Up and comer Lou Schoof teams up with her brother Nils for the cover of Vogue Ukraine‘s November 2015 issue captured by fashion photographer Elizaveta Porodina. In charge of styling was Julie Pelipas.
I searched across the original Vogue Ukraine archive, Models.com, Vogue, and contemporary fashion-editorial coverage. There’s enough material to expand the original into a much richer story while keeping it editorial rather than simply repeating the credits. (Vogue Ukraine)
Up-and-coming German model Lou Schoof teams up with her younger brother Nils Schoof for the cover of Vogue Ukraine’s November 2015 issue, photographed by Elizaveta Porodina with fashion direction and styling by Julie Pelipas. The November cover marked an early high point in the siblings’ rapidly developing careers, placing the then-emerging pair at the center of one of the season’s most distinctive fashion stories. (Vogue Ukraine)
The cover presents Lou and Nils together in an austere, highly stylized portrait that emphasizes their striking resemblance and natural chemistry. Lou wears a felt hat by Nathini Van Der Meer alongside an A. F. Vandevorst headpiece and an Azzedine Alaïa wool cape, while Nils appears in an Azzedine Alaïa wool pullover paired with another Nathini Van Der Meer felt hat. The styling gives the cover a restrained, sculptural quality, reinforcing the dark and atmospheric character associated with the issue. (Vogue Ukraine)
Porodina’s photographs extend beyond the cover into a broader editorial featuring the siblings together. Contemporary coverage described the story as an exploration of stern, modest and almost ecclesiastical fashion, with Lou and Nils photographed in a series of dramatic looks against an evocative outdoor setting. Heiko Palach handled hair and makeup, completing the deliberately controlled beauty direction. (Anne of Carversville)
For Lou, the Vogue Ukraine appearance arrived at a pivotal moment. Discovered on a train to Berlin, she had already begun attracting attention for her distinctive appearance and sharply cut hair. By early 2016, Vogue was describing her as a model with several editorials and a Blumarine campaign already behind her, while her brother Nils was only beginning his modeling career. Nils had reportedly been discovered through Lou’s Instagram, making their eventual transition into a successful sibling modeling duo particularly organic. (Vogue)
Their shared appearance also became part of what made the Schoofs stand out. In a 2016 interview with Vogue, Lou explained that the connection between siblings created something difficult to reproduce when models work with strangers. Their familiarity translated into a more spontaneous dynamic in front of the camera, giving their photographs an intimacy that became a defining element of their early fashion work. (Vogue)
The Vogue Ukraine cover was consequently more than an introduction to two fresh faces. It helped establish Lou and Nils as one of fashion’s emerging model-sibling pairings at a time when the industry was increasingly fascinated by families working together in front of the lens. The siblings would go on to appear together in further major editorials, including American Vogue‘s September 2016 issue, where they were photographed by Patrick Demarchelier for the family-themed story Pomp & Circumstance. (Anne of Carversville)
Lou’s individual profile continued to rise as well. By August 2016, Vogue had singled out her geometric bob as one of the season’s standout model beauty looks, noting that the distinctive haircut had become an important part of her identity. She subsequently appeared in the September 2016 issue of Vogue photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, further cementing the momentum that began with her early editorial work. (Vogue)
The November 2015 Vogue Ukraine cover therefore captures the Schoofs at a particularly interesting point in their trajectory: Lou already emerging as a distinctive new face, Nils entering the modeling world, and the two discovering that their familial connection could become a powerful fashion image in its own right. With Porodina’s atmospheric photography and Pelipas’s precise styling, the result remains one of the memorable sibling covers from Vogue Ukraine‘s early years. (Models)
Credits:
Models: Lou Schoof, Nils Schoof
Photographer: Elizaveta Porodina
Fashion Editor/Stylist: Julie Pelipas
Hair & Makeup: Heiko Palach
Magazine: Vogue Ukraine
Issue: November 2015
Model agency: Place Models (Minimal. / Visual.)
