Faces to Watch at New York Fashion Week

One of the great joys of following Fashion Week is the almost-sport of model hunting. Every season, there are certain faces that seem to come from nowhere and steadily take over the runways. Some of them become Natalia Vodianovas and Freja Behas, and some fade away into obscurity. It's never possible to pinpoint exactly who will keep booking the big shows, but it never hurts to try, right?

Kati Nescher

(Russian-German, 5'11", born 12/12/1984, DNA)

The thing that everybody zones in on about Kati Nescher is her age. Yes, she's 27. And she has a son. However, what's important is that she's walked for just about every leggy girl's dream designer roster: in the same year she signed with DNA models, she booked Prada, Armani Prive, Marni, Jil Sander, Valentino, Celine, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, YSL and Missoni shows, rounding it out with the Alexander McQueen Pre-Fall presentation shoot. In addition to having a perfectly symmetrical face that transitions effortlessly from sweet to smoky and nearly perfect proportions, I'm thinking there must be something to her claim in a New York Magazine interview that modeling is more about personality than age.

Image: fashionmodeldirectory.com

Caitlin Lomax

(Australian, 5'10", born 07/08/1993, IMG)

After debuting at Chanel and booking a Prada lookbook, a new model is, and forgive the cheesy clichè here, sitting pretty. Despite doing just that, Caitlin Lomax isn't slowing down. She walked for 3.1 Phillip Lim, Topshop Unique, Prada, Alberta Ferretti, Louis Vuitton, and Miu Miu this past September. And with a brilliant intensity and something slightly askew (dare I say, Kate Moss-y?) about her, it will be no surprise if she's a runway staple this year and for many seasons to come.

Image: newfacesinfashion.blogspot.com

Corinna Ingenleuf

(German, 5'11", born 1988, Ford)

Andrej Pejic gets all the glory for being able to switch genders like he switches shoes, but newcomer Corinna Ingenleuf deserves major androgyny points too. With her shaggy prep school cut, piercing blue eyes and glass cutting bone structure, she's definitely not going to get lost in the stable of wispy fairy-faced models. Corinna is also quickly building a pretty solid portfolio: since being signed by Ford less than a year ago, she's walked for Nicole Miller and Pringle of Scotland (in a swimsuit, no less) and has been shot for Vogue, W, Interview and MaxMara's 2012 campaign. I wager she can slip in to a few menswear shows and cause a stir for being the prettiest boy in the building.

Image: allaboutmodels.tv

David Chiang

(Taiwanese, 6'2", born 12/22/1988, Major)

Speaking of androgyny and the prettiest boy in the building, Corinna may have a rival in David Chieng. A buddy of Andrej Pejic (long man manes club?), Chiang hasn't garnered as much knee jerk attention as his blonde counterpart, but by no means does that mean he's less pretty. Shot from above, David's features soften and feminize, head on he looks sculpturally masculine. Not a bad quality for an editorial model, and it seems designers agree: Chiang has walked for Dior Homme, Yohji Yamamoto, John Varvatos, Rad Hourani, Richard Chai and Rag & Bone.

Image: thefashionisto.com