Westville model is at home on the runway

ONE of the new face models from the 2018 intake of the eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Fashion Fair (DFF) open casting call is Westville’s Dimitri Kalamoudacos (25).

Each year, the DFF hosts an open casting for aspiring Durban models who are not registered with an agency and who live within the eThekwini region, to provide them a platform to wear the creations of top local, national and international designers.

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As a young independent marketing consultant, business analyst entrepreneur and owner of a technology start-up company, it may have been odd to find a man like Kalamoudacos at a model casting. But his long-time partner saw potential in him and pushed him to attend and now he is one of Durban’s in-demand models.

To prepare, he did an intense, eight-week training modelling programme.

“I had never doubted my ability to walk until someone was on the other end judging! The fitness wasn’t an issue for me as I am a bit of a fitness fanatic, but juggling my business, modelling, family was hard. But, I was able to manage my time so that I found a reasonable balance,” he said.

The Durban Fashion Fair awarded great opportunities for Kalamoudacos. Shortly after the seventh Durban Fashion Fair in September, he was approached by many brands wanting to work with him and even signed with one of South Africa’s biggest modelling agencies, Boss Models International.

“The DFF experience as a whole was majestic and I had the time of my life, from start to finish,” he said.

Within a short period of time Kalamoudacos has achieved what some models, with years of experience, only dream of. He was recently featured on Vogue Italia’s website and has worked with one of the biggest names in Durban’s fashion Industry, Jacqui Emmanuel.

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The wise words he lives by are: “There is no such thing as a self-made millionaire; people need other people to help them succeed. Therefore, always be self-aware, know your strengths and weaknesses, learn how to work well within a team and be able to motivate those around you. Only then will you find success.”

To see when next the DFF will be calling for potential models, keep an eye on their Facebook page: Durban Fashion Fair or Twitter or Instagram @Dbnfashion_fair.

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