Nigerian Model is First Black Model to Win Elite Model Look. The Elite Model Look is globally recognized for discovering some of the modeling industry’s most bankable faces. This includes world’s highest-paid model Gisele Bündchen, as well as 90s supermodel icon Cindy Crawford. 33rd edition of Elite Model Look World Final held in the city of Lisbon.

Nigerian Model is First Black Model to Win Elite Model Look

The global model search, launched in 1983, had never seen a model of color come out as a winner before. 2016 Marks the year in which Nigerian model Davidson Obennebo broke the glass ceiling, as the winner of the male category. As part of his victory, the 20-year-old 6’2 student will bag a contract with the worldwide Elite network of modeling agencies, worth a guaranteed €50.000 over the course of one year. According to a Paris-based model booker, Obennebo is set to make his fashion week debut on the runways of Paris and Milan by January.

Spanish male model Andrés Velencoso was part of the judging panel – made up of Elite Management Worldwide President Vick Mihaci, male model veteran Alex Lindquist and Brazilian top model Isabeli Fontana – responsible for choosing the Nigerian International Business student as a winner.

Velencoso, who may consider himself one of the most sought-after faces in male modeling, has been a part of the industry for over 18 years. He was a long-time face of Chanel’s Allure Homme Sport fragrance, in addition to fronting ad campaigns for numerous fashion brands.

“Doing a perfume advertisement is probably the dream job for most male models. It keeps you working for a few years, pays well, and it’s good for your image,” the 38-year-old model says. “There aren’t many guys of my age that still do a lot of editorial work, but I believe that shooting for magazines is the key to longevity in a model’s career – it’s not just about booking ad campaigns,” the current face of the Cerruti 1881 Sport fragrance comments.

Velencoso’s fellow judge, one of Brazil’s most successful top models Isabeli Fontana, was a former contestant of the Elite Model Look herself, in the year 1996. The current face of L’Oréal and body of La Perla kicked off her modeling career aged 13 and has since steadily worked with the likes of Versace, Victoria’s Secret and Bulgari.

“Everybody used to tell me that I was ‘too commercial’. Because they thought of me as just the typical sexy girl kind of model,” Fontana, now 33, says when we meet in the corner of a Lisbon hotel bar. “There was this one time when I wanted to do the Balenciaga show but everybody kept telling me I was ‘too pretty’ for that type of job.

So I asked my booker when the casting would be, and went there to see the casting director after all the girls had left already. I was 17 at the time and a crazy control freak. Anyhow, I told the casting director I came to see her, even though she wasn’t expecting this.

I explained she didn’t know my new way of walking yet, so I walked across the room, and it turned out she liked it. I got the job, and got booked for Louis Vuitton as well as a bunch of other high fashion brands she was casting for,” the mother of two says, who believes persistence is key for any model trying to survive in a world which she refers to as one where “people will easily put you in the garbage if they can replace you with younger, fresher meat.”

Part of that new wave of younger, fresher models, is the Elite Model Look female category winner Jana Tvrdikova. The 15-year-old Czech Republic native will sign a €150.000 contract with Elite worldwide.

Fontana’s fellow Elite Model Look Brazil 1996 finalist Alessandra Ambrosio, is currently taking over the city of lights alongside her squad of Victoria’s Secret Angels, gearing up for the lingerie brand’s 2016 runway extravaganza. Isabeli, who has walked in the annual show numerous times, won’t be participating this year.

“I did that…let’s just put it that way.” She further adds, regarding the overall state of today’s fashion industry, “the business is a little bit strange right now, ‘cause social media came in and you’re only important if you have a certain amount of followers. I don’t think there’s a way back, even if I do understand that fashion is constantly evolving, trying to stay current. But the bottom line is, if you’re popular, you’ll work with certain clients.”

Source: Forbes.com