Homeless Man Goes From Sleeping Under a Bridge to Modelling for Fashion Shoots

They say finding yourself in the right spot, at the right time, is the key to success, and this Nigerian homeless man who got the opportunity of a lifetime while sleeping under a bridge is the perfect example.

You could say it was fate that Ali Olakunmi, a young Yoruba man from Nigeria’s Osun State, found himself sleeping under the same bridge that a creative director had chosen as the backdrop for a fashion shoot. As a homeless man in Ikeja, a suburb of Lagos, he didn’t really have any better options, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Afolabi (AL), the creative director we mentioned above, was waiting under the same bridge for a male model that was running late, and he happened to notice this young man who seemed to have all the features he was looking for in a model, so he approached him about putting on some clothes and posing for some pictures. And that’s how Ali the homeless became Ali the fashion model.

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This 96-Year-Old Woman Is Asia’s Oldest Fashion Model

Most female fashion models start their careers in their late teens and retire in their early 30’s, but 96-year-old Alice Pang is not your ordinary fashion model. She started modelling at 93, so you could say she’s still a beginner.

A resident of Hong Kong, Alice always liked dressing well and looking elegant, but never actually considered a career in modelling. But her granddaughter always thought she had it in her, so when she saw an online ad for senior models of 65, she sent in Alice’s pictures and she was chosen for a photo shoot. Never one to back away from a challenge, Pang decided to give it a shot and even though she knew noting about modelling, she had all the natural qualities to succeed at it. Today, she is recognized as one of the best senior models in Asia, as well as the oldest.

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Russian Modelling Agency Only Represents Models Over 45-Years-Old

Fashion modelling has always been an industry  dominated by the young, with most models having to retire around the age of 30. One Russian modeling agency is going against the norm by working exclusively with models aged 45 and. The oldest model on their roster  is 85.

Moscow-based modelling agency Oldushka was founded by former street photographer Igor Gavar last year. He used to document the street style of retirees on his blog, and the agency was just a natural evolution of his hobby. As the name implies, Oldushka is committed to finding work for older models and broadening their professional opportunities. 18 models are currently represented by the agency, ages 45 to 85, and based in cities across Russia. With the exception of Sergey, a 45-year-old model whom Gavar hired  because he “looks older than he is”, the agency’s youngest model is 60.

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Dedicated Online Seller Models All of His Dresses Himself

A lot of people are reluctant to buy affordable clothes from Chinese online marketplaces like Alibaba, because, many times, the pictures advertised by the sellers don’t match the actual products. Well, one dedicated seller decided to reassure potential customers that what they see is what they’ll get, by modelling his elegant dresses himself. Talk about going above and beyond, right?

Photos of the male Chinese seller modelling several of his elegant gowns went viral on Reddit a few days ago. They were allegedly posted by a customer of his who requested real-life photos of the dresses and got a lot more than she bargained for. User 10lbsofmum claimed “I found a shop that sold prom dresses and wedding dresses so I asked for real photos rather than stock photos and the seller sent me these of him trying them on”, but that’s most likely a lie, since the same photos can be tracked back to October 2017, when they were originally posted to a closed Facebook group called “ALIEXPRESS AND EBAY LOVERS. But regardless of the real story behind the pics, you can’t help but admire this seller’s dedication.

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From Mugshot to Head Shot: How One Young Man Went from Felon to Professional Fashion Model

Last year, 20-year-old Mekhi Alante Lucky got himself arrested in North Carolina for speeding and driving a stolen vehicle. Little did he know that this even would completely change his life for the better. The young man’s mugshot soon went viral and he recently signed with an Atlanta modelling agency.

True to his name, Mr. Lucky managed to avoid jail time when he was arrested, in May of last year, but managed to get himself in trouble several times since then, amassing quite the criminal record. Between April 2016 and December 2016, he was booked for alleged assault on a female, alleged breaking and entering plus resisting a public officer, and twice, for misdemeanor violations of his parole. But his troubled past didn’t stop Atlanta-based St Claire’s Modeling Agency from signing Mekhi to its roster, as soon as they saw his original mugshot on social media.

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Designer Spends 9 Years Building the World’s Most Elaborate Paper Plane

Paper planes usually take about a minute to make, but one artist spent a whopping 9 years working on one, and he’s not even done yet. But, then again, this isn’t your usual paper plane, but a perfect 1:60 scale replica of an Air India Boeing 777.

25-year-old Luca Iaconi-Stewart, a young designer from San Francisco, describes himself as a “crazy guy who loves aviation” and, after hearing that he spent over 10,000 hours, for a period of nine years, working on a paper airplane in his parents’ home, some people might be inclined to agree with him. But as soon you witness the level of detail he has been able to achieve using only cut-out paper folders, you are overwhelmed by a feeling of awe.

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13-Year-Old Japanese Girl Sparks Debate about Age in the Modelling Industry

Momoka Kurita made quite an impression when she posed as a “race queen” during a superbike racing event in Japan, last year. Adult men showered her with compliments for her stunning looks, but little did they know that she was just 12-years-old at the time, and still in elementary school.

