Image courtesy of usatoday.com
It’s that time again, New York Fashion Week (NYFW)! As our Instagram feed populated with videos of the January Paris Couture shows, Fashion Reverie has found some distinct trends taking place in modeling now.
Diversity continues to be on-trend but the difference this season is that we have at long last begun to arrive at a melting pot of what fashion regards as “beautiful.” Rather than the all or nothing trends that have dominated since the COVID-19 pandemic (plus size, transgender and models of color) a good deal of demographics are represented. What also continues is that many top tier jobs, the multi-media ad fashion and beauty campaigns, continue to be awarded to actors and actresses who have legions of fans and followers. That said, these campaigns also serve as predictors of what model trends we will see at the upcoming shows.
To discover more about what to expect at Fashion Week, Fashion Reverie reached out to New York City modeling agents to find out which of their models are most in demand this season and why.
Angelina Harron from Manhattan based EMG Models explained that there would continue to be a more varied assortment of faces to watch this season. She confirmed, “The push for increased diversity and representation in fashion has been a significant trend for several years now, and it’s anticipated to grow stronger in the upcoming season. More brands are actively seeking models from Indigenous, Indian, and Middle Eastern backgrounds.”
Images courtesy of graziamagazine.com and hypebeast.com
Twins
Angelina noted another development. “Additionally, twins or mother-daughter duos are becoming very trendy! For instance, our twins (the Vogt sisters) are commanding a great deal of interest.” Twins as a vogue in high fashion can be traced to Alessandro Michele’s Milan Fashion Week spring 2023 show for Gucci—his last as creative director there. His decision to cast only twins for his finale show was inspired by having been raised by his mother and her twin sister. Twinsburg was reinforced by the ad campaign shot by Joanna Piotrowska for the summer 2023 collection.
Images of Alex Long, courtesy of EMG Models
Androgyny
A look that has seemingly gone mainstream is that of androgyny, which echoes the public’s desire for equality. Popular upper mid-range brands such as COS feature clothing and models that reinforce the trend. ENG’s Angelina Harron reports, “On another note, for fall 2025, designers are looking to cast models who represent an androgynous or surreal aesthetic, moving away from traditional gender binaries in both their appearance and expression. Alex Long exemplifies this perfectly.” At 5’11”, with tiny hips and fitting a size 0, she looks equally well in men’s or women’s fashions and can book more shows than the standard male or female model, as she looks equally well in a Spanish Matador suit as she does in a gown.
Alysia images courtesy of Fenton Model Management
Black Models
Other than a few notable exceptions, such as Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s, fashion’s powers that be shied away from casting black models in any notable way until the past three years. In fact, many black models worked in Europe rather than New York, because the opportunities there were much better. That has changed and black models while “on trend” are solidly part of the norm today. Models who are garnering attention are very dark skinned, such as Ibrahim, from Fenton Model Management, who has appeared in Donna Karan advertisements. Similarly, Awar Odhiang (more below) has achieved international success. She may be the first model of deep color since Alec Wek to do so. Alec is a South Sudanese British model who was instrumental in helping to change fashion’s perception of beauty in the early 2000s.
Image of Ibrahim, Donna Karan Urban Zen ad, courtesy of Donna Karan
Other black models have experienced popularity in part due to their natural hair worn in an Afro, a natural hairstyle from the Seventies that is “new” again. Both Alysia and Taylor, also represented by Fenton wear their hair “natural” and have enjoyed print and runway success. Alysia has editorial work in Harper’s Bazaar in her portfolio, and Taylor most recently appeared at the Global Fashion Collective X NYFW spring 2025 shows.
Awar image courtesy of Glen Luchford
Last year, Awar walked a total of 34 shows during Milan, New York, and Paris fashion weeks combined, including: Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Versace, Chanel, Hermes, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, and Isabel Marant. She also made the www.topmodels.com top 50 list and is the face of YSL’s Rive Gauche fragrance and stars in Anthony Vaccarello’s pre-fall 2024 collection for Saint Laurent. Awar’s glamorous accomplishments have transported her worlds away from her birth at an Ethiopian refugee camp.
Images of Sarah Caballero and Mayva Golub courtesy of EMG Models and chanel.com, respectively
Indigenous and Middle Eastern Faces
Chilean model, Sarah Caballero, has been heating up the runways, most recently at the Paris spring 2025 Couture shows. Chileans can trace their origins to the indigenous Mapuche tribe. Sarah is also of Spanish descent which is in line with the rapidly growing Hispanic demographic in the US and their push for representation in the media.
While Mayya Golub has a classic face, she also has features reminiscent of the Kardashians and is representative of the growing Armenian, Slavic and Middle Eastern populations. At 5’11” and size 2, she is perfectly suited to best show off the clothes she models on the runway.
Images courtesy of models.com and Fenton Model Management
Male model, Kirill Kabachenko, represented by Fenton hails from Ukraine. His arresting green eyes and long, lean physique have already landed him commercial work with Converse and has made him a regular on the runways at The Blonds.
Images courtesy of EMG Models
Classic Models
EMG’s Angelina Harron brought up the return of the classic model. “We mustn’t overlook classic looks, which will also be highly sought after this season, with models like Piper (Barrington) being in high demand.” Piper’s natural blonde girl next door good lucks are reminiscent of Cheryl Tiegs and the thousands of “All-American” blondes who dominated fashion in the 1970s and early ‘80s before the more “exotic” girls such as “the Brazilians” and the Russian models who took over the runways in the late ‘90s and early 2000s.
Images courtesy of Dior Beauty
The standard bearer for this category is actor, Anya Taylor Joy, a White blonde Anglo-Argentinian, who like Kate Moss, was discovered by Storm Model Management founder, Sarah Dukas. Anya was only 17 years old and struck a deal with the agent that any acting work she got would come before modeling work. Fittingly, Anya received a Golden Globe nomination in 2020 for her work as “Emma” (Woodhouse), the principal character in Autumn Wilde’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1815 novel.
As for modeling, Anya has been a Dior Ambassador since 2021, and most recently starred in Dior Addict lipstick ads and the House’s holiday 2024 campaign, decked out in a gown from Dior’s spring 2021 Haute Couture collection.
Images or Gwen DeVoe courtesy of Seasoned Models
Mature Models
This may be the last category to finally gain significant representation in fashion. Other than a few appearances by actors on European runways such as Helmut Lang and Martin Margiela, mature models were notably scarce. Silver haired model, Carmen Dell’ Orifice, starred for years in Neiman Marcus ads but she was the exception to the rule. Then, during the COVID-19 lockdown, many women over 40 decided to stop coloring their hair and to go gray. Recently, we have seen more mature models appearing in fashion and beauty campaigns as consumers voiced their irritation on social media at not being represented.
Vicki Sasso, is the Founder of Seasoned Models, a Manhattan-based modeling agency that features mature models. “I’ve been in the modeling business for 25 years, but I opened up my agency because I saw that this category was underserved and that this was the direction to go, after one of my models, Gwen DeVoe, who is Black, silver haired and a size 12-14 booked Batsheva, and then appeared on ABC’s “Nightline” to talk about what it was like to be a mature model.”
Although Gwen is a plus-size model and enormously popular, Vicki is seeing a shift in sizes away from larger women to those who are between 5’9 to 5’11 and slim. She concludes, “Mature models will always be in demand for clients who want to show beauty in aging.” Like the experienced agent she is, Vicki is also practical. “Mature models as more than just a passing trend are truly a big YES, but like all models, they have to look good to get work.”
—Vivian Kelly
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