Models.com Blew Out 25 Candles on the Cake with a Bash Full of its Favorite Faces

Meowa Nicholas, Jordan Daniels, Grace ElizabethBray Johnson/BFA.com

On a chilly Tuesday evening, models, agents, casting directors, stylists and longtime Models.com readers climbed the lantern-lit stairs of Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya for a dinner celebrating the platform’s 25th anniversary.

Even as arctic temperatures swept through downtown Manhattan, guests braved the Orchard Street Glacier and ditched their rainbow furs and baseball caps. Vodka sodas were the drink of choice during the 7pm cocktail hour, and guests were greeted with the first of many toasts that evening.

The fairy-lit, dappled room is filled with faces that have graced campaigns, billboards and runways season after season – Alton Mason, Paloma Elsesser, Valentina Ferrer, Grace Elizabeth, Georgia Fowler and Calum Harper, to name a few. Friends and collaborators followed and celebrated the site, which has grown over the past quarter-century to become the industry’s de facto digital directory. “I was so happy when I finally got the Models.com account,” Harper said, pausing when a guest approached him to say how much her kids loved the TikTok videos he uploaded. “For models, it’s our IMDb,” model Mathieu Simoneau agrees, laughing. “I actually use their site every day.”

Attendees were ushered to their seats around 8:30 p.m., searching for their seat cards in booths as they made their way past plates of crispy tuna rice and ornate bamboo towers. At long, low wooden tables lined with candles and dotted with orchids, young models took their seats as they stole glances at casting directors and executives from IMG, Next, Muse and Elite.

Makeup artists, editors and designers find themselves surrounded by photographers, ballet dancers and emerging models, while family-style appetizers of shrimp siomai and steamed edamame are pushed onto rotating tabletops. “I’ve worked with almost everyone in this room,” hairstylist Jawara Wauchope said, looking around the room. “Models.com is this Database – It’s the ChatGPT of fashion. “

Guests found themselves torn between paper-thin sashimi and sushi rolls, lovingly garnished with avocado and flowers, all prepared in an open kitchen with a full view of the chefs. Soon, steaming plates of oxtail fried rice and fragrant vegetables were lined up and paraded through the crowd, past flashing lights, introductions and buzzing conversations.

Models.com CEO Stephan Moskovic is delighted. “This is a very exciting time for us; it’s kind of like a coming out party,” he told us Fashionthank everyone who came to raise a glass. With a busy week of trade shows ahead, some agents are sneaking out to deal with last-minute inquiries and 11th-hour bookings, but most are hanging around, content with the calm before the storm.