The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (July 2007)

A wall closet in a residential house in the United States.

An antique closet.

A closet (especially in North American usage) is a small and enclosed space, a cabinet, or a cupboard in a house or building used for general storage or hanging clothes. A closet for food storage is usually referred to as a pantry. A closet, through French from Latin clausum, "closed" began life in the 17th century as a small private room, often behind a bedroom, to which a man or woman could retire, for privacy, reading, or enjoyment of personal works of art: for this usage, see Cabinet (room).

Modern closets can be built into the walls of the house during construction so that they take up no apparent space in the bedroom, or they can be a large, free-standing piece of furniture designed for clothing storage, in which case they are often called a wardrobe or armoire. Closets are often built under stairs, thereby using awkward space that would otherwise go unused.

In current British usage, a "wardrobe" can also be built-in, and the word "cupboard" can be used to refer to a closet. In Elizabethan and Middle English, closet referred to a larger room in which a person could sit and read in private, but now refers to a small room in general.^[1] In Indian usage, a closet often refers to a toilet. This probably originated from the word water closet, which refers to a flush toilet.

In North America, chests, trunks and wall-mounted pegs typically provided storage prior to World War II. Built-in wall closets were uncommon and where they did exist, they tended to be small and shallow. Following World War II, however, deeper, more generously sized closets were introduced to new housing designs, which proved to be very attractive to buyers. It has even been suggested that the closet was a major factor in people's migration to the suburbs.

Closet tax question in colonial America[link]

Though some sources claim that colonial American houses often lacked closets because of a "closet tax" imposed by the British crown,^[2] others argue that closets were absent in most houses simply because their residents had few possessions.^[3]

Closets in pop culture[link]

Figuratively, a closet is a place where one hides things; "having skeletons in one's closet" is a figure of speech for having particularly sensitive secrets. Thus, closet as an adjective means secret—usually with a connotation of vice or shame, as in "a closet alcoholic" or "a closet homosexual," though sometimes used as a humorous exaggeration for any potential embarrassment, as in "a closet comic book fan." To "come out of the closet" is to admit your secrets publicly, but this is now used almost exclusively in reference to homosexuality. The documentary film The Celluloid Closet uses this reference to gay people in its examination of how Hollywood films have depicted homosexuals on the screen. This is also extensively used in a controversial episode of South Park.

Psychologically, bedroom closets are the center of many childhood fears. Children fear during the night that a monster or any other paranormal creature hides inside the closet, and is destined to frighten the child. The Bogeyman is one prominent example. This is a common theme in films. In the first Poltergeist movie, the closet was where ghosts hid. The "monster in the closet" fear was developed for comedic possibilities in film Monsters, Inc.. In the newspaper comic Bloom County, the character Binkley had an "anxiety closet" in his bedroom, from which his fears would manifest themselves, while he was sleeping. Similarly, the strip Opus also has a closet which houses his worries. Recently a closet was one of the focuses of the film Sex and the City.

Types of closets[link]

• Broom closet: A narrow floor-to-ceiling space for the storage of lengthy items.
• Coat closet: A coat closet is a closet of a house where people store their hoods, jackets and coats. A coat closet is typically located in the entryway, so that it is close to the front door.
• Linen closet: A tall, narrow closet, typically located in or near bathrooms and/or bedrooms. Such a closet contains shelves used to hold towels, washcloths, sheets, and toiletries.
• Spear closet: An architectural slang term for a small, oddly shaped, "left over" space, whether actually used as a closet or not.
• Utility closet: A closet used for permanently housing appliances, most commonly the heating/cooling unit and water heater, especially in apartments where they cannot be put in a garage, attic, or basement.
• Walk-in closet (often shortened to "walk-in") :A closet large enough to walk inside to store clothes or other objects, on two or three sides. They may have lighting, mirrors, and flooring distinct from adjacent rooms.
• Wall closet: A very shallow closet closed off from a room by a curtain or folding doors, with only enough depth to hang clothes or store them folded on shelves.
• A water closet (abbreviated "WC") is not a storage closet but a small dedicated room containing a flush toilet. The euphemistic term comes from the British English definition of a closet as a small private room. In this case, it was a small private room with running water.
• Wardrobe: A type of furniture for storing clothes.

