Nya Gatbel made her debut in February, strutting the catwalks in Paris and Milan, a long way from her Grade 12 classes at John G. Diefenbaker high school.
She may eventually become one of those women known only by their first name.
“Nya will be going to the haute couture shows in Paris in June”
Still Calgary-based, Gatbel, who will be 18 this week, is bringing to life the work of fashion greats such as Giorgio Armani and Guy Laroche.
Nya Gatbel once questioned why she was “so tall”. Now she’s booked for more work in Paris in June. (Instagram)
As refugees, Nya and her sister came to Canada with their mother from Sudan,
At nine, she was tormented by the bullying all too common in elementary school when she already towered above her classmates.
She weathered the treatment and says now, it was great experience for the world of modelling.
Her first high-fashion experiences, however, proved quite positive, as she said many of the other models were young like herself, and quite supportive of one another.
“Nya will be going to the haute couture shows in Paris in June,” her agent, Antonija Klotz told Valerie Fortney of the Calgary Herald.
Klotz, who opened her boutique modelling agency. The Nobles Management in 2015, signed Gatbel as a client just five months ago.
“To go from never modelling straight to haute couture, well, it’s pretty much unheard of.” Klotz said.
In an interview with CBC Calgary, Nya Gatbel talked about how proud her family and friends are of her newfound success, especially her mother.
“She grew up in Ethiopia, coming from not much, you know, moving over to Canada, trying to give her kids a better life, yeah so she’s super, super proud”, Gatbel said.
But Nya remembers the anguish as a child, of longing to see herself and her skin colour reflected in the popular culture around her.
“When I was a kid, my self-confidence was just like, all out of whack. I wanted to look like you.” Gatbel told the CBC TV interviewer.
“I wanted to have light skin, I wanted to have straight hair, because that’s all I ever saw”.
“Why did I have to be this dark, why did I have to be this tall?” she says she questioned herself.
Now she is the “model” for other young Canadian girls, of the beauty in diversity.
“To have the opportunity to walk for such an iconic brand has me feeling like the happiest girl in the world right now! Thanks to Giorgio & his team for making this possible and congratulations on an amazing collection, as usual!!” Nya posted following her Armani debut.
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