Mayowa Nicholas, standing 5 feet 11 tall, the African new face is currently signed to Elite Paris and Milan, as well as to mother agency BETH in her native Nigeria.
At age 16, Mayowa was the female winner of Elite Model Look Nigeria in 2014, and since then, the sky is the only limit she knows.
Nigeria hadn’t produced a model which walked the fashion week runways of global repute, since the era of Oluchi Onweagba.
She is on record the first Nigerian model to be featured in a Dolce & Gabbana campaign when she appeared in their Fall/Winter 2016 campaign shoot.
After becoming the female winner of the Elite Model Look in 2014, Mayowa went on to be a top finalist in the world finals in China.
Since then, she has walked for international designers like Hermes, Balmain, Calvin Klein and Kenzo. And in 2016, she was named as one of the 15 New Faces That Ruled Fall 2016 alongside Kendall Jenner and Irina Shayk.
She is currently signed to Elite Paris and Milan, as well as to as well as parent agency BETH in Nigeria. Mayowa has just wrapped up her first fashion week season in Milan and Paris, where she made a stellar début on the runways of brands including Balmain, Hermès, Kenzo, MSGM and Manish Arora.
In an interview published on Vogue Italia, she described her first break in the model industry:
How did you get in touch with the Elite Model Look Nigeria?
I was on my way to the hair salon in 2013, when I got approached by the contest’s scouts, who gave me a flyer which stated the casting requirements, plus the time and date of the Elite Model Look casting. I didn’t participate that year, since I didn’t know much about modelling. In 2014 I decided to give it a try however, as I felt more prepared.
In their May edition, Harper’s Bazaar describes the modeling newcomer as making an “unforgettable mark at the autumn/winter 2016 shows, with her poise, pillowy lips and perfect runway physique charming casting directors, designers and fashion denizens alike.”
Mayowa combined her good looks with brains, she noted that if she weren’t modeling, “I would be in college studying financial accounting to become a chartered accountant. I still plan on going back to college to study that course, because I love anything that has to do with calculations.”
Mayowa Nicholas, still riding high, has graced the runways for international designers such as Hermes, Balmain, Calvin Klein, Prada, Miu Miu, Dior and Kenzo.
