<p dir="ltr"><span>Follow along as <em>L'OFFICIEL</em> highlights 11 models who should be on your radar before the September shows begin.</span></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Every fashion month arrives with a new crop of faces, but this year the door was harder to get through. Casting for <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/fall-winter-2026-fashion-campaigns-trends-photos-inspiration-looks-jackets-coats">Fall/Winter 2026</a> consolidated around models who had already broken out, with houses favoring familiar faces and, encouragingly, a growing number of older ones. Fewer true newcomers made it onto the calendar at all.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Which makes the ones who did worth paying attention to. These are the women who cut through a tighter field than usual, and several of them are doing it with barely a few thousand Instagram followers to their name. They are opening shows in Paris, fronting campaigns shot by <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/loewe-spring-2019-ad-campaign">Steven Meisel</a> and Zoë Ghertner, and walking <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/karl-lagerfeld-chanel-metiers-d-art-collection-2013-2014-americana-photos-coco-chanel">Chanel</a> four times in a season, all while remaining (almost) entirely unwritten about.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Their paths there are just as varied. One was scouted on a subway platform while finishing her master's degree. One was working in a São Paulo pizzeria. One was found at church in Lagos.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>New York is where the next chapter gets decided. Fashion month opens there, which means casting directors in Milan and Paris spend that first week watching who books in New York and adjusting their own lists accordingly. A model who does well on the American calendar arrives in Europe with momentum behind her. One who doesn't spends the rest of the month trying to catch up. The city has always worked as the industry's proving ground, the place where a house will take a chance on a face nobody has seen because the stakes are lower and the payoff, when it lands, follows the model through three more cities.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>This September gives them plenty of room to do it. The New York Fashion Week <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/new-york-fashion-week-schedule-spring-summer-2027-cfda-calendar">calendar</a> alone runs from the 10th through the 15th with roughly 70 shows, and it is unusually stacked with debuts.&nbsp;<a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/henry-zankov-diane-von-furstenberg-artistic-director-fashion-news">Henry Zankov</a> opens the week with his first collection as artistic director of Diane von Furstenberg. <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/gen-z-most-anticipated-nyfw-shows-spring-summer-2027">Conner Ives</a>, Magda Butrym, and Sabyasachi are all new to the official schedule. Tommy Hilfiger returns to The Plaza, and Thom Browne closes things out on the 15th. New designers mean new casting, and new casting is exactly where a face like these gets made. Below, </span><em>L'OFFICIEL</em><span> rounds up the models to know before it starts.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Mahi Kabra</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Mahi Kabra was never planning on this. Trained as an architect and product designer, the Indian-born, American-raised model was scouted on the New York subway just two weeks before <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/bottega-veneta-louise-trotter-debut-spring-summer-2026">Bottega Veneta</a>'s Spring/Summer 2025 show, where <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/chanel-haute-couture-spring-2026-runway-photos-matthieu-blazy-debut-models-vip-celebrity-guests">Matthieu Blazy</a> cast her on the spot for an exclusive debut. <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/dior-haute-couture-fall-winter-2026-runway-images-photos-sabrina-carpenter-sheer-dress">Dior</a> followed almost immediately. What she offers is something the industry has quietly been short on, which is a person with a full life behind her rather than a career that began at 15. That reads on a runway, and casting directors have clearly noticed.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Bhavitha Mandava</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>The story sounds invented. A scout approached Bhavitha Mandava on the platform at Atlantic Avenue while she was finishing a master's in integrated design and media at NYU. She said no. He came back. She said no again. Only when he mentioned that modeling could clear her student debt did she reconsider. By the time she graduated in May 2025 with that master's and a bachelor's in architecture from Hyderabad, she had already walked Bottega Veneta, Dior, and Chanel. In December, she became the first Indian model to open a Chanel show, a distinction that took the house more than a century to hand out, and her editorial credits are already beginning to stack up.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Thalita Ferreira</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>When Models.com polled five of the industry's most influential casting voices about the season's standouts, four of them named Thalita Ferreira independently. That almost never happens, and it tells you more than any show count could. The 19-year-old Brazilian was discovered working in a pizzeria in São Paulo and opened Saint Laurent's <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/men/popped-collar-trend-prep-yuppie-resurgence-fall-winter-2026-how-to-style-origins">Fall/Winter 2026</a> show as a semi-exclusive in her first Paris season, which is roughly the fashion equivalent of debuting in a lead role. A Chloé campaign shot by Inez and Vinoodh followed within months.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Josephen Akuei</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Josephen Akuei trained as a competitive track athlete before she modeled, and it shows in her walk, which is the thing people keep singling out. A runway walk is harder to teach than a face, and hers reads as genuine physical authority rather than performance. The Australian and South Sudanese model debuted at Chanel and has become something close to a house fixture since, turning up in the couture show, the pre-fall and Cruise campaigns, and the Métiers d'Art reprise in Seoul. Steven Meisel shot her for <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/dolce-and-gabbana-alta-moda-2026-collection-photos-models-celebrities">Dolce &amp; Gabbana</a>.