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

Mayowa Nicholas, Jordan Daniels, Grace ElizabethBre Johnson/BFA.com

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

Despite arctic temperatures sweeping downtown Manhattan, guests braved the Orchard Street glaciers before shedding their rainbow furs and baseball caps inside. Vodka sodas were the drink of choice during the 7 p.m. cocktail hour, as guests ushered in the first of the night’s many toasts.

The fairy-light dappled room was full of faces who light up 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 caught up and celebrated the website, which has evolved over the last quarter-century to become the industry’s de facto digital directory. “When I finally got the Models.com account, I was so happy,” Harper said, pausing mid-sentence as a guest approached him to say how much her children love his TikTok uploads. “For models, it’s our IMDb.” Model Mathieu Simoneau laughed in agreement: “I actually use their site everyday.”

Around 8:30 p.m., attendees were whisked to their seats, weaving past platters of crispy tuna rice and ornate bamboo towers as they searched for their place cards in the private dining room. At long and low wooden tables—laden with candles and dotted with orchids—young models stole glances at casting directors and executives from IMG, Next, Muse, and Society as they also slipped into their seats.

Makeup artists, editors, and designers found themselves next to photographers, ballet dancers, and emerging models as family-style appetizers of shrimp sumai and steamed edamame were pushed around the spinning tabletops. “I’ve worked with almost everyone in this room,” said hair stylist Jawara Wauchope, surveying the scene. “Models.com is the database—it s the ChatGPT of fashion.”

Guests found themselves torn between paper thin sashimi and sushi rolls, intricately decorated with avocado and flowers, all prepared in the open kitchen with a full view of the chefs. Soon, platters of steaming oxtail fried rice and a fragrant vegetable variation came out in a steady procession, paraded through the crowd past camera flashes, introductions, and huddled conversations.

Models.com CEO Stephan Moskovic was joyous. “This is a very exciting time for us; it’s a bit of a coming out party,” he told Vogue, expressing his gratitude for everyone who came out to share a toast. With a busy week of shows on the horizon, a few agents quietly slipped out to tend to last minute queries and 11th-hour bookings, but most lingered, content in the calm before the storm.