Rhiannon D’Averc introduces the finalists for the Face of London Runway 2022 – and how we reached this point.
After a long journey whittling down 800 entrants to just 10, we’re here at last: the final round of the Face of London Runway 2022.
If you’ve missed all the excitement so far, here’s how it all happened!
Back in May, an entry form appeared on our website, allowing entrants to submit photographs, videos, and their essential details. We also put the word out via a few different casting sites across the width and breadth of the internet, but everyone had to submit the same materials to make it through.
In our first round, we heard from 800 applicants– excluding the one who managed to somehow sneak in AFTER we’d shut down the form and removed all public links to it… we enjoyed the ninja skills, but rules are rules! The homes of our applicants ranged from Australia, to Nigeria, to Myanmar, to Canada and the US, to Italy, to Belgium, and of course, to right across the UK.
We narrowed this list down to the most promising people to go ahead to our virtual round. Across nine group Zoom calls, Rhiannon and Maxine Griffiths met the top 90 entrants we had chosen to go through, asked them some questions about their modelling experience and goals, and put them through their paces with a virtual walk at home. We chatted with people from all around the world and from all walks of life, and plenty of invaluable advice was dispensed!
It was brutal to try to cut down the list, but we made it – just 40 of the models were invited to our semi-final event in Wood Green. At MAAD vegan café, we captured three shots of each model according to a specific set of briefs. You’ll see the shots of our finalists on the next few pages! Our talented staff photographers were behind the lenses. Ian Clark took headshot-style portraits, Fil Mazzarino was on hand to capture some Old Hollywood glamour, and Mrityunjoy Mitra finished them off with a colourful full-body portrait to showcase their personalities!
When we were all done with pictures, Maxine put the contestants through their paces on the catwalk together with a workshop which gave every single attending model a chance to develop and improve their runway walk. Throughout the day, Rhiannon also captured videos of each model – and all of this was assisted in no small part by our team members Amber Johnson and Kwabena Gyane!
It was a fun day with a lot of great work put in, and everyone battled valiantly against the oppressive heat of the sun during London’s incredible heatwave. We were so lucky not to be holding the semi-final even a couple of days later, when the hot weather might have prevented us from going ahead, but we made it through in style!
After all was said and done, we had a huge group of talented and gorgeous models – all of whom had potential as finalists. But when it came down to the wire, we had to make some extremely difficult choices.
Only ten of them could make it through to the final round. Five entrants in the womenswear category, and five in the menswear category. What a difficult decision it was – but we finally made it!
In alphabetical order only, they are…
WOMENSWEAR
RHIANNON BARBER
MARYPRECIOUS IKE
SHANA PLATT
JULIAN SYLVESTER
ROSANNA WILD
PIPPA WINN
MENSWEAR
FLINN ANDREAE
KYLE CATTELL
MG GRAZYS
SAINEY KANTEH
MARC LONDON
PEMMY OPEAYE
So, what happens next?
You can see the final images for our top ten finalists over the coming pages. You’ll also find them on Instagramand Facebook, posted individually from the 28th July. We’ll be opening the vote to you, members of the public and our readers, to hit ‘like’ on the finalist that you’d love to see win. We’ll end up with one womenswear winner and one menswear winner, with two runners-up in each category, based on a combination of your votes (50%) with our judging scores (50%).
And we can tell you, it’s all very tight –there’s a lot to play for here! In both 2020 and 2019, the winners really came down to the line – we had such a close run on the public vote that the judge’s score tipped the winner into first place. Last year, we had a huge upset with some disqualifications, leaving those who thought they had no chance suddenly facing a shot at the victory. This means that every single vote really counts!
The vote will close on the 20th August and you’ll be able to meet the winners in our next issue!
They’ll be getting an exclusive cover shoot with us, help with their modelling career over the next year, and invaluable advice from Maxine via The Model Workshops to allow them to develop their skills.
Over the coming weeks, be sure to check up on @londonrunwaymag to see more of the stunning shots which we couldn’t possibly fit in these pages.
And don’t forget to check out @the_model_workshops to see what our judge Maxine is up to!
