Runway icon Omahyra Mota on art, androgyny & being Miguel Adrover’s muse

Wherever there is chaos, Omahyra Mota Garcia is the first to arrive and make it her own. Nearly 21 years ago, the androgynous model swanned down the Jean Paul Gaultier Couture runway in a dapper peacoat, a cigarette dangling out of her mouth, dark eyes darting around the audience. Immediately shoehorned into the archetypical ‘bad girl’ role, in every way the fashion world told her to conform, Garcia – with her penetrating stare and signature fade – did everything she could not to. 

Instead, the Dominican-born, New York-raised model became a chameleon. From the get-go, she was crowned the OG androgynous model, braving the world with her cropped haircut, acrylic set, and innumerable body piercings, and paving the way for all the bleached eyebrows and buzzcuts we see walking today. Being anything but herself was a sinful act, and her confidence became her ammo in a decade rife with waifish aesthetics.

One minute, she donned a bubble vest in Jay-Z’s video for “Change Clothes”, and the next, she just as easily transformed into a Gucci bombshell. Front row faces lit up as she walked for Sean John back in 2003, dripping in a cross chain, a black bandeau, and a cap. Omahyra became every designer’s sought-after model, walking for Roberto Cavalli, Oscar de la Renta, Moschino, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent, her distinctive look and no-fucks-given attitude enticing the lenses of famed photographers Inez and Vinoodh and Ellen von Unwerth. What she misses the most about the 2000s? Being able to whack the volume up and blast her favourite songs with the models backstage without any phones in her line of sight. Here, they were all at ease.

Omahyra famously gave shape to Miguel Adrover’s visions, swaggering down the cult designer’s catwalk dressed as a pirate. When words fail, Miguel and Omahyra speak in visuals. Both muse and designer refuse to pander to anyone when it comes to their art. They play to each other’s strengths, both finding kinship in their village upbringing. Miguel Adrover is a Shakespeare in his own right, utilising fabric scraps and reworking them into tales of a jungle trip gone awry. As his leading lady, Omahyra wears his designs like a second skin. There was a fearlessness in her eye when Miguel dressed her in a sideways Yankees hat and layered denim. An ensemble that merged her two worlds, the big city and the DR. Omahyra and Miguel simply use clothing as a labour of love, not as a means to fit in.

More recently, the model has stepped back into the limelight, taking on the role of Mugler femme fatale and intrepid Off-White space explorer. Her fading finger tats and bold red lip entranced when she walked the runway in a signature Thierry Mugler bodysuit earlier this year, and, though she’s now an industry veteran, there will likely always be a place for her on the runway – particularly as conversations surrounding inclusivity open up further. 

Away from the catwalk, she revels in her loungewear. Now, her clothing has become more utilitarian in nature: she wants to slip into something that can withstand her daughters’ rambunctiousness. She’s across from me wrapped in a sunburnt hoodie, wide-framed glasses perched on her nose. There’s a tropical plant that halos her, and she speaks with great animation about opening an arts centre for children in the Dominican Republic. One wherein she wants to offer free courses for kids to expand their arts knowledge in all facets; ballet classes, writing, painting, and pottery. The land has been purchased, she just needs the resources and open hearts to propel the vision forward. 

“I love any shoot I have done with Ellen von Unwerth, because she just lets me do what I want. She doesn’t judge you, she’s easy and the pictures are always amazing. Whenever I get to shoot with her, it’s a party. Lo maximo [the maximum], every time” – Omahyra Mota

Omahyra is fond of the whimsy. She admires the designers who possess the starry-eyed imagination that she witnesses in her own children. Miguel Adrover and Alexander McQueen were visionaries that influenced her to view the world in a new light. She observed this intimacy between designer and garment. Designer and spellbound fervour. It spurred her to translate her own inner worlds into paintings.

Omahyra overthrew the status quo. She continues to soar by following her heart. Here, she chats with Dazed about motherhood, painting, working with Miguel Adrover, and being of service to those in her home country.

In the 2000s, you spent so many days amidst the runway circuit. A show for Gucci here. Another one for Jean Paul Gautier there. Nowadays, what does a day look like for you? 

Omahyra Mota: Waking up at six in the morning. The first thing I do is drink my coffee. Strong. Negro. It’s my time to think before I start running around like a chicken without a head. I take the kids to school, cook, feed them, and help with homework. By nine o’clock, the kids have to be in bed. I wake up thinking that I’m running with another runner, which is time. I’m running and running and can see myself going forward and back, but time beats me. It beats me. Always. 

When you were a model in your 20s, did time still feel the same? 

Omahyra Mota: Definitely not. I couldn’t even make plans with friends because I didn’t know if I would have a job that day. Work is a train that you get on and you just go. I remember getting in the back of a cab, I was so tired and done. I was crying. My sister was next to me and would motivate me by telling me, “Nah, you have to get back up and do this!” 

One of my favourite photoshoots you’ve done is with you and your daughter in matching undergarments, white tanks, and that mohawk quiff you made your own. 

Omahyra Mota: Ah yes! That photoshoot! My daughter often comes up to me and says that people think she’s a boy. And I say, get ready babe it’s not going to end, just be cool about it. I tell her it's cute, you’re like your mommy. It happens to me all the time. Even now, people tell her, “Ask your daddy if it’s alright.” And we just both laugh about it. Beauty tires. At the end of the day, you grow up and realise it isn’t everything, there is more magic than just how you look. 

“Miguel [Adrover] is very passionate. He’s an artist before a designer. He makes what he thinks is cool, he doesn’t give a fuck about what a corporation wants” – Omahyra Mota

What was your most memorable photoshoot? 

