Sam Parker walked the runway at Milan Fashion Week on June 21. He says he’s always been into fashion, but never quite expected to make it into the modelling industry. (Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images – image credit)
An 18-year-old from Winnipeg took centre stage last weekend during Milan’s Fashion Week.
“It felt like a dream — a good dream — a dream that I’ve had since I started modelling,” said Parker, who represented Prada, his favourite luxury fashion brand, as he walked the same runway as some of the most famous models in the world.
“I’ve always been into fashion, but I never really expected to end up here in the modelling industry,” he told CBC Radio’s Up to Speed earlier this week.
His original plan after high school was to attend university, with the goal of becoming an English teacher.
But for now, the plan has changed, he said.
“Now that I’m in the [fashion] industry, I can definitely see this as a long-term career for me,” Parker said.
“I was pretty surprised and just shocked that I was able to make it this far in my first season at Milan Fashion Week.”
Parker signed with a modelling agency last year, after taking classes where he learned how to walk the runway, move around a camera and manage his social media.
From there they started reaching out to international agencies based in London, Milan, and Colombia, where he went for his first placement to start building an international portfolio.
He’s already learned that in the fashion industry, there are no guarantees, he said.
Before being accepted as part of a fashion show, “you have to go through the casting process, the fitting process, you have to make sure the designer likes you,” said Park.
“A lot of the time it is based on luck, and so at a certain point it is kind of out of your control.”
‘A good thing for everybody’
Seeing Parker on the world stage was “great news” to Dominic Lloyd, the executive director of the Winnipeg Arts Council.
“It’s always great news anytime artists and creative professionals from Winnipeg are making themselves known around the world,” said Lloyd. “It’s something that we do here in the city quite well.”
While the fashion industry is not directly linked to the Winnipeg Arts Council, it operates in the same “arts ecosystem.” When something exciting happens — like Parker walking the runway at Milan Fashion Week — “it’s a good thing for everybody” in the arts community, said Lloyd.
Parker says his plan now is to move to London for the next few years, in part because it’s a lot cheaper to fly to Milan from there than from Winnipeg.
But regardless of where he goes, he says he will be representing his roots.