The modeling business could be compared to mold casting – at a given time, models of the same mold seems to be the ones in demand and if one does not have the same features, then one’s out. A couple or so decades ago, hour glass-shaped, tan-skinned Brazilian models with their sun-kissed manes were the in thing with curvy model Gisele Bundchen in the frontline. Then came the dawn of the angelic beauties, models who have near feline facial features which looked otherworldly, with Russian model Natalia Vodianova being one of the prime examples.

However, in the recent New York Fashion Week, models were not chosen because they were from a particularly favored place or had the closer resemblance to preferred features or even because their body types met the standard. The girls who strutted their stuff on the ramp had one coveted factor – their unique flaws.

Not the Usual Stereotypes

It has been a recent pattern – a number of the most wanted ramp walkers nowadays flaunt their imperfections and they do so very well.

For one, English model Cara Delevingne looks “unplucked” with her bushy eyebrows yet her pairs add to her appeal making her hot in the catwalk. Casey Legler, a French swimmer-turned-model, Athena Wilson and Yorkshire beauty Sam Rollinson look more like men in a number of their pictures yet they’re starting a trend of cross-dressing models – women who can get away and actually look good in men’s garb.

If it was in another time, fashion critics might find Othilia Simon, Egle Jezepcikaite and Kelly Mittendorf good-looking but in an odd way yet they are one of the most wanted models for New York’s Fashion Week.

Throw in Kristen McMenamy who is considered the quirk pioneer in the Balenciaga campaign, model mother Sasha Pivovarova, Lindsey Wixon, Georgia May Jagger and newcomer Avery Tharp with their signature gap teeth looks…the list of models who have imperfections yet managed to snag spots in the NY Fashion Week events could go on.

Well, even golden-haired beauty Kate Upton possesses one aberration from the usual model yardstick – she is well endowed (especially in the upper part) compared to the usual runway posers the fashion world is accustomed to. A number of the conventionally beautiful models are even discovering their quirkiness purposefully. Take Charlotte Free, for example. Her pink-dyed hair has contributed exceptionally well to her modeling career.

Reasons Behind the Trend

Robin Black, a make-up artist from LA who has worked for big fashion names likes Allure and Diane von Furstenberg, tried to place a reason behind the big movement on quirks in modeling. “They [fashion campaigns] don’t want the cookie-cutter model.”

Mix Model Management creative director, Wayne Sterling, added his take on this big change. “There was a big phase when they all looked like clones: beautiful with amazing bodies, blank screens. You couldn’t distinguish one girl from another. It was a great aesthetic trick. A circle of powerful photographers, editors, and designers get bored of the flatness.”

Quirky models have even infiltrated major commercial jobs. For one, pink-haired Charlotte Free has snagged cosmetics giant Maybelline.