GRAZIA
Elyse Knowles is fast approaching the one million Instagram followers mark, a feat for any Australian model. As the newest addition to the Myer stables, Knowles’ commercial viability to move product faster than Acler can stock it – and coupled with her down-to-earth, Australian slang and business acumen for renovating homes – means everybody wants to know everything about the blonde beauty. GRAZIA sat down with the It model to discuss her workouts, sleep routine, social media and in this fickle model-land, how she will ensure business longevity.
GRAZIA: You are the new ambassador for Vital All-In-One (formerly known as Vital Greens). It feels like a really genuine alignment for you, how best do you enjoy it in the mornings?
Knowles: “It depends on my schedule, if I’m running around, I put two teaspoons in a glass of cold water – that’s all you need for the day. Vital All-In-One has 78 ingredients which is more than any other green powder on the market. Knowing that I get absolutely everything I need for the day, I’m set. It’s all about a positive mind-frame in order to get through a big working say. If I have a good sleep, a work out and my Vitals, I’m ready. It’s a great alignment because I’ve used the product since was I was 17-years-old. I don’t like promoting anything that’s not true to myself or my life.”
What’s in your smoothie?
“There’s the Vital, cacao (so it has that chocolate taste), almond milk, banana and ice. Sometimes I add a little bit of almond butter or peanut butter depending on how naughty I’m feeling. My trainer says, ‘if you want to be toned and be well then have your natural fats like your nut butters, avocados and make sure you have all your vegetables and all your vitamins and minerals.’”
Are there other ways to enjoy this green powder outside of a liquid? Could you put it in a pancake?
“Yeah you can, you can put it in pancakes! You mix it in with your normal blend – mine always consist of almond meal so they’re healthy. And you can always put Vitals in a sweet treat – my go-to is a raw mint chocolate slice.”
Your weekly exercise regime; what do you do? How hard do you go? And how often do you train?
“I’ve just moved to a new area, so I’ve been to my new gym for about two months now and I’ve gotten into a really good routine. I will do PT sessions twice a week and we focus on legs and butt basically. With those, it’s all about technique because you can hurt yourself doing it alone or doing it the wrong way. I also try to do at least one upper body weights session per week and that’s six girls in a class, you’ve got a teacher, so it’s basically one-on-one. I also do three or four HIT classes (a mix between weights and cardio in a class format). I love that because it challenges me to work harder because people are around.”
Has there been a particular exercise or training regime that you’ve found has really transformed my body’?
“At the moment, it’s weights and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve never been taught the right way to be doing it all and now in these little classes I’m learning how to do it properly and I can actually see results and I can definitely feel it for the next couple of days so I know it’s working.”
We see films like Tomb Raider or Wonder Woman and they really celebrate that strong physique. Is there someone that you look to for body inspiration?
“I have a broad range of inspiration and I think it changes depending on what your vibe is and what you’re doing and what you aspire to for that week. As a girl, we change and want things so damn fast, so at the moment I’m focusing on toning and I love knowing that I’m getting muscles and that I can beat [my boyfriend] Josh up and that I can win now! [Laughs]. That is the good part. Inspiration; it changes all the time.”
You’ve said that you would like to walk the Victoria’s Secret runway one day. What steps are you taking to try and make that happen?
“It’s been a dream for such a long time. When I was growing up, I would watch it and aspire to be one of those amazing, goddess women, they are absolutely incredible. Who knows, I could be dreaming, but I definitely work hard when I’ve got something in my mind. I’ll do anything to try and get.”
On The Block I feel like viewers and Instagram followers got to see your personality beyond the picture. For me, you seem sparkly, positive, energetic and enthusiastic, do you ever have low moments and how do you deal with them?
“Yes, of course. I think every human has low moments and I think it would be silly to say you don’t, especially women, we go up, down, up, down! We have hurdles! When I’m a little low, it’s usually because I’m exhausted and I need time for myself. For me, that’s embracing home, going for a walk on the beach with my dog, switch off technology and just live in the moment. Having Josh by my side to talk to me – he’s completely out of the industry – gives me that real and raw down to earth perspective. Instead of getting caught up in it all he’ll be like, ‘Babe, are you serious? No way, that’s not right’ or ‘We can fix it by doing this’.”
Your appearance on The block it really did elevate both your career professional renovators. How will you ensure that side of business has longevity?
