Although Kate Moss was discovered the "old-fashioned" way, spotted by an agent during her everyday routine, there are new faces popping up in the modeling world found via social media, more specifically - Instagram.
"At the end of the day, the coverage area is just greater," stated Luke Simone, an agent for Wilhelmina, according to The Daily Beast. "I definitely think that social media is becoming the new norm, specifically Instagram, because it allows the industry and agents like myself an instant, insightful, and efficient way of discovering potential talent."
Simone explained to The Daily Beast how he found 21-year-old Matthew Noszka via Instagram.
"After looking through his pictures and his videos," Simone said, "I knew that he would be a great fit with Wilhelmina."
Before Noszka could even get to New York to meet Simone in person, the agent already booked the new model after being impressed by his Instagram photos.
"I was supposed to come out to New York to meet Luke in the middle of August," Noszka told Cosmopolitan. "But he started sending the pictures I took at the gym and some of my Instagrams out to clients immediately. A couple days later he called me back and told me I had booked a job with Nike and needed to be in New York later that week."
Even now, one peek into his Instagram feed shows how he appears to be quite busy, including shoots with Versace. Although Instagram may seem like a good source for scouting the next big thing, the social media channel does pose some challenges, too.
"There is a safety element to it that we take quite seriously here [at Next]," stated Katy Moseley, the agency's director of PR.
Aly El, who represents Women Direct, said that even though Instagram is flooded with beautiful pictures of potential models, finding the right face can still be like looking for "a needle in a haystack."
She added, "You just have to be diligent in figuring out what they really look like."
It's been a while since fashion began its love affair with Instagram. The attraction between the two was instant and intoxicating. Members of the fashion industry flocked to this photo-sharing platform to help them visually relay fashion content to a large audience. Couture houses like Dior and Kenzo frequently use Instagram to share their upcoming projects with viewers.
To commemorate this relationship, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) announced a new Fashion Instagrammer of the Year award, earlier this year.
"Within at least the past six months, we've experienced the ever-growing influence of Instagram within fashion first hand," Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA, told WWD. "Instagram has been a focal point for the industry as a whole and has quickly established itself as the go-to platform for fashion storytelling."
The panel of judges for this award include Rachel Zoe, Stephanie Max from The Coveteur and The Editorialist's Stefania Allen and Kate Davidson Hudson.
