With each new season comes a whole crop of new models to get acquainted with, and what struck us about many of Spring ’14′s rising stars was their interesting names—Drake Burnette (below, left), Binx Walton, Malaika Firth (above, top left), Holly Rose Emery (below, right), and Zlata Mangafic in particular. Their cool monikers only added to their allure during the New York and London shows. Firth is perhaps the most promising fresh face to emerge these past two weeks. We knew the 19-year-old stunner from Kenya (by way of London) would be major when she landed the Prada Fall ’13 campaign (she’s the first black model to do so since Naomi Campbell in 1994, which gave rise to a slew of comparisons to the supe) and walked in the label’s menswear Resort presentation back in June. Firth started her season at Jason Wu, and continued to walk only top-tier shows during NYFW, including Altuzarra, Calvin Klein Collection, Marc Jacobs, and Proenza Schouler. She kept up the pace across the pond, turning up at Burberry, Christopher Kane, J.W. Anderson, Jonathan Saunders, and Mary Katrantzou.
Other girls who got explosive starts from that Prada menswear runway over the summer include Anna Ewers (above, top right) and Emery. Ewers caught Alexander Wang’s eye (as well as the attention of casting director Anita Bitton) back in February, when she was included in the lineup for his debut Balenciaga collection. Next, the strong German beauty starred in the Resort lookbooks for both Alexander Wang and Balenciaga, so we were hardly surprised to see the designer’s new muse open his Spring ’14 show—the easy, cool hair and makeup were even reportedly inspired by Ewers’ natural look. She went on to do Altuzarra, Rodarte, Proenza Schouler, and Marc Jacobs. Meanwhile, Emery’s career took off during the Fall couture shows, and her Kewpie Doll pout won her spots on Spring catwalks including Jason Wu, Theyskens’ Theory, Marc Jacobs, Christopher Kane, and Giles. Another newcomer who has walked all the right runways so far is Kate Goodling (above, bottom left). The second girl out at Alexander Wang, she also appeared at Calvin Klein, Narciso Rodrgieuz, Altuzarra, and Donna Karan. Her all-American appeal will take her far. Ophelie Guillermand (above, bottom right), likewise, made an impact at both Alexander Wang and Calvin Klein.
Many of those models who we had our eye on last season and during castings have gone on to succeed in major ways. Burnette shot onto the scene during Fall ’13 after playing the lead role in Larry Clark’s indie film Marfa Girl. The Texas native has an intellectual look that has translated well editorially (she nabbed spreads in recent issues of Love, WSJ, Interview, and British Vogue). She kept busy in New York, opening Derek Lam, Assembly, and Sophie Theallet, in addition to closing Rodarte and walking Rag & Bone and Helmut Lang. In London, Burnette made appearances at Burberry and Christopher Kane. Last but not least is our personal favorite, Walton. Like last season, she’s been pretty selective about her shows, turning up at Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Narciso Rodriguez, and Jeremy Scott during New York, then wowing in her transparent look at J.W. Anderson, and closing the Giles show in an avant-garde bat headpiece. If—like us—you’ll have your eye on the catwalks these next few weeks when the shows travel to Milan and Paris, we have a feeling you’ll see these girls strutting to stardom.
