The ones without nepotism or the right connections will always have sizable roadblocks in their life.
It’s officially fall and if you love fashion, you know Paris and Milan fashion week have already begun. While innumerable brands and designers like Balmain, Valentino, Miu Miu, and Chanel have showcased their designs for spring 2024, there has been a lot of buzz around some of the new models who have walked the runway this season, especially one in particular. Natalia Bryant was captured walking her first-ever show at Milan Fashion Week, and the internet—as it always does like a full-time job—weighed in their thoughts and opinions on her walk.
Users online praised Bryant for her first runway show and stated that her walk will gradually get stronger as she does more shows. Others, however, argued that from the start of non-nepotism models’ careers, they couldn’t afford to have any flaws in their walk or even afford proper modeling lessons. They voiced how unfair this was since “non-nepo” models had to be perfect from the start of their careers with no training or connections, whatsoever.
While I do agree that it’s unfair that some have more advantages than others in the modeling industry (or in any industry to be honest), I would say it’s crucial to recognize that in any industry there is always nepotism. It’s just that being a nepotism model is extremely vocal since it’s publicized. For example, an employee has been working their way up at a company for 30+ years for a specific promotion to only get the position snagged by the boss’ child. A tale as old as time.
Further instance, a sixteen-year-old girl from Brooklyn wanting to work in the fashion industry gets the opportunity to work with a notorious designer on the Upper East Side of New York (a.k.a. Jenny Humphrey). In the show Gossip Girl, Jenny was able to work with Eleanor Waldorf due to her connections with Eleanor Waldorf’s daughter Blair, whose best friend Serena Van Der Woodsen was dating Dan Humphrey (Jenny’s brother) throughout the show on-and-off again.
Life has different paths for everyone, but the ones without nepotism or the right connections will always have sizable roadblocks. The majority of us don’t have a famous parent in the entertainment/modeling industry or have siblings who’d even get the chance to date a nepotism baby whose best friend’s mom happens to be one of the most successful fashion designers of all time. However, that doesn’t mean one should throw away everything they’ve been working towards because they don’t have any sort of special connections. It just means that one must roll the dice carefully and wish for luck to be on their side.