Spotted and Scouted: Famous Models Who Have Been Discovered on Unusual Places and on Social Media

From flea markets, eating at McDonald’s or posting on social media, top models have been scouted in the most unusual places that you would think twice if they indeed were ordinary people on the daily grind before. Although the traditional way of being discovered to be a top model remains, such as creating your modelling portfolio and presenting it to top modelling agencies, scouters are now more creative when it comes spotting a model in the making. Check out some of the famous models who have been scouted on the most unusual places!

1. Naomi Campbell – Spotted while window shopping at London’s Covent Garden. She was an aspiring ballerina then.
2. Coco Rocha (The Queen of Posing) – a Canadian model who was discovered while participating at a National Irish Dancing competition.
3. Gisele Bundchen – This former Victoria’s Secret Angel and runway model was spotted in the most unlikely places to discover a model. Then 14, she was spotted by a scout at Sao Paulo eating a Big Mac at McDonald’s during her school excursion.
4. Karlie Kloss – The Vogue cover girl and runway model was scouted at a charity fashion show in a mall in St. Louis. She was 13 then but caught the eye of Mother Model Management.
5. Behati Prinsloo – On a vacation in Cape Town, a man in the grocery store asked her if she was a model. The man gave his phone number but Behati didn’t follow up. However, during another trip to Cape Town, the daughter of Sarah Doukas, founder of Storm Models London approached her and invited her into the agency. Behati is also the wife of rock star Adam Levine.

Getting Scouted Via the Social Media

More and more modelling agencies are taking social media as one of the places to look for would-be models and they’re serious about it to even create their own campaign to search for models, just like what IMG Models and Marc Jacobs did . And since many top modelling agencies are now scouting via hashtags than the streets, let’s take a look at some of the ways models are scouted using the social media.

1. Nyle di Marco – America’s Next Top Model Cycle 22 grand winner was scouted through Instagram by the show’s producers. However, the producers didn’t know that he was deaf and he became the first deaf contestant on America’s Next Top Model.
2. Winnie Harlow – America’s Next Top Model Cycle 21 contestant was also scouted through Instagram. Now the brand ambassador of Desigual, she stood out because of a skin condition called Vitiligo that causes patches of skin to lose pigments. Social media banked on her unconventional beauty and she rose to fame.
3. James Charles – the first “Cover Boy” of Cover Girl was discovered via YouTube and Instagram. He has gained a lot of supporters in social media, which allowed him to become a beauty model and greatly influence others towards the acceptance of men wearing makeup.

IMG Models, Marc Jacobs, and other top modelling agencies and companies led the way for diversity in the modelling industry. Social media have shown that beauty comes in different sizes and shapes and that unconventional beauty can also land you a career in this most glamorous world apart from traditionally scouted through the streets.