It is worth noting that the phrase walk-in closet is not used in the UK and some commonwealth counties, where the phrase walk-in-wardrobe, or walk-in-robe, is used instead.

See also[link]

• Sachet

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2012)

Coco Rocha
Coco Rocha at Louis Vuitton
Born	(1988-09-10) September 10, 1988 (age 23) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Blue
Measurements	33-24-34 (US); 84-61-86.5 (EU)[1]
Dress size	4 (US); 34 (EU)[1]
Manager	ModelQuest (mother agency) Wilhelmina Models Storm Model Management Elite Milan Elite Toronto Elite Copenhagen UNO Barcelona Marylin Agency Model Management Hamburg Specs Model Management
Spouse	James Conran
Website
http://www.cocorocha.com

Coco Rocha (born Mikhaila Rocha on September 10, 1988) is a Canadian fashion model.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Rocha was born in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in Richmond, British Columbia where she attended McRoberts Secondary School.^[2] Her family is in the airline industry. Her mother, Juanita, is a flight attendant and her father, Trevor Haines,^[3] is a ticket manager. She has one step sister named Lynsey. She is of Irish, Russian, and Welsh descent.^[4]

Rocha is one of the few models who has spoken out against the prevalence of eating disorders in the modelling industry. In an open letter to the New York Times, Coco spoke out on her blog about the pressure the fashion industry puts on young models "How can any person justify an aesthetic that reduces a woman or child to an emaciated skeleton? Is it art? Surely fashion’s aesthetic should enhance and beautify the human form, not destroy it." [1] In an email to the Associated Press, she gives an insight into the fashion world, saying: "I'll never forget the piece of advice I got from people in the industry when they saw my new body ... They said, 'You need to lose more weight. The look this year is anorexia. We don't want you to be anorexic but that's what we want you to look like.^[5]

Rocha married James Conran on June 9, 2010.^[6] Her wedding dress was designed by Zac Posen.

Career[link]

In 2002, agent Charles Stuart approached Rocha at an Irish dance competition and asked her if she would consider modelling for him. At that point, she had never thought of modelling before.^[7] When she did begin to model, her knowledge of fashion was limited.^[4] She eventually gained insight into the fashion world after her best friends crammed in fashion study sessions in between studying for exams.^[4]

Rocha started her professional career in 2004, signing with SUPREME in New York City. Two years later, Rocha met fashion photographer Steven Meisel. Soon, she was featured in an editorial with Gemma Ward and Amanda Moore. The editorial kickstarted her career, landing her the cover of the February 2006 issue of Vogue Italia. The week after, she walked the Spring/Summer 2006 New York City runways for a handful of designers, most notably Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs. Backstage at the Anna Sui show, Rocha met model Naomi Campbell, who held her hands and told her she was "her new favourite model".^[8] After the New York Fashion Week, she soon followed by taking part in the Paris Fashion Week as well. She walked for esteemed designers like Stella McCartney, Shiatzy Chen, Christian Lacroix, and Emanuel Ungaro, and was chosen by Marc Jacobs to open and close his Louis Vuitton show.^{[citation needed]}

During Jean Paul Gaultier's Scottish Highlands-inspired Fall/Winter 2007 show in February 2007, Rocha opened the show by Irish-dancing down the runway; American Vogue dubbed this the "Coco Moment" and suggested it as a sign that the fashion industry misses the "supermodels".^[9]

In the May 2007, issue of Vogue (US), she was featured on the cover with fellow models Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Sasha Pivovarova, Agyness Deyn, Jessica Stam, Hilary Rhoda, Chanel Iman, and Lily Donaldson as the new crop of supermodels.^[10] In 2008 casting agent James Scully, who is responsible to pick which model is to score a spot on top runways, says in regards to Rocha:

Rocha has been on the covers of many top fashion magazines including American, Mexican, Korean, Italian, Japanese, and Brazilian Vogue, Flare, Fashion, Numéro, French, W, Harper's Bazaar, Dazed & Confused, i-D, Time Style & Design, among others.^[2]

