'What Does It Mean To Be Authentic Today?'

With three million followers on social media, top model Stefanie Giesinger is one of the biggest German influencers. She opens her life to the public – but there’s one line she won’t cross

- Iris Mydlach

It’s 11 a.m. on a calm, early September day in Berlin, at Café Schönbrunn, Volkspark Friedrichshain. The skies are clear, and it’s warm enough to have breakfast outside. Stefanie Giesinger comes around the corner, astonishingly slender, astonishingly tall. Her presence is relaxed. Like the city she’s called home for the past two years. Three years ago, Giesinger was the winner of a German modelling show in which her task was to go from being the wavering candidate to the favourite candidate and achieve high viewer ratings. Now these days are almost forgotten: the 21-year-old German/Russian model has since become a successful businesswoman in her own right.

Ms Giesinger, you have nearly three million followers on Instagram. Be it on the runway, in advertising or on social media, you are more present today than ever before. What is your strategy?

Stefanie Giesinger: My answer is very simple: I don’t have one.

No strategy?

If having a strategy means that I take pains to make sure my Instagram presence is on point or have an agency consult me, I’d have to say no. What’s the point? I just do my thing. I don’t think about whether I’m doing something wrong or how many followers I’ll get with this or that post.

What does it mean to be authentic today? Is it being open?

Definitely, I’m a very open person. But I think that’s just how it is these days. Being open is in. Just the opposite was true not long ago. The supermodels of the ’90s, for example, were shrouded in mystery. They were quite secretive. Since then, authenticity has become important currency and social media has made it possible to share yourself with the world.