Jenny Shimizu
The Asian-American model and actress returns to the Pirelli Calendar nearly 30 years after her Cal debut
What is your definition of beauty? What does beauty mean to you?
I think for me it’s more about… the comfort in beauty. We all get to this point [where] everyone starts feeling comfortable in their own skin. You can read it on people, you can feel it on people. And I think it has a lot to do with editing, taking away stuff, to really show the beauty, rather than just adding and adding. It’s definitely an inside job, and then we get to portray that on the outside as well.
Is there an artist, art piece, sculpture or any sort of art that really resonates as beautiful with you?
When I go to museums or I see art, I am so influenced by the feeling, it almost overtakes me, because I can never imagine being an artist and being so open in expressing yourself in that way and having everybody look at it and then interpret it in some way. It’s finding inspiration in everything, that I think is really the great art... for us humans.
When you close your eyes do you have a moment or a memory of beauty that comes to mind?
I had a distant aunt and I remember when she walked in she had Farrah Fawcett hair and she was carrying a purple bag. She had purple shoes and purple lipstick that all matched. And I was a little kid and it was amazing to me, this whole matching of the bag, the shoes and the hair. And I think that was the first instant where I was like, “What is she doing? That’s so cool.”
Is there a smell that you associate with beauty?
I don’t know so much with beauty but with good memories. Like the smell of the beach. Or the smell of certain foods and stuff. I guess the memory is of something or somebody beautiful.
How about a sound?
Hearing the calmness of the waves behind me, hearing the happiness of everybody that’s working [on the shoot], like the low murmurs and everything, that to me is appreciating being in the now. I don’t have a specific sound that makes me think, “Yeah, that’s beautiful” because it’s always changing in what we experience.
What would you say is important to add to the discourse on beauty right now?
I do like how beauty has become more inclusive. I think everybody starts seeing themselves in TV shows and movies and ads, and I think that’s really beautiful. When things are normalised, we don’t fear them. And then we don’t build hate. I was always like, “I’m just going to infiltrate” and then… once you’re in, then I’m not the lesbian dyke or whatever. I’m just Jenny, the crazy fun person, you know? And then people normalise and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, I’m not afraid. I don’t have to hate you”.
