Getting to Know UK Model Ulorin Vex

Photo by Phantom Orchid, Clothing by Bibian Blue, Hair/MUA by Angela Holthuis

In all her beauty she describes herself as a "multi-colored chameleonic pigeon girl."

You may know her as Ulorin Vex, the 5'8" vivacious UK beauty gracing the pages of various fashion and style magazines. Her name is Christiane and she has branched her career farther into the mainstream than many gothic and alternative models thus far. She is a multi-talented, well-versed, artistically rare beauty, with a creative and fun personality.

Christiane has been modeling professionally for over four years under the name Ulorin Vex. She has been on the cover of Photo Pro, Clubline Chicago, Creative Head, Salon Business, Flush, and as some of you may remember in 2006 she was on the cover of Gothic Beauty issue 21 (and also a Model of the Year nominee). Recently she has been in DP Arte Fotográfica, Elegy, Vogue and Bizarre.

Latex, costumes, and corsets fill her closet. She also has a thing for helmets and headgear in fashion. Fronting a unique and colorful style, she enjoys working with bright colors such as oranges and reds, but she has done a lot of work with neutrals and black as well. Mother of London is currently her favorite brand of clothing. She said, "I really love the deconstructed aesthetic."

Her high contrast vibrancy can be seen across the globe. Last June she was in the Mojave Desert for a photoshoot for a fetish fashion workshop. It was a very memorable photoshoot for her. "I can't remember exactly how hot it was but it was crazy, in a full-length latex dress, corsets and full makeup and big hair! It was probably the most hot and uncomfortable I've ever been on a shoot, but the clothes and location were so amazing I managed to keep going."

With a love her work and a love of art, she loves to travel and play dress-up. She takes her work as an artist and model very seriously and has fun doing it. "Being part of the creative process is important to me," she said. And there isn't much she can't do. She can do her own make-up to a good standard, work with and handle exotic animals and she has a vast selection of accessories and clothing. One of the most prominent qualities she possess is her ability to pose naturally in various styles and works of art. Her expressions are versatile. She has the ability to appear different from one shoot to the next and give a different impression with each work of art - it's a talent that marks a good model.

In her spare time she takes care of unique pets and she has a pet tarantula named Dorothy and six exotic pet frogs - an attribute to her modeling career as she has experience handling unusual animals. Also in her spare time Christiane has a passion for drawing. She illustrates under the name Malady Charlotina and her artwork can be viewed at maladycharlotina.com.

Keeping busy is what she does and in April 2008 she became a member of the Bloody Crumpets and joined Emilie Autumn on stage on her European Asylum Tour. However, despite her work in the arts, Christiane is educated in science. "I have a BSC (hons) degree in Natural Sciences, with my main subjects being Biology/Ecology with a bit of Archaeology thrown in," she writes on her Malady Charlotina site.

She has a vast variety of interest and enormous enthusiasm. This adds to the vitality of her persona. Due to her zest and revere towards various elements, she has a difficult time choosing a favorite of anything. "Most people who know me well know that I dislike being asked what my 'favorite' of anything is. It's a mixture of being bad at making decisions and liking too many things equally!" she said.

Christiane loves traveling outside of her London home. "Seeing new things is one of the best things about traveling." Italy, Prague, India and Australia are at the top of her list of travels right now.  She says traveling is among the perks of her work, "I love that I get to travel, and especially with my art nude work I get to see a lot of beautiful landscapes and wild places," she stated.  She talks more about her love of landscapes in correlation to nude artistic expression on her site. "I'm inspired by anything a bit unusual, creative, avant garde, strong colors, makeup and styling etc. I also love creating artistic nude images, especially those that explore human form and the landscape, but also enjoy the challenge of studio work!"

Being a very well-known alternative model has its highlights and Christiane spoke of hers; "I was really happy to be published in Dazed & Confused magazine a couple of times - it's one of my favorite style magazines from the UK. Having my picture on the side of a building in Italy for TIGI color was pretty cool too, though I never got to see it myself, people have sent me photos! Actually I still remember my first magazine cover very fondly too for Gothic Beauty!"

She has worked with numerous photographers and stylists, but she really enjoys working with Robert Masciave. He is a hairdresser and owns Metropolis Hairdressing. "We have very similar tastes and ideas about what we like in an image," she said.

The Joie de vivre of fashion is definitely personified by the vivacity of Ulorin Vex. Though only a child in the 80's she loves the style and wishes she could have been born a decade earlier. She looks fabulous in corsets and loves the Victorian era but said, "I wouldn't mind visiting Victorian England and a few other interesting periods of history, but I wouldn't want to live in them."

To see what Ulorin Vex is up to read her Live Journal at ulorin-vex.livejournal.com, follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ulorin_vex or visit her MySpace at myspace.com/ulorin_vex.

Photo credits from top: (Photo by Rebecca Parkes, Hair by Robert Masciave, MUA byGraziella Vella, Clothing by Samantha Cole London; Photo by Allan Amato; Photo by Iberian Black Arts, Clothing by Fairygothmother/Lulu & Lush; Photo by Iberian Black Arts, Clothing by Girl Armour).