I spend more time than I care to admit looking for the perfect street-style shots for Vogue stories. While sometimes laborious, the process can also offer valuable insights into the current state of fashion: the trends front-row insiders are getting behind, or the emerging brands that are gradually building hype. But more than anything, it has confirmed one universal truth: models are the GOATs when it comes to off-duty dressing. I would even go as so far to say that models are always the best dressed at fashion week.
There’s a certain editorial impressiveness to the head-to-toe designer ensembles seen on guests who congregate outside the shows, sure. But there’s something about the models who nonchalantly slip out of the staff entrance, catwalk hair and make-up still in place, clad in incongruously low-key ensembles: think hoodies and slouchy jeans, trainers and practical tote bags. Ironically, despite their other-worldly beauty, these models often reminds me of the cool, well-dressed girls I pass every day on the street in London – they aren’t attending a fashion show or posing for paparazzi, simply exuding an innate and unforced sense of style.
Of course, off-duty model style has been a thing for a while, with the OG supers – Kate, Naomi, Linda, Cindy et al – having led the way with their airport looks: denim-clad, shiny-haired, carry-on luggage in hand. Fast forward 30 years, and we’re seeing a whole new generation of models forming a fresh set of dressing codes, on the street and on social media.
I acknowledge that these models are literally paid to look good in clothes, and if anyone can make a hoodie look haute it’s Paloma Elsesser. But then again, who are we to turn down good outfit inspiration when it stares us in the face?
Scroll down to see and shop the model outfits that won at fashion week.
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Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images
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Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
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Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images
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Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images
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