NY Fashion Week Casting Brings Diverse Talent to Brooklyn

On Saturday, a crowd of models gathered in Bushwick, each of them hoping to qualify for the New York Fashion Week finals.

Organized by creative team SFWRUNWAY, the casting call brought out an array of eye-catching faces and figures, posing on six-inch heels and in form-fitting black outfits.

SFWRUNWAY founder Naomi Alabi chaired the event with a panel of assistants and designers as judges. The team selected 140 models in sizes 0-6 and 14+ to walk the runway during the shows on Wednesday, September 11, where 20 designers, including Hoodlvm, one of three finalists in Netflix’s Next in Fashion Season 2, will showcase their creations.

Alabi, a Nigerian immigrant, told BK Reader that she had always been creative and interested in fashion but wasn’t sure how to join the industry. She studied dentistry in college and later landed a fashion internship at IMG, a sports, fashion and events company, helping produce shows.

“It was a great foundation for my career, it allowed me to see what I felt at the time was an injustice in the industry, because there weren’t many platforms offering a voice to emerging designers,” Alabi said.

She launched SFWRUNWAY in 2016 after moving from Los Angeles to Brooklyn, and hosts events twice a year that align with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) calendar.

This year’s casting in Brooklyn drew hundreds of hopefuls, some of whom had walked the runway before, including Prospect Park resident Kwali Liggons.

“One of the things that SFW does well is how Naomi identifies great emerging designers, curates such diverse but equally fascinating talent,” Liggons said. “Over the course of many seasons, you get to see the show evolve from location to music to production. It’s been a blessing to watch that evolution.”

Nineteen-year-old Natalia Kwak was one of the first models to show up at the door before the casting began.

“Modeling empowers me and allows me to tap into a version of myself I didn’t know I had,” Kwak said. “I love the designers that SFW chooses,” she added. “I think they’re always so creative and a mix of people.”

Designer Timothy Nashhh was present at the casting to help select models. The theme of his collection this year is “surrender; a journey from darkness to light,” he said.

“We’re going to go from black denim all the way to platinum silk polyester,” Nashhh said. “It’s about how we were originally in darkness, but the moment we give our lives to Christ, we’re able to move into the light, and platinum and metal is light.”

The casting planning is extensive, with a lot of marketing and outreach to models and agents in their database, Alabi said. SFW tries to have a positive impact on all aspiring models to encourage them, regardless of whether they get selected.

“Even for someone with the highest level of confidence, it will be hard not to make rejection personal, even though you know that’s the nature of the industry,” Alabi said.

She added that her brand’s priority is to ensure it has a diverse talent pool, a sign of a slow but steady change across the fashion industry.

Liggons noted that while diversity on the runway has improved over the years, there is still room for better representation at the corporate level.

“I am always optimistic and I believe that we will become more and more closer to each other,” he said.