FACE OF LONDON RUNWAY 2023: THE FINALISTS!

of different European countries, 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 ten group Zoom calls, Chief Editor Rhiannon D’Averc met the top 100 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 posing challenge 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 Chocolate Studios, a stunning venue in the heart of Shoreditch

Once there, 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

Fil Mazzarino was on hand to capture classic portraits, Rhiannon D'Averc shot jewellery looks with items provided by Rove London, and Mrityunjoy Mitra was there to capture the beauty looks that the contestants created themselves!

We're so happy to have worked with Chocolate Studios and Rove Londonbe sure to check them out!

When they were done with official photography, each of the models also faced two more challenges: a quick video they had to shoot themselves as a self-tape, and a selfie challenge they had to post on Instagram – you may have seen some of them live under our hashtag #faceoflondonrunwaymag23!

All of this was assisted in no small part by our lovely assistant (and social media manager, advertising manager, and generally extremely useful person) Amber Johnson!

There with us on the day we also had a former alumnus: Sainey a top-three finalist from last year, on standby to dispense advice, help out with wardrobe issues, and lend a hand where it was needed!

It was a fun day with a lot of great work put in, and we were so pleased to see everyone working together, networking, and making friends with their fellow models!

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 beauty category, and five in the jewellery category What a difficult decision it was – but we finally made it! In alphabetical order only, they are

COREY

DAN HOLLAND

ESSENSE

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 Instagram, 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 beauty winner and one jewellery 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 In both 2021 and 2022, we had 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 will appear on our podcast London Runway Style as well as any other opportunities we can get to show them off And it doesn’t stop there, as our Face of London Runway alumni tend to pop up time and again as the years go by!

IGNACIO FERRER

JOE FOX

JULIE BOUTTIER

MUNASHE

Stephanie Shumba

RAPHAEL MARTIN

SAGE KIM

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

Following pages:

Classic headshots by Fil Mazzarino

@filmazzarino

Beauty shots by Mrityunjoy Mitra

@the mj studio

Jewellery provided by Rove London

@rove london, shots by Rhiannon