"Life is but a dream"
Monday, April 21st, 2008

Night is falling, slowly, over Paris. There's a chill in the air and the pale autumn light in the Tuileries Garden - which stretches between the Seine to the south and the rue de Rivoli to the north - is gradually ebbing away as evening encroaches upon the marble statues and pristine lawns that have inspired countless paintings, poems, and proclamations of love. The bruised sky ripples over the glass of the Louvre's famous pyramids as walkways part them and under the monumental arches that seperate the tranquility of the Gardens, the teeming streets. Running parallel is the rue St. Honore which, this evening, is bustling with a particularly well-heeled, international throng. Here, marked by a dark, innocuous doorway in the Hotel Costes, where Kentucky Cooper has deigned for the American Wrestling Alliance cameras and herself to meet up. And she's early.

"Hey," Kentucky mouths from across the room where she is already cozy, tucked up in a corner on a black, velvet couch. The interviewer takes a seat opposite her, and she extends a fragile arm; her hand is small, like a child's, and her new friend ends up grabbing half of her wrist, too. "Hello," she repeats, her grip as gentle as if she were holding the stem of a flower. "I'm Kentucky Cooper." Settled in for a conversation, and apparently entirely at home in the opulent surroundings, Kentucky strikes a match, lights her Marlboro Red and inhales deeply, closing her eyes for the briefest of moments. "You don't mind if I smoke? Do you?" Her voice sounds soft, husky. She looks around - it's just Kentucky and the cameras. "I love it here, it's dark and kind of romantic but still comfortable. People come here and they don't treat them any differently. Don't get me wrong, I love people watching, but it's not really about that here." She lets out a quiet sigh. "It's kind of like a fantasy." Another drag on her cigarette. "I love living in a fantasy world."

Commissioned by Jacques Garcia in 1991, Hotel Costes was designed around the maxim "all things in excess." How magnificent, excess is what she lives for! On the ground floor, rooms are set up like cloisters around a central courtyard, from which dark passageways lead off in every direction; sultry, expensive-sounding house music is piped everywhere; the lighting is low, and every surface is laid with flickering candles; there are huge gilded mirrors on every wall; the air smells of the hotel's signature scent - a woody concoction that mingles with cigarette smoke and is so heavy it seems to settle on top of the tasseled velvet furnishings. Kentucky is dressed as uniquely as ever tonight and fits right in with the scene perfectly.

Kentucky is wearing studded Manolo Blahnik heels, tight black Kova&T pants, and a diaphanous, long-sleeved, black American Apparel top over a pink YSL tank. Her outfit is accessorized with a huge gladiator-style necklack, thick chunks of gold on a wide piece of red leather, a multitude of bracelets and rings, and some peacock feathers, which she has crafted into a headband that is wrapped around her long, newly blonde hair, and once huge earring. As dissonant as it all sounds, she is pulling off the bohemian-Gothic-ornithological-eccentric-gypsy thing well. After all, whether she likes it or not, Kentucky Cooper, who is a favorite of most of the designers in Paris, is something of a fashion icon. And a new-age wrestling renegade.

"I seriously have no idea why, but it's something that I have to do. I have this urge, this rush to do this," she says. "I realize I don't look like a lot of the other women who are out here trying to make a name for themselves in this business, but I've never been one to let a good challenge slow me down..." she breaks off, chuckling to herself. "I guess what distinguishes, significantly, between me and these other females is the fact that I have personal style. I think the first time I realized that the women jumping up and down inside the squared circle have no sense of style is when I saw one of Jessica James' matches. Seriously, the girl is ridiculous and honestly, talentless."

Fashion is what has brought Kentucky Cooper to Paris this week. She's scouting out the perfect materials for her wrestling attire. Something, to put it in her own words, "will keep me busy from dusk to dawn!"

"I don't like going to shows - fashion or wrestling. It's so overwhelming. If i'm at a fashion event, I want to be there to enjoy the clothes. If i'm at a wrestling event, I want to be inside the ring. But I don't want to have to worry about how I look on the runway or inside the ring. I find clothes and shoes and accessories that work for me, and most importantly, look good on me." She pauses a moment and cocks her head before continuing.

As she talks, Kentucky plays with her hair, twisting it between her fingers and examining it closely. She chain smokes, but if she's mid-sentence the unlit cigarette will bob up and down between her lips while she speaks, until there's a pause long enough for her to light it. Every now and then she readjusts herself on the couch; delicate, feline movements whereby an arm or a leg will stretch out before being quickly recoiled. She's a tiny creature; both graceful and seemingly so vulnerable you wonder how she makes it through a dy when there are potential catastrophes such as cobblestones and puddles or angry female wrestlers. Her eyes wide, the greenish gray of antique marble, are melancholy. "It's interesting," she says, looking down at her feet and running her fingertips along the steel studs of her shoes.

"I've already decided how I plan to build my empire. I've learn what to do and what not to do, regretably from personal experiences in the past, and I'm smart enough to realize you have to be smart when attempting to break into an industry as lucrative as wrestling. There's money to be made, records to be written, and dreams to be broken. I'm Kentucky fuckin' Cooper - I'm not the girl next door, the girl down the street, or the girl you've met on MySpace and plan on stalking for the rest of the week. The girls in AWA don't know me so they'll likely have to comment on my appearance. They may even bite off whatever they can chew from this interview, despite how brief it is," she says, laughing.

"It's funny, I often feel very misrepresented by the interview I give. Here is supposed to be my introduction and my "be all" for what may become of this new career, and rightfully so. I've got stars in my eyes, gold on my mind."