New York (AFP)

She had not run for ten years but at more than 60 years, the American Coco Mitchell, who was one of the first black models on a podium, returned to Fashion Week to support young creators and take liberties unthinkable for the youngest.

It was enough for him to put his hand on his blouse then to sweep the air of a nonchalant movement so that the public roar. In a split second, Coco Mitchell took control of the Barragan show in New York on September 9th.

Same contact, two days earlier, with the audience, delighted, during his visit to Christopher John Rogers. As for the third show she made this season in New York, Deveaux, Coco Mitchell has sketched some dance moves on Janet Jackson.

"I want to push a little slider," she told AFP, at home, in one of these small buildings typical of the district of Harlem, the "brownstones".

"I want to be remembered when I go by. (...) The air frozen, without expression, I do not know how to do it, you did not choose the right girl."

"What you see" on the podiums, "is gratitude" to have been able to live moments like these. "And people feel it, I'm not afraid of anything, the designer may not like it, it does not matter, I'm going to take a risk."

A "more than sixty years", only indication that she wants to provide on his age, the American Coco Mitchell has nothing to prove, she who started in the middle more than 35 years ago and parade for Dior, Saint Laurent, Armani or Versace.

In the early 2000s, she had chosen to leave the podiums.

"I felt like a slave," she says. But once back to catalog photos, as in its early days, in which there is "no creativity", according to her, the call of the parades it has itched again.

"So I decided that this year, I will do shows with young people," enthuses the one that was discovered on the street by Eileen Ford, co-founder of the prestigious Ford agency. "If they needed my help, I was available."

- "Racism will never disappear" -

His approach corresponds well to that of these young emerging creators, who strive to break with the formalism of the traditional parade by inviting their models to smile, or even to interact with spectators or photographers.

She was among the first black models to parade in the world, Coco Mitchell today observes with interest the wind of diversity that blows on fashion, especially American, whether it is age, color, or forms.

She sees openness, but also an interest.

"Economically," she says, "companies are finding that blacks are spending a lot of money on care, cosmetics and clothing" and are making a representation effort to attract this clientele.

She fought for the presence of black women or mestizos on the catwalks - like the model of Somali origin Iman, which she cites as an example - does not make any illusion about the state of society US.

"Racism is a strange animal and we live in the United States," says the one who started as a teacher. "It will never go away, it's part of people's DNA."

This impromptu return to the podium was so good for Coco Mitchell that she would see herself coming back next season.

"I started late, at 23 or 24, and no one knew how old I was, so I never think about age," she says.

"When I'm 99 years old, I want to have the quality of life that I have today," warns the one who could very easily pass for a fiftieth. "I want to be able to walk, run, with the mind intact, that's my goal."

© 2019 AFP