The Most Surprising Models to Walk Fashion Week Fall 2019
After ruling the runway last season, supers and faces from the ’90s are now taking a back seat at Fashion Week. (Aside from a few star turns from Gemma Ward and Pat Cleveland.) So far this season, fall/winter 2019, has instead featured a surprising number of cameos from outside of the modeling industry. No one could miss Pen´élope Cruz, who made her runway debut at Karl Lagerfeld’s final show for Chanel, nor 66-year-old Mickey Rourke, who brought his dog with him to walk Philipp Plein. Others managed to stay low-key: At Batsheva, more people seem to have noticed Ali Michael‘s return to the runway for the first time in about a decade than the fact that Christina Ricci, also out of the public eye recently, hit the catwalk. And even runway regulars are making way for the newcomers; Kendall Jenner has only walked a single show this season, aka just as many as the preteens who walked Vaquera and the baby who walked—well, sat atop the shoulders of a model who walked—at Collina Strada. See all of their best efforts to measure up to Fashion Week’s real surprise winner, Grace Jones, here.
1
Zendaya might not be a casting director, or even a designer, but she more than proved herself to the industry at her joint show with Tommy Hilfiger during Paris Fashion Week, which featured not only entirely black models, but also none other than Grace Jones. As ever, Jones did not disappoint: The 70-year-old icon danced down the runway as expertly as she did decades ago at Studio 54.
2
Penélope Cruz paid her respects to the late Karl Lagerfeld from the runway, which she walked for the first time in honor of the late designer’s final Chanel show, just two weeks after his death.
3
Beverly Johnson, the ’70s icon who became the first African-American model to appear on the cover of Vogue in 1974, also turned up at Zendaya’s Tommy show.
4
Having warmed up at Marc Jacobs, Karlie Kloss made her way on to Paris to join the Hadid sisters at Off-White’s fall/winter 2019 show in March 2019. (Her lob, on the other hand, did not.)
5
Smiles are usually a runway rarity, but ’80s and ’90s supermodel Beverly Peele, who’s amassed more than 250 magazine covers over the course of her career, couldn’t stop grinning when she joined Jones on the runway at Tommy Hilfiger’s spring 2019 show with Zendaya during Paris Fashion Week in March 2019.
6
Veronica Webb, who memorably turned up amidst the 700-plus models that Kanye West enlisted for Yeezy Season 3, returned to the runway this season not once, but twice. After joining Christina Ricci at Batsheva in New York, she journeyed on to Paris in March 2019 to join Jones, Johnson, Peele, and the rest at Tommy Hilfiger.
7
Cara Delevingne joined Gigi Hadid in bleaching her eyebrows for Prada’s fall/winter 2019 show during Milan Fashion Week in February 2019.
8
Less than a year after she gave birth to her second child, 30-year-old Coco Rocha stepped out at Akris’s fall/winter 2019 show during Paris Fashion Week in March 2019—this time, sans her two-year-old daughter, who made her runway debut last year.
9
Back in 2015, Vanessa Moody was practically everywhere. And while she still occasionally turns up the runway, her days of walking 50-plus shows per season are definitely in the past. Understandably, though, this season she returned to the spotlight for Olivier Rousteing, who cast her in Balmain’s fall/winter 2019 show during Paris Fashion Week in March 2019.
10
Isabeli Fontana knows how to steal the show. (Exhibit A: That time she stepped off dry land in Venice and, to the Italian paparazzi’s delight, fully clothed into the Adriatic Sea.) She kept things a bit more casual but nonetheless made her presence known once again at Redemption’s fall/winter 2019 show during Paris Fashion Week in March 2019, marking her second runway appearance this year.
11
Pat Cleveland followed in Grace Jones’s lead at Tommy Hilfiger and Zendaya’s joint show during Paris Fashion Week, which she did her best to turn into a dance party.
12
Please do not read this caption before watching this hypnotizing video of Shalom Harlow dancing in Versace. All done? Now please proceed to take in this photo of the ’90s super opening Versace’s fall/winter 2019 show during Milan Fashion Week in February 2019.
13
Donatella Versace wasn’t messing around this season. (Or, well, ever.) In addition to Harlow, she also tapped ’90s super Stephanie Seymour to lead Versace’s fall/winter 2019 finale.
14
Stella Maxwell took a break from Victoria’s Secret to team up with Jeremy Scott not once, but twice—first at his eponymous label’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York, and again at Moschino’s fall/winter 2019 show during Milan Fashion Week in February 2019.
15
In a turn of events that was seemingly impossible two or so years ago, Kendall Jenner has been largely absent from the runway (and therefore hopefully free of Fashion Week anxiety). Versace’s fall/winter 2019 was in fact the first she’s walked so far this season, in February 2019.
