In Israel, no agency wanted her, but Sun Mizrahi is the most successful Israeli model in the world Israel today

Let's start from the end:

the fashion week in Milan is over.

This interview takes place in a window of 24 free hours, in which Sun Mizrahi jumped in for a quick visit to Israel.

The next day you will fly to the photo shoot.

where?

It is still unknown, and all options are open.

A moment after landing in Israel, she received the news that she entered the list of the top 20 models of the "Models.com" website, and most importantly - she made it to the top of the list of prominent models of "Vogue" magazine for spring-summer 2023.

In sports terms - this is a gold medal in the Olympics.

In business terms, a lot of money and prestige.

In translation to everyday life: a few more years of hard work and living around the clock, which mainly include flights, luggage, hotels, fashion shows and photo shoots.

"I was shocked and in shock, and if I could scream I would scream. I sent Nir, my agent, a message that I wanted to cry and scream and shout with happiness. It's still taking me a while to digest it. I didn't believe I would reach this position. When I started working I didn't have that expectation. I felt like I was in a place Good, and I was hoping to get on one of the lists, but I didn't think I would reach the first place of Vogue."

"I feel that it's flattering and reassuring and a little lowers the whole competition thing. It gives confirmation that I'm doing a good job. I was hoping to enter the list of the 'Models.com' website because I had a good season, but the list of 'Vogue' was not in my mind and was not an option , and certainly not the first place. And here it happened."

In September 2021, the "hacking" of Sun Mizrahi was supposed to happen.

The agents in Milan bet on the Israeli model from Ramat Hasharon, but the Versace fashion house had other plans.

"The plan was to expose me to the world in a special Versace show, and after the exposure there to start working," she says.

"I was at the audition and they informed me that I was approved for the show. It was supposed to be the opening shot, and suddenly the day before they informed me that it wasn't happening and that they were canceling me. It was difficult. Not only for me but for everyone. It was difficult and shocking and I'm not sure I understood how much. If I was 18, I would probably be more disappointed. In retrospect, I'm glad that's what happened. I got my first Zapata that really prepared me for what's happening now. That's the advantage of being 24 years old."

The long-awaited breakthrough was postponed to the next season, to the beginning of 2022, but was postponed again after Mizrahi gained a little weight and girth.

"Yes, I'm very indifferent to it. A lot of people tell me that. I'm very nonchalant, because I'm also that kind of person. At first I had body tremors and cold sweats. Today I'm already at the stage where I enjoy it."

"I want to cry and scream and shout with happiness. I didn't believe I would get to this position. I felt I was in a good place and I hoped to get on one of the lists, but I didn't think I would get to the first place", photo: Shai Tamir

distant family

Mizrachi was born and raised in Tel Aviv, and at the age of 11 moved to Ramat Hasharon.

"My mother thought she would give birth to a son and planned to name me Sun, but I was born and she decided to keep it," she explains the special name.

"Even abroad, it takes them a few seconds to understand the name, but they actually like the Mizrachi one." There are quite a few celebrities in the world of entertainment: Evri Lider, Roi Bar Natan, Doron Medli, Elad Shimhioff, and more. She graduated with a degree in science, joined the IDF and served in Tel Hashomer as a liaison officer.

To try to understand her unique appearance, you have to go back to her roots. They Made of Yemeni, Moroccan, Kurdish, Syrian and Turkish genes. "My father is Yemeni and he is really darker, but I am less dark than him.

Abroad, it's hard for them to understand where I come from, and most think I'm Spanish."

She is the sandwich child of former footballer Alon "Haviron" Mizrahi and his ex-wife Red.

"I was a girl who was close to both of them, but dad was a hard worker, and when he came home it was a great excitement."

"Not really. When he retired at the age of 31, I was about 6 years old, so I didn't experience the fame. I wouldn't come to school and they would tell me, 'You are the daughter of Alon Mizrahi.' Today, when I say that I am his daughter, there is enthusiasm and appreciation."

"In the beginning they set me conditions and didn't appreciate my work. They asked to interview me together with him, because I'm not strong enough on my own. My father is amazing and I love him and I have no problem talking about him, but I'm standing up to myself and it pissed me off that they didn't understand that. Today I send him photos from shows and he is proud of me and shows me off."

"It's good for them, and it's good for me that they're good," she says.