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Faith Johnson</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Faith Johnson grew up in Ikorodu, Lagos, raised by a mother who taught school and often worked unpaid to keep her children enrolled. She was scouted at church. Her international career began with a <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/men/prada-mens-spring-summer-2027-collection-runway-photos-review">Prada</a> debut cast by Ashley Brokaw, which is about as strong an entry point as the industry offers, and she has since walked <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/pieter-mulier-leaving-alaia-exit-next-role-rumours-versace-creative-director-facts-to-know">Alaïa</a>, Celine, <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/karl-lagerfeld-chanel-metiers-d-art-collection-2013-2014-americana-photos-coco-chanel">Chanel</a>, <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/yves-saint-laurent-photography-exhibition-nyc-vintage-retro-archival-fashion-photos-dates-location">Saint Laurent</a>, and <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/fendi-haute-couture-fall-winter-2026-runway-photos-see-all-the-looks-maria-grazia-chiuri-debut-front-row-celebrities">Fendi</a> couture while fronting campaigns for Celine and Fendi. An introvert by her own description, she spends the gaps between cities reading and taking cooking classes to learn local dishes.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Micklate Macobola</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Landing on the newcomer lists two years running is unusual, because the industry tends to either absorb a model completely or lose interest. Micklate Macobola has managed a third thing, which is to work constantly without ever quite becoming a name. The Mozambican model, signed through Da Banda in Lisbon, has walked <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/hermes-haute-couture-news-announcement-january-2027-show">Hermès</a> twice, plus <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/marc-jacobs-fired-after-perry-ellis-show-spring-summer-1993">Marc Jacobs</a>, <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/zig-zag-headband-trend-comeback-hailey-bieber-bella-hadid-chloe-sevigny-miu-miu-runway-inspiration">Miu Miu,</a> <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/alexander-mcqueen-skull-scarf-pattern-dress-where-to-buy-history-of-the-skull-scarf">Alexander McQueen</a>, <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/peter-copping-lanvin-debut-fall-winter-2025-collection">Lanvin</a>, Alaïa, and Carven. Casting directors clearly trust her, and the rest of the world is soon to follow.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Reagan Lee</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>The resort shows are the tell. <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/men/louis-vuitton-mens-spring-summer-2027-collection-runway-photos-review-celebrities">Louis Vuitton</a> in New York, <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/dior-haute-couture-fall-winter-2026-runway-images-photos-sabrina-carpenter-sheer-dress">Dior</a> in Los Angeles, <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/valentino-eyewear-sunglasses-new-collection-handbag-inspired-v-logo">Valentino</a> in Rome, all within a few weeks. Those are smaller, tightly cast productions that houses use to signal who they are invested in long term, and newcomers rarely get near them. Reagan Lee did all three in her first year, which is why IMG signed her to all five of its offices, and why editorial shoots&nbsp;arrived before she cracked 5,000 Instagram followers.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Cathy Simmons</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span><a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/ananya-panday-interview-quotes-grwm-chanel-haute-couture-fall-winter-2026-show-fashion-beauty-tv-shows-roles">Chanel</a> keeps calling. Cathy Simmons, signed out of Colours Agency in Glasgow, walked the <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/fall-winter-2026-creative-director-designer-debut-collections-heritage-identity-trends-fendi-giorgio-armani-balmain-marni">Fall/Winter 2026</a> show, then Resort 2027 in Biarritz, then the Métiers d'Art reprise in Seoul. Repeat bookings from a single house are the clearest signal in casting, because a first booking can be a fluke and a third one never is.&nbsp;</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Alina Miller</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Alina Miller compressed a career's worth of Paris into a single week. Chanel, Balenciaga, Celine, Givenchy, Schiaparelli, and <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/duran-lantink-jean-paul-gaultier-creative-director">Jean Paul Gaultier</a> all cast her within days of each other, which suggests the fittings went the way fittings go when everyone in the room agrees.&nbsp;The industry has made up its mind considerably faster than the internet has.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Myriam Dogo</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Closing a show is a specific kind of endorsement, and Myriam Dogo closed Lii in New York before the season had even taken off. Jil Sander, Dolce &amp; Gabbana, Emporio Armani, and Valentino in Rome followed.&nbsp;<a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/jil-sander-fall-winter-2026-milan-fashion-week-runway-images">Jil Sander</a> went further, casting her in the editorial that accompanied the collection, shot by Anuschka Blommers and Niels Schumm, which is the kind of booking that outlives a season. The American model has now made the newcomer list twice.</span></p>

<h2 dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><span>Poppy Miles</span></h2>

<p dir="ltr"><span>Poppy Miles has been building slowly, which is its own kind of story in an industry that prefers the overnight version. The British model, signed out of Linden Staub in London, has spent the past year moving between Valentino in Rome, Celine, Issey Miyake, MM6 Maison Margiela, and Sandy Liang. Nineteen shows is a serious workload, and the range of it, from Italian <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/beauty/haute-couture-fall-winter-2026-runway-beauty-inspiration-best-looks-eyeshadow-lips-hair-makeup">couture</a> to New York downtown, is what makes her interesting.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Watch the first week closely. <a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/paris-french-american-style-influence-lofficiel-archive-photoshoots-chic-inspo">New York</a> casting has a way of settling questions the rest of fashion month simply confirms, and several of these women will walk shows in the next two weeks that determine where they stand by the time Paris ends. The ones who book well here will be everywhere by October.&nbsp;</span></p>

Up-and-Coming Models to Know Ahead of New York Fashion Week

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