Strange But True: Gypsies Are Teaching Angela Lindvall The Accordion

Steven Meisel’s jazz-themed campaign for Prada’s new Swing sunglasses allowed Angela Lindvall to indulge in some very satisfying make-believe. “I always had this secret desire to be a piano bar singer, and I kind of got to live out my fantasy through this Prada campaign,” Lindvall said last night at the launch party at storied New York lounge Joe’s Pub, where the evening’s main act was resurgent punk pioneer Nina Hagen.

Although Lindvall hails from Kansas City, home of musical wizards Charlie Parker and Count Basie, she never learned an instrument. But thanks to some “gypsy musician friends,” she’s recently grown fond of the accordion. Her tutors are known as the Petrojvic Blasting Company. “My friend picked them up on the street and brought them to our house. They’re from Tennessee,” Lindvall explained. “They’re good guys. They’re very happy if you make them Hungarian goulash—they’ll play music for you all night.” And, apparently, teach a supermodel basic squeezebox.

—Darrell Hartman