16
Being accused of “failure to influence” clearly hasn’t slowed Luka Sabbat down. After walking LaQuan Smith in New York, he journeyed on to Milan to walk Benetton’s fall/winter 2019 show in February 2019.
17
Gemma Ward continued her comeback into the fall/winter 2019 season when she appeared at Etro’s fall/winter 2019—and 50th anniversary—show during Milan Fashion Week in February 2019.
18
A Miuccia Prada favorite since 2005, Freja Beha Erichsen added Prada to the selective roster of shows she’s taken to walking each season at Milan Fashion Week in February 2019.
19
Forty-one-year-old ’90s supermodel Guinevere Van Seenus has been surprisingly prolific this season, joining Gemma Ward at Etro’s fall/winter 2019 show in addition to appearing at Erdem and Marc Jacobs in February 2019.
20
Less than a year after she gave birth to her second child, Candice Swanepoel has already walked the runway of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Prabal Gurung’s fall/winter 2019 show, and, most recently, Versace’s fall/winter 2019 show during Milan Fashion Week in February 2019.
21
For the second time in less than a year, Chloë Sevigny stepped out on the catwalk, this time to walk Simone Rocha’s fall/winter 2019 show during London Fashion Week in February 2019.
22
It looks like Jacquetta Wheeler, star British model of the ’90s, is back to frequenting Fashion Week for the first time since 2015. In addition to walking Etro’s fall/winter 2019 show, she also appeared at Burberry and Gareth Pugh in February 2019.
23
Twenty-eight years after appearing on one of Vogue‘s most famous covers alongside supers like Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, 52-year-old Tatjana Patitz returned to the runway for Etro’s fall/winter 2019 show during Milan Fashion Week in February 2019.
24
It’s been more than five years since industry vet Lily Cole returned to the runway for Simone Rocha in February 2019.
25
Sixty-six-year-old actor Mickey Rourke brought his dog along to walk the runway of Philipp Plein’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
26
Socialite, singer, and sometimes model Pixie Geldof had quite the busy London Fashion Week; Pringle of Scotland’s fall/winter 2019 show was just one of her appearances on the runway in February 2019.
27
The 68-year-old supermodel Pat Cleveland continued her five-decade reign in fashion when she walked the runway of Hellessy’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
28
Forty-eight-year-old model and former Helmut Lang muse Kirsten Owen isn’t done with the runway just yet, as she also proved at Simone Rocha in February 2019.
29
Sara Ziff usually sticks behind the scenes, but the founder of the Model Alliance went back to her modeling roots at Deveaux’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
30
Vaquera gave a pre-teen the chance to join in on its usual models’ practice of stomping down the runway at its fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
31
Daphne Groeneveld is slowly but surely returning to the runway; the 24-year-old walked three shows during New York Fashion Week fall/winter 2019, including Cushnie, in February 2019.
32
Lindsey Wixson, who was all of 23 years old when she announced that she was retiring, doesn’t seem to be giving herself much of a break; she still showed up at New York Fashion Week to walk for Marc Jacobs.
33
At all of 31, Caroline Trentini has already made her comeback by walking the runway of shows like Michael Kors Collection during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
34
Iekeliene Stange also joined the gang at Simone Rocha, marking one of the Dutch model’s recently rare appearances on the runway.
35
Gwendoline Christie wasn’t the only actress, but certainly the tallest one (6’3″) to walk the runway of Tomo Koizumi’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
36
Karlie Kloss has largely stayed clear of the runway in the past few years, but the newly married supermodel joined her hero, Christy Turlington, in walking Marc Jacobs’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
37
Collina Strada made an adorable exception to the New York Fashion Week’s age restrictions at their fall/winter show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
38
Emily Ratajkowski joined Bella Hadid in channeling a high-fashion loofah on the runway of Tomo Koizumi’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
39
After retiring from the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Alessandra Ambrosio returned to the runway for John John Fashion’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
40
Vaquera made sure the pre-teens had company at its fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
41
Seventeen-year-old Rowan Blanchard also transformed into a loofah with mini bangs for Tomo Koizumi’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
42
Like her husband, Keith Richard, Patti Hansen isn’t slowing down any time soon; the 62-year-old, who’s signed to DNA, closed Michael Kors Collection’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
43
Ali Michael’s days as a fixture of Fashion Week are about a decade or so in the past, but the model and newfound Instagram star returned to the runway for Batsheva’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
44
Kloss and the rest of the models that Marc Jacobs tapped for fall/winter 2019 following Christy Turlington’s lead in closing the show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
45
Designer Batsheva Hey (right)’s latest muse, Christina Ricci, managed to keep a low profile at Batsheva’s fall/winter 2019 show during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
46
With a little help from Karen Bjornson and Alva Chinn, Pat Cleveland also stole the show at Naeem Khan’s fall/winter outing during New York Fashion Week in February 2019.
