By JASON SHEELER / The Dallas Morning News
Brazilian models are in. Then they're out, replaced by pale, Eastern European creatures. Next, '80s dinosaurs, better known as Supermodels, make a return, only to be replaced by – you get the point. Fashion is fickle, and the modeling industry follows suit. Who knows why every fashion house suddenly clamors en masse to poster the world with, say, the gap-toothed visage of a Dutch teenager? But It Girls happen.
Two-time Fashion Dallas/Kim Dawson Model Search finalist, R'el Dade might be the next one. The recent Allen High School graduate, represented in Dallas by the Kim Dawson Agency and in New York with Marilyn Model Management, left for a glamorous "summer camp" in Manhattan last month. The 5-foot-11 discovery made the pilgrimage alongside hundreds of other genetically blessed hopefuls who are hitting NYC streets this June and July to build their portfolios.
"I've been working a lot this year," says R'el. "I feel like I've matured a lot, and my look has changed."
Unlike other, undiscovered hopefuls who are simply building their books with test shots, she's landed a 16-page editorial shoot for influential French fashion magazine Numéro, a fashion shoot for Interview magazine and was booked exclusively for Valentino during Paris' couture shows.
"There is no doubt that she is one of the best new faces in the New York market," says Kwok Chan, director of international scouting for Marilyn. "We are so excited to see her through her first Fashion Week," where R'el is set to make her New York runway debut in September.Think you might be the next It model? The 2009 FD/KD Model Search is under way. Visit dallasnews.com/modelsearch for details and an application, or apply in person at our Aug. 22 event.