How to really find the world's next top model
By Lianne Turner and Allyssia Alleyne, CNN
Updated 1715 GMT (0015 HKT) September 25, 2015
(CNN)If you've ever flipped through at a fashion magazine, say, or perhaps looked up at a perfume billboard, you'll recognize one of Riccardo Tisci's girls. Over the last decade, the Givenchy creative director has personally discovered and, in the eyes of many, anointed some of the industry's top models.
His seal of approval has seen virtual unknowns catapulted to lucrative endorsement deals, prestigious advertising campaigns and regular appearances in the pages of every edition of Vogue.
"I am very well known in the fashion business because I discovered so many of them who became stars, like Joan Smalls, Saskia [de Brauw], Lara Stone, Natasha Poly," Tisci says. "Each year, everyone is waiting [for] the girls of Givenchy like 'which one is the next girl?'"
The process usually goes something like this: Tisci sees a model at a casting or in photos. He books her as a catwalk exclusive, making her off limits to other fashion houses. At the end of the season, the girl finds herself with more runway and campaign offers than she can reasonably handle. Rinse, repeat.
Or maybe it's not so simple. Tisci can easily see up to 1500 models a year, so there's a lot of digging required to find the diamonds.
"I am [thinking] about personality because these days you do castings and meet so many beautiful girls, and sometimes they are not making it because they don't have the character or the strength to become an icon or a top model."
Here, Tisci breaks down how he discovered his favorite girls.
Leela Goldkuhl - The Next Big Thing
Notables: Givenchy exclusive for Spring/Summer 2016
First Givenchy experience: (see above)
Tisci's take: "You know when a girl she is going to become an icon. They have this way. They have this attitude, they have this way, their eyes ... She was an American girl. She didn't know who I was or probably what was Givenchy ... She came inside and had these big eyes like Bambi and these perfectly designed lips, white skin, tall, perfection of a body, and a fragility about her ... I put her in exclusivity. She is going to do the Givenchy campaign and I promise you she is going to be the next big American star for sure."