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You want to be on top? Ahead of his 20th anniversary runway show this Juneteenth weekend, New York-based designer Telfar Clemens will premiere his label’s first-ever reality style casting show. New Models is a filmed one-hour special that follows contestants through various challenges. It all culminates in a live audience vote to determine who will walk the runway.
Entirely street-cast, the show features new faces only. (After an open call via Instagram, the line for entry was four to five blocks down the street.) Participants then compete in a series of competitions of movement and self-expression, like the “Black Gaze Challenge” and a “Krazy Khaki Kontest.” According to the press release, this experience, in particular, was “part game show, part media experiment, and all Telfar.”
It’s also the next iteration of Telfar TV. The brand launched their media platform, a 24-hour Live-Linear TV network in collaboration with the Ummah Chroma Collective (‘community of colour’), in 2021 to address censorship, visibility, and broadcast autonomy. “Basically, we launched a TV Channel without any content—because we are tired of being content for other channels,” says the Telfar website.
Clemens founded his namesake brand in 2005 in New York City with the slogan, “It’s not for you—it’s for everyone.” He has gained renown for his cult-favorite Shopping Bag, also dubbed the “Bushwick Birkin,” alongside unisex apparel and accessories. As Beyoncé sang in “Summer Renaissance,” “This Telfar bag imported, Birkins, them shits in storage.” In 2024, the designer opened his first flagship store in New York, adjacent to Canal Street. Since its launch, Telfar has consistently challenged the norms of the fashion industry—this reality-show casting component of its first runway show in years is no different.
New Models premieres tonight, Wednesday, June 18 at 8 p.m. EST. Tune in, react live, and vote directly at this link.
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