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10 Most Underrated Supermodels In The Fashion Industry

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Ten women booking the biggest campaigns in fashion while Instagram crowns somebody else.

TheThings Celebrity built a rundown of models who do the actual work of the runway and the print campaign without ever cracking the follower counts of the Kardashian-Jenner orbit. The video’s premise is simple: Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner get the magazine covers and the tabloid coverage, but plenty of women booking Prada, Chanel, and Victoria’s Secret casting calls barely register outside the industry. The list runs through ten names, anchored by Hungarian model Barbara Palvin, whose resume outstrips her mainstream name recognition by a wide margin.

• Barbara Palvin has walked for Prada since 2010, appeared in the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and fronted campaigns for L’Oréal Paris and Uniqlo.
• Palvin was named Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s “Rookie of the Year” in 2016 despite lacking the social media reach of peers like Kendall Jenner or Gigi Hadid.
• The list also flags Bella Hadid as an emerging powerhouse just starting to break into the same universal acclaim as her more famous sister.

The Instagirl Problem

The term “Instagirl” gets thrown around a lot in fashion circles, and it describes exactly what it sounds like: a model whose fame is built on Instagram engagement as much as on runway bookings. Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid are the obvious examples, both walking major shows while also commanding tens of millions of followers. TheThings’ list uses that contrast deliberately, pointing out that plenty of women with heavier runway resumes and longer client lists never get the same crossover attention.

That gap matters inside the industry even if casual fans never notice it. Casting directors and designers know exactly who Leomie Anderson or Malaika Firth are; the general public mostly doesn’t. If you’re the kind of reader who tracks how modeling careers actually get built, it’s worth pairing this list with what the winners of America’s Next Top Model look like today, since that competition series was built entirely around the same problem — talented models who needed a platform to get noticed.

Barbara Palvin’s Runway-to-Rookie Path

Palvin’s case is the clearest illustration of the disconnect. She broke into high fashion in 2010 walking for Prada at thirteen years old by industry account, and has since worked with Chanel, Armani, and L’Oréal. She walked the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, fronted global campaigns for L’Oréal Paris and Uniqlo, and capped it off by winning Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s “Rookie of the Year” title in 2016.

Prada runway in 2010, Victoria’s Secret by 2012, Sports Illustrated’s Rookie of the Year in 2016 — and still not a household name.

That’s a resume most working models would kill for, built across seven years and four separate luxury and mass-market tiers of the business. Yet Palvin still doesn’t carry the same recognition as models with a fraction of her client list, simply because her social following hasn’t caught up to her booking sheet.

The Rest of the Underrated Ten

The video rounds out its list with a mix of runway veterans and rising names. Leomie Anderson has modeled since age 14 and worked with Fenty Beauty, Balmain, and DKNY. Grace Mahary, a Canadian-Eritrean model, has booked Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, and Givenchy. Dilone, a Dominican-American model often noted for her resemblance to Angelina Jolie, has worked Victoria’s Secret, Tom Ford, and Calvin Klein while speaking publicly as an LGBTQ+ advocate.

Lameka Fox, discovered on Instagram, has since booked Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and Dior. Ajak Deng, a Sudanese-Australian model who walked for Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, and Valentino, announced her retirement from modeling in 2016, citing the racism she experienced throughout her career. Riley Montana has walked for Balmain, Lanvin, and Victoria’s Secret; Malaika Firth has booked Burberry, Prada, and Valentino; Aamito Lagum has worked with Marc Jacobs, Yeezy, and Moschino; and Alécia Morais has walked for Givenchy, Chanel, and Victoria’s Secret.

Bella Hadid’s Role in Fashion

The list also nods to Bella Hadid as a model on the verge of closing that gap entirely — someone with the runway credentials of the “underrated” group but the growing social profile of an Instagirl. It’s a useful marker for how quickly that line can move: a model can spend years booking respected shows in relative obscurity, then break into the mainstream almost overnight once the right campaign or red carpet moment lands. For more on how quickly image and public perception can shift for young stars in this same orbit, there’s a parallel worth reading in whether Shiloh Jolie-Pitt is ready to step into the modeling industry.

Palvin’s numbers make the point better than any commentary could: Prada in 2010, Victoria’s Secret in 2012, L’Oréal Paris and Uniqlo campaigns since, and a Sports Illustrated title in 2016. That’s four separate industry stamps of approval over seven years, and she’s still introduced as “underrated.” The runway doesn’t care about follower counts — the tabloids just haven’t caught up yet.