DO meet the model of the moment
From the beaches of Martinique to the runways of Paris, Karly Loyce is going fashionable places fast.
They say that fairy tales don’t come true, but Karly Loyce’s story comes pretty close. “When I was younger, I never would have thought something like this would happen to me,” says Karly, 24, who grew up on the Caribbean island of Martinique, where she played model in her first pair of heels at 13. Fast forward to her biology studies at a university in Chantilly, France. “I was just walking home after school and I was scouted,” she recalls. “It was simply incredible.”
She was quickly cast in her first fashion show for Céline’s autumn 2015 runway, even though she had exams at the same time, and admits that she was more nervous for the show than for her tests – until the moment that she stepped on the runway, that is. “I felt like, ‘It’s OK. It’s not so impossible.’ And it was magnifique et parfait!” says Karly, whose first language is French.
The fashion world went crazy. Céline cast her in its ad campaign, and Chanel, Stella Mccartney and Alexander Mcqueen scooped her up for their spring 2016 shows. Her big splash was especially welcome in an industry long overdue for diversity, and a departure from 2013, when some major fashion houses were criticised for shows that didn’t include a single model of colour.
Now, with Karly’s career set to skyrocket, she’s hoping for a shift: “It’s very important to see black girls and all types of people in fashion. Fashion should be a mirror of society. It’s interesting to see other types of models because we’re all different.”
And with her joie de vivre, Karly is certainly one of a kind. “I’m a model,” she says. “And I’m here!”