"They broke up just when I got married. They found time for them (laughs). It happened when all the children were grown up. In the end, we all just wanted them to be well, and once we understood that, everything went fine. Since they divorced and since we all left the house, our relationship even Better. There is something about distance that connects more. Because we are far away, we are more concerned about creating the connection and maintaining it."

She has two brothers - a younger brother, Tohar (20), a soldier, and Lin (26), a police officer in the past and an eyebrow stylist in the present.

"She shapes my eyebrows and there is something to work with," she says.

"In the world of fashion, eyebrows are important today. As a child, I was bullied, and my mother says that they were thick, and not in a positive way. Nowadays, in most of the shows I've attended, the makeup artists have commented on my eyebrows, and as soon as I sit down in the chair, they tell me, 'Great eyebrows, because the reference to the show It's eyebrows'".

Alon Mizrahi and Orit, photo: Or Gefen

Two years ago she married Aviv, her first partner, whom she met through mutual friends seven years ago when she was only 17. When she is in Israel they live in Ashdod with his parents.

"We rented an apartment in Ramat Hasharon and suddenly I started working and flying a lot. He was alone for a long time, we left the apartment and started thinking about what to do next. Soon we will both move to Paris together, but until then we are sleeping with our parents."

"He accompanies me, he comes with me most of the time, manages the whole financial matter and supports me mentally, which is perhaps the most important thing in this story."

"He is extremely proud of me, happy for me and having fun with me. He is the most supportive husband I could ask for and he is very supportive. At first, when it was more difficult for me, he would travel with me until we realized that I was flying once every two days. This is happening less and less, and we are currently staying with his parents." .

"stamp".

"Soon we will move to Paris together. The center of my life right now is in Europe. Even so, I live on suitcases and flights. I want to try to create some kind of routine within this thing."

"No. In high school I wasn't one of the prettiest in the class, but really not. I was a normal girl. Another one in the class who didn't attract too much attention," she says.

"Just before I enlisted in the army, it started to seep in, because they kept telling me that I was tall and thin and suited me. I signed with an agency, but nothing happened with it for a year. Before my release, I tried to revive it again, and I applied to almost every agency in the country. No one wanted me. I kind of gave up at a certain point. I'm not one of those girls who dreamed of being a model from the age of five, and I never felt like the most beautiful girl there is, but I wanted to gain experiences, and maybe a little income too. But not beyond that, and certainly not everything that's happening now. As soon as they said I didn't give up then, but my mother actually insisted that I could model, but every mother thinks her daughter is the most beautiful and I didn't really care and let her go."

"My beauty is not classic, but the fashion world has changed and today people are more open and understand it. There is something about this roughness that catches the eye and actors want it. In the shows I attend you see all the styles, and sometimes even in an extreme way. In one show I attended they increased My ears are in the pictures."

Eastern Sun, photo: Sam Rock

A big trip and fashion studies

After many rejections, she decided to go on a trip after the army with the one who was her partner and is now her husband.

They traveled in Mexico, Colombia and Panama, when she returned to Israel she recalculated her route.

"I came back and thought about what to do with myself. I decided to try to get accepted to fashion design at Shankar. Three weeks before the exams I prepared a portfolio," she says.

"I knew that if I studied it would be something I loved, and I was always attracted to fashion. I was accepted, and during my studies many students asked me to take pictures for them. Ofir Abgi, who is a designer and also a lecturer, also offered me to take pictures for his brand and I agreed. I got there and there was no makeup or hair And not a photographer. He took the photo himself. But there Nir saw me and turned to me."

Nir is the owner of the "Inch" agency, who recognized the potential and insisted on it.

He says: "I also studied fashion design in Ofir's yearbook. I saw her pictures at his place and I asked him who she was. He told me, San. I told him, San Mizrahi? He asked me where I knew her from. I told him that she was at my audition and I said She didn't. I asked him for her number and contacted her."

Sun: "He sent me a message on Instagram and I was in the middle of a test. After the test I told my girlfriends about his appeal. I was no longer in that mode and they told me: what do you care, make money. He courted me for three months and I set a lot of conditions. I felt that we would sign again and they would tell me That I'm stunning and in the end nothing will happen and I've already used up this place."

"True, but I was already tired of it and I was deep in studies. The world is huge and there are hundreds and thousands more in it who want more than me. Why would they take me in particular? And that's something I ask to this day."

Mizrahi abroad. "A model like all models", photo: Nikki McClarron, Daniele Oberrauch

Polaroid photos of Milan

The first jobs she got were in Israel.

Among the first to identify were "Factory 54" who jumped on the bargain and shot a campaign with it.

