DFF’s undiscovered gem who made it from the catwalk to the catalogue….
Each year, eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Fashion Fair (DFF) hosts an open casting for aspiring Durban models who are not registered with an agency and who reside within the greater eThekwini region, in order to provide them with a platform to wear the creations of top local, national and international designers.
Thousands of optimistic models turn up over the two-day process with the hopes that they will make it into the top ten male or female selections, giving them the opportunity to kick-start their modelling careers.
One of the new face models from the 2018 intake, is Dimitri Kalamoudacos, a 25-year-old Westville lad, was amongst the hopefuls selected to be one of the ten male DFF new faces this year. As a young Independent Marketing Consultant and Business Analyst entrepreneur and owner of a technology start-up company, it may have been odd to find a man like Kalamoudacos at a model casting. His long-time partner saw potential in him and pushed him to attend the casting. Today, he is one of Durban’s fasting growing male models in the industry thanks to her efforts!
Kalamoudacos underwent an intense model boot camp that prepped the DFF New Faces for the model industry. During the 8-week training programme, the new faces received instructions in all aspects of modelling, including techniques of walking the ramp alongside professional models, etiquette at photographic sessions, as well as how to keep fit and healthy. “I had never doubted my ability to walk until someone was on the other end judging! The fitness wasn’t an issue for me as I am a bit of a fitness fanatic, but juggling my business, modelling, family and fitness was hard, but I was able to manage my time so that I found a reasonable balance.” Says Kalamoudacos.
The Durban Fashion Fair awarded great opportunities for Kalamoudacos. Shortly after the 7th Durban Fashion Fair which took place in September at the 20th instalment of the Durban Business Fair, he was approached by many brands wanting to work with him and even signed with one of South Africa’s biggest modelling agencies – Boss Models International.
“The DFF experience as a whole was majestic and I had the time of my life, from start to finish. In the rehearsals it quickly became obvious that the new faces had training that some of the other models had not been afforded thanks to the DFF boot camp.” Kalamoudacos says.
Within a short period of time Kalamoudacos has achieved what some models, with years of experience, only dream of. He was recently featured on Vogue Italia’s website and has worked with one of the biggest names in Durban’s fashion Industry, Jacqui Emmanuel. He also recently became an ambassador for ‘The Secret Groomers’ (a company who produces handmade beard oil) approached him because of his unique look.
In the next five years, he plans on continuing to work hard in the business sphere of his life and has now added a modelling aspect to his weekly routine too.
The wise words he lives by are: “There is no such thing as a self-made millionaire; people need other people to help them succeed. Therefore, always be self-aware, know your strengths and weaknesses, learn how to work well within a team and be able to motivate those around you. Only then will you find success.”
To see when next the DFF will be calling for potential models, keep an eye on their facebook page: Durban Fashion Fair or Twitter / Instagram @Dbnfashion_fair.