Vagabon and Vogue (Interview)

Vagabon, the multi-instrumentalist otherwise known as Lætitia Tamko -- was one of 2017's biggest DIY success stories. In multiple ways, including breaking down stigmas and stereotypes within the fashion industry, she has proved herself to be a truly amazing artist. Her debut album featured guitar-and-drums gut punches like "The Embers" and "Cold Apartment" -- written early in the process -- alongside the last track recorded, “Mal á L'aise,” a sun-kissed sound collage made entirely in Logic production software. The young artist has made such a statement in the modeling and fashion industry, Vogue Magazine has taken the liberty of interviewing her.

“I feel most beautiful with no hair, looking like every Cameroonian woman who I grew up with,” says Vagabon, née Laetitia Tamko, a rock musician whose buzz cut is customary in her native country in Central Africa. But in Harlem? Tamko adopted waist-grazing braids when she moved there as a teenager.

​“But I think it’s important to show my unconventional face and weirdly shaped head for young black girls who don’t have much access to seeing themselves as beautiful. I’m saying, ‘Hey, I’m still feminine.’ ”

Before sharing the stage with the likes of Frankie Cosmos, garnering glowing reviews from industry critics along the way, Vagabon studied engineering in college.

“[I was] kind of just dying in physics and math” which isn't too out of the ordinary nowadays and there's nothing to be ashamed of.

​In fact, it wasn’t until Vagabon saw her first live show at age 21 that she thought to herself: I can totally do that. 

​And against all odds (including her family’s disapproval of music), Tamko began carving a place for herself in the underground music scene. It was a great place to perfect her sound—and her beauty look. “As a double-engineering student, there was not much space to serve a look."

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Now, years past the engineering phase, serving looks is part of the job. And since evolving her set to include a few more instruments (drums, bass, and synth), she’s also thrown some bright cobalt blue eyeshadow and fierce red lipsticks into the mix. Her recent obsession? Orange. Orange Fenty Beauty lipstick in Saw-C on her pout, on her lids, on her cheeks, everywhere. As for her less front-serving, more soul-searching beauty routines? Vagabon swears by preshow peppermint oil.

“A little on the shoulders will change your life,”
she says of the effective emollient that also lends her sculpted arms some stage-ready shine. “It is a really sacred ritual for me, and brings me to a place of calm, which I need before offering a lot of myself to people I haven’t yet met.”

That quick confidence-boosting secret is now coming to the forefront, not only on stage but also on her forthcoming album.

​“I used to be scared of my voice because it’s deep and weird and I couldn’t really control it,” says Tamko.

“My songs have a vulnerability, but [now] there is an inherent confidence that I feel at the other end of the mic. I can finally be all the versions of myself I have always felt inside.” And her young fans can’t wait to meet them all.

Original Source: Vogue

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