"I started working a lot in Israel, and the more jobs I had, the more I was absent from my studies. Nir spoke to the head of my department and told him that something was starting to happen here and I decided to stop my studies."

"After some work we did here, we took Polaroid photos and sent them to Milan.

Out of ten agencies we contacted, eight gave us a positive answer.

After they expressed interest, we had a Zoom call and they immediately wanted to close.

After we closed in Milan, we continued to other agencies, and they advised us with whom we should sign, with whom they work better, who would know more about working with me, and we listened to them."

And so, the model who was rejected by most agents in Israel is currently managed by six agencies around the world and dozens of people work only in managing and promoting her career.

"Each agency has several people who work only for me. It's not like in Israel there is one buyer who works on several models, but several buyers who work on options for me, but there are two central buyers in each country through whom everything goes and they pass it on to me. Every job that comes to the agency is checked in terms of the work herself, budget and constraints".

"I photographed for the 'Moncler' website, and the second job was the campaign for Blue Marine (a brand that received renewed recognition in the second season of "Euphoria").

When they sent me this option I was shocked and extremely excited, but no one was enthusiastic with me because in Israel they don't know this brand and now it's Shus."

"We said no a lot. What is defined as 'commercial' in Israel is not high fashion and appreciated abroad.

There were also expensive brands that I refused several times, because they are low-end brands."

"If it conflicts in terms of the schedule, then we take the option of the more equal brand. At Milan Fashion Week, they wanted me at 'Max Mara' And in 'Discord' and they were one after the other with an hour difference. There was a van that waited for me and took me quickly from show to show. We were organized quickly and the show was delayed a bit, but I was both."

"She was good, and today she is very good. I also practice all the time" (pulls out a book from her bag).

One of her highlights in the past year was when she was chosen to open the show of the super designer Jackmus, a show that was widely covered all over the world.

"I was worried that they might only want me for measurements. I had a reasonable and unsettled feeling. I think this is the first time I didn't feel good," she recalls.

"Suddenly I got an answer from them that I was in. They flew us to the south of France, and there the show took place and they took us to rehearsals. I remember all the models were standing, and the producer comes in and asks who is Sun. I tell her, 'I am.' She tells me, 'You have the The honor to open the show.' I say, 'Wow, oh my God.' I look at the mountain we're going to walk on, and it's a real mountain. His are always very talked about. There were models there who were much more famous than me. It was crazy excitement. I think all the hard work, and all those years of being rejected, came down to this moment. I thought maybe I was just another model for his measurements, and there were iconic models, and everyone They choose me. It was amazing."

"Really? You know what went through my body? What tremors? It was a walk that never ends. The route was forever long and I felt like I was there for two days, and when I finished I immediately texted Nir that I was going too fast. Today when I'm on the route it's the best meditation I can have. These are the moments The only ones in my life that I don't think about anything."

"From that day they started inviting me repeatedly for six months, including for his campaign in collaboration with Nike. His show was the confirmation of everything we hoped could happen with me, and it happened. I remember even after I started working I told him, if I understand what they see in me , and if I find out why I am, I will be a millionaire. But it turns out that you see."

"I was at a casting for Louis Vuitton. They asked to see me, but came back with a negative answer. It's okay, because I need to know how to accept no as I get yes. Today I'm no longer stressed. I'm the right size and good for me, and I do what I can, And if they want me, they want me, and if they don't, then they don't. Today they already know me and there are already acceptances and I feel more comfortable, but at first you come to the room and you see 200 girls and you immediately start comparing - this one is prettier, this one is thinner, the one with cheekbones, The one with lips - and after I leave the room, I start digging for myself: how I walked, how I talked, and if they liked me or not. Until I'm on the runway, nothing is guaranteed until the last moment."

"No, and it's very surprising, because I'm the clumsiest person you'll meet in the world" (picks up her skirt and reveals a huge wound on her knee).

"I left a show and fell flat on the floor in the street. I walked a little fast and fell awkwardly. It hurt a lot. Lucky there were no paparazzi there."

"There are girls who don't have that and they walk badly, but I was fine from the beginning and we improved it. When I arrived in Milan I bought heels, I came to the agency and we started working on it. Moving the left hand less, looking more strongly in the face and all kinds of other comments. The idea is as if I walk down the street naturally, even though none of us really walk down the street like that."

On the left: as a baby in Father Alon's arms.

Right: older sister Lynn, photo: from the private album

"Gets up and asks: Where am I?"

