In Conversation
The Gatekeeper
A chaotic 20 minutes with Sarah Chen, Worldwide Head of Scouting, between cities, on what she's looking for, what she's tired of being asked, and the scout that got away that still haunts her.
Sarah is between flights. She does approximately 200,000 miles a year. She takes the interview on her phone in the back of a car and keeps it because, she says, "I have nothing to hide and everything to say."
VLT
How do you explain to people what you actually do all day?
I look at people. That's the job. Restaurants, airports, tube stations, school plays, farmers' markets, anywhere humans gather. You're just... watching. Most people find it either very romantic or very creepy. It's neither. It's pattern recognition developed over fifteen years until it becomes instinct.
VLT
What's the most common misconception about scouting?
That we're looking for the most conventionally beautiful person in the room. We're not. We're looking for the most interesting person in the room. Those things overlap sometimes, but not nearly as often as people assume. The most beautiful person is often the most invisible, in a way, they fit, they match, they complete a picture you've already seen. Interesting is harder to define and much rarer.
VLT
Tell me about the one that got away.
There was a girl, I found her at a market in Porto. I gave her my card, we had a real conversation, she seemed genuinely interested. She never contacted us. Six months later I saw her in an editorial in a rival agency's lookbook. She was extraordinary. That one hurt. Still does if I'm being honest. You can't win them all, but some losses stick.
VLT
What do you tell people who want their child scouted?
I tell them exactly what I'd want someone to tell me. This industry is real, it's serious, it takes years, it's not glamorous most of the time, and not every remarkable-looking young person should be in it. I ask them: does your child want this, or do you want it for them? That question tells me almost everything I need to know.