“We are starting our own business company called JE Projects which will be a development company and obviously it will be Josh’s core job as his passion is building and design. For us, it would mean getting him off the tools and actually running everything and delegating – a key word in the industry – to ensure you don’t burn out. But yes, we’ve got our place and we’re looking to buy a new one and keep going. “
If you have a shoot coming up, what is your go-to breakfast, lunch and dinner?
“Vital in my smoothie for breakfast and then throughout the day, I make sure I have high protein, high natural fats and lots of water. So, the high proteins would be chickens, lots of salmon, fish, all green vegetables, I love vegies roasted. Goats cheese is my favourite. And then, if I’m home, I’ll have three scrambled eggs with spinach, pesto and goats cheese. I cut out all breads and sugars and try and keep it as plain as possible. I’ll snack on nuts and I’m addicted to chai. If I have an almond milk Chai, then I’m happy. It’s a bit like people with coffee, Chai’s my thing.
Do you drink coffee?
“No, never started.”
You said sleep before was really important. What is your nightly routine like and how many hours of sleep do you get?
“[Laughs] As much as possible! I try to start getting ready for bed around 9pm. So, I’m off the couch and I try to be in bed by 9.30pm. I get up for the gym at 6am or sometimes earlier so I need the energy to get up and so I feel like ‘Yes, I’m ready for my workout.’ If I feel drained and tired then it’s just like a follow-on effect for the rest of the day.”
Is there something you do to help you fall asleep?
“I have a girlfriend that really struggles with falling asleep and it’s just down to stress for her and not being able to switch off. I had it a little bit last night where I had a 4am call time and it’s a new environment and I was just constantly thinking and couldn’t switch off. When I’m in my own bed, I just switch off straight away, but I don’t have any technology in my room and it really sh*ts me when Josh brings his phone to bed and has the light in my face because I feel like the light triggers me to start again and it kills me. I’ll be under the doona like ‘Get the phone away!’ because it just gives me headaches. My eyes hurt from obviously being surrounded by it all the time. So no technology, early sleep and just good food to put me to sleep.”
Beauty wise, what does your night time routine look like?
“I always make sure I take my makeup off and then I use a cleanser in the shower. Sometimes I like to use a natural oat and nut paste as it makes my skin so smooth. I hate to know that people are using face products with mini microbeads that are then washing down the drain, getting into the sea and the fish are eating them and it’s just a follow-on effect. I think we have to be so much more aware of what we’re using and whether it’s the plastic bag we use at the shopping centre or what we put on our faces, it’s important. After I get out of the shower, I’ll put on a toner (which is just a clear serum) and then I put on either moisturiser or a night oil.”
Would you maybe start a skincare line one day? You sound quite into it, like an environmentally-friendly one?
“Maybe…Maybe you just put an idea in my head!”
Maybe you should rival Miranda Kerr’s Kora…
“It sounds technical but I actually do love it and I think anything to save the environment is important.”
On social media there’s so many apps now that change people’s image like FaceTune and PhotoShop. What are your thoughts on this? Is anybody real now? And what does these retouched images mean for young girls?
“That is a hard one and it’s in everyone’s faces now. For the younger generations, it’s becoming a hard part of growing up. Young girls see all these images that aren’t necessarily real but appear absolutely perfect. It’s hard, it’s like, “Oh man, is that what I have to live up to?’ but you don’t. I think my core mantra is to just be yourself and it doesn’t matter if you look stupid or funny. That’s what I try and portray in everything. You can have a serious fashion side which is relatable to your high-end brands but then you need to be relatable to every other human being, you need to show everyone that you can be normal, have fun and do the stuff you’ve grown up doing. Don’t pretend to be anyone else.”
Do you feel a sense of responsibility when you post?
“Yeah I do. You’ve always got to think ‘Who’s going to see this? Who am I aiming this to?’ I always have different posts aimed at different people because I’m broad. I want to be fashion, I want to be homewares, I want to be that young Aussie girl that’s again relatable and everything else in-between.”
And Myer, that’s an exciting relationship. Are we going to be seeing this develop over time or one that you’ll be in for the long haul?
“I hope so. It’s definitely a fun relationship, I was working alongside them for a couple of months and the amount of things that we did in that couple of months was a lot. It was exciting and everyone got a lot of traction for it. Who knows what the future holds but I was super happy with everything that happened. Especially the recent runway show, I hadn’t done that in years so it was a little bit daunting, but once I got out there, I was like, ‘Yes, I’m meant to be here, I was booked for this and I’m going to own it’ and I felt like I did so I was proud of myself.”