Omahyra Mota: Wow. There’s a lot of them but one I settled on is the video perfume ad I did for Gaultier. I love any shoot I have done with Ellen von Unwerth, because she just lets me do what I want. With her, she doesn’t judge you, she’s easy and the pictures are always amazing. Whenever I get to shoot with her, it’s a party. Lo maximo [the maximum], every time. 

Did you ever have a “Look mama, I made it” moment? I know for some models it’s the first time they walk a Paris couture runway or land the Victoria Secret Fashion Show. 

Omahyra Mota: Everytime I did a job, I had that moment. Every job was a step up. Every job was me walking into blessings. I remember one time I came home and I got paid. I came home with a wad of cash, my sister and I started crying and dancing all over. I ended up giving it all to my mom. 

One of my favourite things you’ve said is that chaos gives birth to good art. In some ways art is how we heal during grim moments. Where do you feel the most at ease when painting? 

Omahyra Mota: For me, it’s more the time than the place. I need time in my own world with my music blasting. No interruptions. When you’re alone and it's just you, the canvas, and your thoughts, it’s like being in the middle of a shop and you don’t know what to choose. Even if I’m sad and I’m painting, even when I have no energy, I still need to paint and be in my world. 

You and Miguel Adrover both have similar tastes and mindsets, when you two come together, what is it like? 

Omahyra Mota: He’s very passionate. He’s an artist before a designer. He makes what he thinks is cool, he doesn’t give a fuck about what a corporation wants. I just went to see him a few months ago. You can visually see his eyes open up more when he talks about each piece he has. He’s like a genius architect. He showed me so many things that my mind came back from the trip and I was changed. There was so much fire. You can see how much a lover of garments and photography he is. I saw so many pieces he recently made, the world isn’t ready for him. Listen to me babe, he has files and files of creativity. When you look at those pieces, you question how his mind travels. That’s what I love about the creators I’ve gotten to work with. 

When you go on the runway, do you concoct a whole character for the hat you are donning that day? 

Omahyra Mota: I see it as a canvas. We [models] don’t know what the vibe is until the day we get there. The designer explains the story and you try to comprehend. You take tons of directions, you are collaborating with them to make their vision come true. In the shows, it’s better, because it’s live. Now, the character is not just frozen in the pictures, the character is walking. If the clothes make me feel like a pirate, I transform. I’m on the boat, grabbing the bottle. Or if I’m a Barbie va-va-voom vision, I give hips and sexiness. My job is to take the viewers to this world, so they can feel like they went there. The point for me is to make you a believer. Just like an art gallery, it’s the same thing. 

“If the clothes make me feel like a pirate, I transform. I’m on the boat, grabbing the bottle. Or if I’m a Barbie va-va-voom vision, I give hips and sexiness. My job is to take the viewers to this world, so they can feel like they went there” – Omahyra Mota

What do you miss the most about the Dominican Republic that the United States cannot replicate? 

Omahyra Mota: I miss a lot of the food. It’s a whole different ball game when you’re eating your grandma’s sancocho in DR. In DR, there’s more warmth and connection. People are more sweet, the vecinas [neighbours] come to your house, the kids are all playing without a worry in the world. People care for each other in DR. In New York, you’re just locked up in your apartment because you have to stay healthy for the sake of work. If you get sick and fall on the ground in a certain nice area of New York, people will walk over your body. If you get sick in the hood in the DR, anyone will come up and help you out. The people who give the most are the poorest, because they give with their hearts. I love the Bronx, I love Queens. When I left DR to come to the states, all of that liberty I had in DR was gone. Right away, I started missing it. Even Christmas is not as magical here. In DR it’s a huge fiesta outside, even for El Dia De Los Reyes. All the tios are drunk, all the kids are around playing with dirt all over their clothes. Sin dinero [without money], they are all happy. You’re broke, everyone’s broke, but it doesn’t matter because everyone is happy! 

What is the greatest lesson your children have taught you thus far? 

Omahyra Mota: Unity, love, and respect. You have to respect them individually and they will respect you as well. My goals have changed from when I was younger. Back then, they were more career-oriented. Now, I just want to do better. I just want to be the best mom for my children in all aspects of their lives. Be a better daughter, sister. I just want to be fucking better all the way. I’m walking in my path. I feel like I’m the best version of myself right now. 

Does being around your kids inspire you to be more curious? To look at life from their perspective?  To paint with that free-flowing imagination? 

Omahyra Mota: Kids have all this magic and it’s so contagious. Let’s say I have a shoot or a show to walk, I start acting like them. Kids help break the seriousness, they teach you to just breathe. When you’re too serious, you never know if you are saying the right thing. When you’re more comfortable, the ideas are flowing. Mas natural, menos forcado. [More natural, less forced]. 

You spoke about opening an arts centre for children in the Dominican Republic to expose them to the world of art. Seeing a child interact with art for the first time is something so pure and untouched. They escape into this world of their own making. Similar to watching a designer at play with their clothing. Or a model creating characters in their head when walking the runway. Why did you long to create these opportunities in your home country?

Omahyra Mota: My sister and I are starting this with our own money. We bought a piece of land in Monte Mayor in the mountains. The reason why we opened it there is for the kids and anyone else to have a place to express themselves with an arts education. Classes about poetry, ballet, fashion, pottery, music. We are going to bring the real teachers in so those kids can get that. In the Dominican Republic, you have to have money to take those classes. There is no other way to do it. I want these kids to have all the tools possible. They need to express themselves because it is important. We also want to serve food everyday, so all the students can eat. I know I’m dreaming big, but dreaming doesn’t cost anything. I was one of those kids. With those tools, they can run fast and high. They can help their families out. It’s a domino effect and I can tell you this, it is better than gold. If I get to work more, the more the place starts to become a reality.