"The inspiration for my look was Bianca and Mick Jagger’s wedding": supermodel Juana Burga on the beauty behind her wedding

For perhaps obvious reasons, I’m really into people who break barriers — particularly women and most especially women of colour. Juana Burga is one such individual.

She’s the first Peruvian model to walk the runway during Fashion Weeks in New York, London, Paris and Milan. She’s also an actor, a humanitarian and an activist with a focus on fashion-related causes. She works as an ambassador to Peru to protect makers of sustainable fibres.

Recently, Burga married Martín Landgreve, who’s a Danish film director, and I just had to talk to her about how she prepared for it, from both a beauty and fashion perspective. We also discussed the unique ways Burga and Landgreve integrated both of their cultures into the celebration.

You're a Latina living in New York City, married to a Danish man. How did you two meet?

"My husband and I met in Peru eight years ago. I was living in New York and went home for work. I wound up staying a bit longer to visit my family and, while I was there, Martín happened to be working on a project. The photographer from my shoot was a friend of mine and knew Martín. After my shoot, we went to a wrap-up dinner and Martín was also invited. That’s where we met. Life went on and we didn’t speak after that; we didn’t even exchange phone numbers. But then, a year and a half later, another friend we had in common invited us to the same event in New York. We ran into each other again there and, from that point on, the rest is history."

How did you prepare your skin for the wedding day?

"I went to my favourite facialist, Nachi Glick, of Mist Beauty fame, a day before the wedding for a customised Omakase facial."

What beauty ritual did you follow the day of the wedding?

"My daily skin routine is very gentle, but for my wedding day I wanted to add a few extra steps. I cleaned my skin with La Roche Posay’s Toleriane hydrating gentle facial cleanser, followed by a Hanacure face mask. After that I circled ice cubes all over my face and along my ears to help with any tired or swollen skin. Then I applied a mix of two serums from Biologique Recherche — the Iso-Placenta and Collagene Marin. I then applied my daily moisturiser, the Toleriane ultra moisturizing cream, and my Clarins Total Eye Lift eye cream."

Related: Love, marriage and 2 baby carriages: Danish designer Søren Le Schmidt ties the knot in surprise wedding

Tell us about the inspiration behind your wedding look? How did you incorporate beauty into this vision?

"The inspiration for my wedding look was Bianca and Mick Jagger’s wedding. The year I got married to Martín — 2021, on July 8th to be exact — marked 50 years since their wedding event.

I strived for an elegant yet non-traditional style, which is why I wanted to wear a suit for my civil wedding. I reached out to my dear friend and stylist Sandy Armeni. I told her that I was getting married, that I had less than two weeks to plan it, and what my inspirations were. She said right away, 'I know exactly what you’re wearing!' She sent me a picture of a vintage YSL suit from Albright, New York, and we confirmed the fitting just four days later.

After that, I told her about the hair piece I wanted to wear and she said, 'Contact my dear friend Ellen Christine', which I did immediately. Ellen picked up the phone, I explained everything to her, and she right away told me to come to her atelier to do a fitting for the hat. Apart from being such an incredible and iconic designer, she’s also a fellow Latina from Puerto Rico, which makes everything even more special. She understood me right away."

Who did you work with for the big day?

"How about we go directly to the sources for this one?!"

"Juana has perfect skin and takes really good care of it. For her wedding, we really focused on generating a glowy skin look, starting with Barbara Strum toner, glow drops, light cream, face mist and lip mask. We used a lot of Chantecaille, including Future Skin foundation, while the highlights were done with Liquid Lumiere in sheen. The Radiance Gel Bronzer was relied on for definition and on the eyelids: blush in shade Happy. We used the Sari Rose lip paired with Tone lip liner, using a bit of Clé de Peau concealer. I brought out her eyes in a subtle way, with Pat McGrath Mascara and Chantecaille’s Earth eye pencil set, with matte brown eyeshadow." - Makeup artist, Dan Duran

"When Juana called asking me, “Are you free tomorrow?” I could not believe she was asking me to style her hair for her wedding. How could I say no?! Juana’s hair is very healthy; she has high density and beautiful natural waves. She has the perfect hair to achieve that bouncy 1970s look. The only challenge she had was the humidity and the rain. She used my favourite hair oil, MAY 11." - Hair stylist, Romina Manenti

Tell us about your hair ritual! How do you care for your hair?