The last fashion week was a final confirmation that she is not just a gimmick.

Within one month she participated in 22 shows in four countries, a high number even for supermodels.

"I landed in Milan, and already on the first day I had 14 auditions. A driver was waiting for me in the field and I didn't even leave my luggage at the hotel," she describes.

"I arrive at the place, wait a bit outside, enter, go, take a picture and wait for an answer. I live on suitcases and not as a cliché. When I wake up in the morning, I need a few seconds to remember where I am today."

not simple.

"Modeling is hard work. Much harder than many jobs I've worked in. I've been working from a very young age. I was a saleswoman, I was a babysitter for three children, one of whom was three months old when I was only 16, I used to do gel polish and I was a host, and I know To tell you that modeling is the hardest, physically and mentally. The audience eventually sees me on the runway relaxed and beautiful, but in practice this month I lived on eye drops and vitamin C because I finished measurements at two in the morning, and at five in the morning I arrived at a show that only started at 11. The whole day On the move, with makeup, hair, on heels, and you need to look as fresh as possible."

"I remind myself that I chose to be in this place and appreciate my achievements. It's very hard for me physically, it's hard for me alone, it's hard for me with my luggage, and I complain even when I'm not alone. But I also remember that I'm making history and I'm experiencing things I never dreamed of."

"When I started modeling and I was alone a lot, I would comfort myself with food. I have a slight addiction to sugar. I gained a little weight, but I realized that it was my momentum and I hired a nutritionist because I have the rest of my life to eat whatever I want. Even now I haven't deprived myself of the things I love, but In the right dose. I was never one of the thinnest people out there and I didn't start out with the perfect measurements. When I gained a little more it became noticeable. They told me: 'San, you're perfect, but you need to trim your hips a bit.' I know I ate well. I felt it in the measurements and I was careful."

"After I got the first job, I asked how I was going to get the second and third and how I wouldn't be a passing gimmick. People think that if you're thin and beautiful, you come and walk ten steps back and forth and that's it, but really no, it's much more than that. Now I've finished the shows and it The relatively small money, but the big money is in the campaigns,

Nir: "She did 22 shows this season and each show costs 5,000-1,000 euros per show, which is a lot for one month."

"When I come to the show, I'm a model like all the models and we're all on the same level as far as I'm concerned. We all come to work and don't come to a fan meeting. Even Bella Hadid, let's say, comes to work because it's her job and we all apply makeup together and remove the makeup together. Obviously, when they go out, the paparazzi treat her more , but when we work we are all equal."

"When they ask me where I'm from - I immediately say that I'm from Israel and the responses are amazing. Either they tell me 'Wow, I really want to visit there', or they tell me 'We were there and the food there is really good.' to ask me questions, but even then it was a respectful conversation of wanting to know and go deeper and not an argument. Last week I met one of the cast and told him I was from Israel, he told me I was the only one representing Israel, and he started talking to me about Shiraz Tal who worked a lot abroad In

her time".

"Most people in Israel have no idea who I am. It's also a bit nice, but it's also changed a bit. Let's say yesterday - I was hanging out with a friend and he told me that a lot of people look at me. The fashion world in Europe, the knowledge and familiarity of what's happening here versus what's happening there, are Completely different. Let's say, when I leave a show there, photographers stop me and ask to take my picture and shout at me. There, all the designers, make-up artists, actors and photographers know me."

Do you have red lines?

"I don't have very clear red lines. I do what feels comfortable to me at that moment. My agents know that I don't do nudity or see-through shirts, unless there's a nipple cover. I will, but it depends on a lot of things. It can be artistic nudity , and if it feels good and justified to me, I will do it, but so far I haven't done it."

If they invite you to open a display of housing with a transparent shirt?

"Maybe yes, because it's very classic and doesn't convey something cheap. Let's say at the 'Aria' show they dressed me in a low mini skirt and put triangles on my nipples and I felt uncomfortable with that. I approached the dresser and told him in the nicest way that I was uncomfortable and you'll see the It's also in my walk. They immediately said there was no problem and replaced it for me."

"Yes, but if they love someone, they will insist on her and find her a different look. They will not burn her for exposing her nipples, although abroad it is more common, but they will understand the logic and will not force anyone to go with something she does not want.

"I don't take pictures with transparent clothes, thongs and provocative underwear.

It is important for me to feel comfortable.

Maybe in a year I will feel more comfortable.

at the moment, no".

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