Chief Editor Rhiannon D’Averc takes us through what’s been going on behind the scenes with this year’s Face of London Runway competition, and what’s next!
If you’ve been following us on social media or reading our recent issues, you’ll know that we’re already full steam ahead on the Face of London Runway 2021! Our favourite event of the year is well underway, and there’s a lot happening behind the scenes that you might not know about.
First, we took entries through a form on our website. That stage is now closed, so we’re not accepting any further entrants this year! If you’re disappointed and would love the chance to get further in your modelling career with your face on our cover, then make sure to sign up to our email newsletter via our website. You’ll get updates when we launch the 2022 competition!
When we’d taken all of our entries, we asked everyone to submit a short video telling us who they are, to introduce you to them for the first time. We selected some of these to feature in brief clips on our Instagram and Facebook pages – go ahead and check them out whenever you get a chance! We have one clip for the menswear entrants and one for the womenswear entrants, so don’t miss both.
After taking a careful look through all of the entries, we selected only some of them to come through for a Zoom interview round. This consisted of groups of up to ten models, all live together at the same time. They were judged by myself and our competition partner Maxine Griffiths, a model coach and our long-time friend! You can check her out on @the_model_workshops to get her insights into the competition, too.
Each of the models was asked first to chat with us, to tell us all about themselves, and to answer a few questions to test their knowledge and speaking ability. We met some incredibly interesting people –from MMA fighters to Latin dancers, and from classical pianists to radio personalities! Alongside them were accountants, dentists, and foster carers, showing us that models can really come from all walks of life.
Speaking of walks – the second half of each Zoom call was dedicated to just that. Maxine put each of them through their paces with a few walks up and down in front of the camera, and dispensed some of her timeless wisdom to keep everyone going until the next round.
The selection process is extremely difficult each year, and we always think we’d love to put every single person through. But we have to make those tough choices, and make them we did. From almost 250 applicants, we’ve managed to cut the entries down to less than 50 for the next stage.
What is the next stage? Well, you’ll read all about it in our next issue! We’ll be meeting all of our competitors in person for the first time, to see how they do in front of a real camera. Photoshoot challenges, group and individual work, catwalk practice, and more – it’s all going to happen next month ahead of our July issue. When we speak again, we’ll be presenting you with behind the scenes images from that event. More importantly… we’ll also be sharing our top ten!
The top ten models will battle it out for the crown, lobbying for your votes on social media. We’ll be asking you to vote on Instagram and on Facebook, so don’t miss out on the chance to make your voice heard! That’s all coming from the 27th July, so stay tuned – and don’t forget to wish our competitors luck. With an extremely competitive field this year, as always, they’re going to need it…