"I love taking good care of my hair. Being a Latina is a blessing in part because you get to have good hair genetics. But with my work it’s very important that I take extra care of it. The most important thing is to have a great shampoo and conditioner that fits your type of hair. Another vital product is my hair mask that I use instead of conditioner, especially when I’m working a lot. I use Kevin Murphy for shampoo and conditioner, and my hair mask is Re.store, also by Kevin Murphy."

What is your relationship to Scandinavia? How did you incorporate both cultures, Latin and Scandi, into your wedding in New York?

"My husband and I both love Scandinavia. For obvious reasons we’re mostly connected to Denmark, but have travelled throughout all of Scandinavia and there’s really no other place that ceases to impress me in the same way. The lifestyle, the culture, the nature, the people — it’s all completely different from where I grew up. To me, Scandinavia is like it’s own little oasis in this world. I feel love, warmth and beauty every time I go there.

One of the main things I love is how strong the family bonds are, and how closeness is so important. Those are values that are immensely important to me. I myself grew up in a very close family, where my parents and grandparents always were together. I see that in Scandinavia, how strong family connections are, and I’m in love with that. I think that’s why I always feel so welcome and safe there."

"We mix both cultures into everything we do, not just our wedding but also our home. We analyse and carefully pick our favourite pieces from each culture and embrace them. Whether it’s building and decorating our home to things that we do on a day to day basis, we both love and embrace each of our cultures.

For our wedding day, I was lucky to be able to have my mum, dad, grandmother and sister attend. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions at that time, our Scandinavian family couldn’t attend. Martín grew up in Denmark sailing with his family. Every chance they got, they were on the ocean — late weeknights, weekends, and vacations. So to make him feel closer to home on the big day, I wanted to incorporate a piece of his childhood. My mum and I went for a walk around the North Cove Marina Yacht Harbour and found the most beautiful classic wooden yacht. The vessel is named “Full Moon” and measured 60 feet. We went to talk to the captain, Greg Freitas, one the most amazing and kindest human beings I’ve met. He also happened to be a minister. What are the chances?! He performed the services on the yacht. It was the perfect choice for our wedding."

Related: A dash of Denmark in Delhi: Inside the wedding of Malie founder Amalie Mikkelsen

What was your favourite part of your wedding day?

"When I said 'I do' to the love of my life, and danced to old school salsa classics with my 86-year-old grandmother onboard the yacht."

What is your best beauty advice for someone planning their wedding?

"I think it’s to just enjoy every moment even if it’s not as you planned it. Even the morning of my wedding started out with a nice fresh breeze and beautiful sunlight, but as the day went on, it slowly turned into a very cloudy day, followed by heavy rain, thunder and flood warnings. I panicked and thought everything had to be canceled. Especially having my grandmother with us on a boat. But I started to meditate and I just became the most blessed and zen bride.

Somehow, by the time we left home and stepped outside, the sky cleared up above us, as if we found ourselves in the eye of the storm. We got into our white Rolls Royce from 1961. With my incredible uncle driving and my husband beside me, we arrived at the harbour. Captain Greg was on the boat waiting for us with open arms and a big smile. At that moment we just started appreciating the blessing that came over us. The storm had the entire harbour deserted as if we had the entire city to ourselves, and as we got onto the yacht, Captain Greg Freitas told me, “Your Incan angels are with you!” We departed and started sailing onto the Hudson River, also to discover that we were the only boat on the river. Every other boat had gone to shore due to the thunder storm. Being on the Hudson River all alone as the only boat itself was such a special and magical experience. A moment that I’ll remember for the rest of my life."