Since her debut, Rocha has been the face of a variety of advertising campaigns including Versace, Americana Manhasset, Balenciaga, Chanel, D&G, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Lanvin, The Gap, Ports 1961, Tommy Hilfiger, Yves Saint Laurent, Esprit, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, Nicole Farhi, DeBeers, Zac Posen, and Rimmel. She has appeared in editorials for American, Italian, Korean, French, Russian, Spanish, Brazilian, Japanese, Mexican, and British Vogue, British, Canadian, Czech, French, Quebec, and Italian Elle V,^{[disambiguation needed ]} W, French, Korean, and Japanese Numéro, British and Japanese Dazed & Confused, i-D, Time Style & Design, and Ukrainian, Russian, Korean, and American Harpers Bazaar^[2]

Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.^[12]

In July 2010, Rocha appeared on vogue.co.uk every day for the entire month in the feature Today I'm Wearing. She followed in the footsteps of Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo to showcase her fashion and style choices each day. The following month, Rocha appeared on a billboard in Times Square for an ad campaign with Marie Claire magazine in partnership with Project Runway in which she modelled a contestant's winning design.

In October 2010, Coco Rocha was one of a handful of high fashion models mentioned on Kanye West's "Christian Dior Denim Flow." [2] Also in October 2010, Coco Rocha was given Marie Claire's Prix d’Excellence as their model of the year at a ceremony in Paris, France. [3]

In November 2010, Rocha was awarded the Seventeen Body Peace award by Seventeen magazine. Rocha contributed a number of articles to Seventeen magazine on the topic of girls body image and self esteem. [4][5]

Rocha hosted the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards white carpet.

In February 2011, it was announced that Rocha had written the forward to World-famous fashion guru Jeanne Beker's book "Struttin It!". The book offered a unique insider's look at the reality behind the glitz of the modeling profession. [6]

In March 2011, Coco announced the launch of her new website [cocorocha.com]. The site was said to contain almost 10,000 pictures covering her entire career as a model so far. On February 14, 2011 Coco was awarded the Elle Style award for 'Model of the Year' by Boy George in London, England.[7]

In spring of 2011, it was announced that Rocha would again be the face of a limited edition Karl Lagerfeld designed Coco Cola light campaign. She previously collaborated with Lagerfeld and Coca-Cola in 2010. [8]

In June 2011, Coco announced a partnership with Canadian fashion retailer Jacob for a Photoshop free campaign. On her blog Rocha said she hoped the shoot could "balance the scales a little by pulling so far back from what has been the current trend of total digital model manipulation." [9]

On June 16, 2011, Coco Rocha and husband James Conran both received awards for their philanthropic work at the Pay It Fashion Forward event in Manahattan, NY. [10]

In early July 2011, Coco Rocha revealed the trailer to her short documentary "Letter to Haiti" on her blog. The movie was set to premier in Toronto in October and New York in December 2011. [11]

In July 2011, Coco Rocha became the first high fashion model to be photographed by the Lytro Camera, the camera takes what the company calls a “living picture,” meaning that it captures enough visual information in a single exposure so that the focus and zoom can be adjusted even after the picture is taken. Rocha said she reached out to the company after reading about them on the website Mashable. [12][13]

In August 2011, it was announced that Coco would be the face of an upcoming Karl Lagerfeld for Macy's collection. [14]

On October 11, 2011 Coco Rocha appeared on Anderson Cooper's daytime television show "Anderson" where she said models are scouted too young and put under pressure to stay thin and behave in a way they wouldn't naturally while they're "still minors". [15]

On October 19, 2011 she appeared as a guest judge alongside Tyra Banks where she was frequently referred to as "The Queen of Posing" on "America's Next Top Model."

On November 1, 2011 Coco launched Coco Rocha for Senhoa, a collection produced together with Senhoa, an organization helping Cambodian survivors of human trafficking. The capsule collection contained 7 unique pieces designed by Rocha and hand crafted by the survivors of human trafficking. All proceeds go directly back into the Senhoa program. To help raise awareness for the cause, Rocha brought on some additional model power with the help of friends Chanel Iman, Caroline Trentini, and Behati Prinsloo. In the first of two campaigns, Iman, Trentini and Rocha were photographed by Nigel Barker[16]

In mid-February 2012, Coco appeared in a commercial for White House Black Market created by New York advertising agency ceft and company in which she was featured tap-dancing.

In April 2012, Coco Rocha became the first high fashion model to have more than 1 million followers on the social media platform Google+.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Coco Rocha

• Official website
• Coco Rocha at the Fashion Model Directory
• Coco Rocha's Fashion Picks on Who What Wear
• Coco Rocha's Official Blog