Her appearance at the 2016 48th MFJ Grand Prix, in Suzuka, kickstarted Momoka’s modelling career, but it also sparked a heated online debated about age in the industry. While recognizing her stunning looks, many argued that dressing a 12-year-old child in a sexy attire and having her participate in an adult event was just wrong. Most of them blamed the parents, but the now 13-year-old girl claims that nobody forced her into it, and that her parents are just supportive of her dreams.

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Androgynous Man Wins Lingerie Photo Contest Intended for Women

A 20-year-old man from Russia’s Sakhalin Oblast region recently made national headlines after being declared the winner of a women’s lingerie photo contest organized by a popular store chain.

Andrey Nagorny, a resident of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, heard of the online photo contest through his girlfriend. Aware of his feminine features, they decided to take a few photos of Andrey wearing some sexy women’s lingerie and enter them into the contest, just for fun. Andrey’s girlfriend, whose name has not been made public, fixed his hair and did his makeup before asking a talented photographer to snap some rather professional-looking photos of him and submitting them to the contest organizer online. They expected to get a good laugh out of the whole thing, but what they didn’t expect was for Andrey to be declared the winner.

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Japanese Fashion Designer Has Her 93-Year-Old Cool Grandma Model Her Creations

Meet Emiko, a supercool granny taking the Japanese fashion industry by storm. At age 93, she’s got the spunk and energy of a six-year-old, and she’s positively adorable as she models her granddaughter Chinami Mori’s colorful creations.

Chinami is a fashion designer from Osaka, who specialises in Saori – a freestyle hand-weaving technique that produces playful, unpatterned garments. She uses lots of bright, colorful fabric and yarn to create whimsical clothing and accessories like hats, scarves, bags, tops, and more at her studio. Saori is based on the idea that anything goes and what’s important is heart. “There are no rules,” she explained. “I can weave as freely and colorfully as I want.”

Emiko, who Chinami describes as her “favorite person in the world,” would stop by at the studio every day just to spend time with her. Eventually, she started trying on a few of the clothes and accessories that her granddaughter made. And Chinami realised that she’d found her perfect model for her designs. So she got Emiko to pose and took a few photographs, later posting them on Instagram. The response of her fans was overwhelmingly positive and the 93-year-old grandmother has become a regular feature on the designer’s Instagram account, attracting new followers with each new photo she posts.

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59-Year-Old Fashion Model Is Still Giving Young Girls a Run for Their Money

At age 59, the lovely Yasmina Rossi is breaking all the rules of the fashion world. Despite her age, she is a highly sought-after model, working for several international brands.

French-born Yasmina had an unusual start to her career – she began modelling in her late twenties, which is when most professional models retire. She got her big break at age 45, when she relocated to New York. That’s when she starred in ad campaigns for Macy’s, AT&T, and Mastercard. Eventually, she landed a job modelling for Marks & Spencers in Europe.

Everyone is naturally curious to know the secret behind her everlasting beauty, but Yasmina says there is none. “All I have ever done is eat organic food – long before it became trendy,” she told the Sunday Times’ Style Magazine. She also gets a bit of exercise, a healthy diet, and plenty of rapeseed oil for her hair and skin.

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35-Year-Old Czech Model Dubbed “Human Ken Doll” Credits 43 Plastic Surgeries for Successful Career

At 35-year-old, Robert Paulat is practically a pensioner in the world of male modelling, but somehow he is still signed with Vanity Fair, one of the most prestigious agencies in Europe, and getting plenty of lucrative contracts. He says it’s all thanks to his uncanny likeness to a Ken doll, the result of over 40 plastic surgeries he’s had done throughout his career.

Botox, plasma treatments, and operations to change his nose and mouth – Paulat has been through them all. And he’s not ashamed to admit that it was these procedures that helped him maintain a youthful, photogenic look for so long. “I am obsessed with the idea of raising people’s self-confidence through improving one’s appearance,” he said. “I think that proves I am not narcissistic because there is always something I’m not happy with.”

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Meet Moffy, the Cross-eyed Model Challenging Fashion Beauty Standards

Moffy is not like every other female supermodel. Sure, she is young, beautiful, talented and has the right body measurements, but there’s also something that tells her apart from all the other professional models. Moffy is cross-eyed.

Most girls are denied a career in the modelling industry because of their physical “flaws”, but in young Moffy’s case, her strabismus, a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other, was exactly what helped her succeed in the fashion world. Before her now-famous photo-shoot for POP Magazine, Moffy had never been photographed for a fashion mag, but her pure, unconventional beauty seduced everyone, even the people at Storm, the model agency that discovered Kate Moss, who recently signed Moffy. Tyrone LeBon, the photographer who worked with her for POP, said: “Moffy is a girl who my girlfriend Adwoa suggested to Max [Pearmain] and I. We chose to shoot her because we had recently shot with models and wanted a change. Moffy had never been photographed for a magazine and it’s always exciting to work with someone where there is uncertainty about how it might work out.” I for one think it turned out pretty awesome.

Moffy

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