The same water that reflects fashion’s fantasy can erase everything human in a moment. Being rescued after five days is not just relief; it is an unmasking. The camera’s frame is temporary. The world beyond it is immeasurable.