The waitress who became a couture model
Scouted at breakfast, Hanna Sylla is already the face of this season’s Paris Haute Couture, reveals Emily Cronin
Sunday night’s Miu Miu show in Paris may have starred mega-models such as Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Joan Smalls and Jourdan Dunn, but it also made for a stellar debut for newcomer Hanna Sylla.
Until last Thursday evening, Sylla, 22, worked as a waitress at Paris’s Hotel Tremoille. A chance meeting with Miu Miu casting director Anita Bitton – the woman behind supermodel runway line-ups for Marc Jacobs, Mulberry and other top fashion brands – saw her catapulted onto the catwalk for the brand’s Resort show.
“When Anita came into the studio and said she had scouted her waitress that morning at breakfast, we all laughed, but the minute Hanna walked in you could tell she’s a star,” says Katie Grand, the LOVE magazine editor and stylist for the Miu Miu show. “Her skin is perfect, she has amazing bone structure and she’s so elegant. Pat Mcgrath immediately spotted her backstage at the show and said, ‘Oh my god, who is she?’ She couldn’t believe how beautiful she is and that she’d never modelled before. Miuccia [Prada, the Miu Miu designer] loved her, too.”
“She’s the face of this season’s Paris Haute Couture,” leading make-up artist Mcgrath added of the Senegalese newcomer, who befriended Jenner and Hadid backstage and posed for pictures in Mcgrath’s make-up chair.
The Miu Miu show, held in the Paris Automobile Club, featured a parade of abbreviated racing suits and patchworked faux-fur coats. Sylla wore a short, navy boiler suit embellished with racing patches and a nametag that read “Elisabeth”. Although her expression on the runway remained inscrutable, the next day she made it clear she was elated with her lucky break.
“OMG! Last night was just one of the best night[s] of my life,” she wrote in an Instagram post, going on to thank casting director
Bitton and fellow models Jenner, Hadid and Adwoa Aboah for their support.
Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, Sylla said she had never modelled professionally and had only been working at the Tremoille for six months. “The show was amazing for me,” she said. “All the people supported me and walking down the runway was incredible.” As for her next steps, she said she’s already receiving calls from agencies. “I want to be a model. That’s all I want now.”
Miu Miu has a track record of launching modelling careers. So watch this space.