With Paris Fashion Week in full swing, models from across the world have touched down in the French capital city to flaunt haute couture from the most coveted designers.
While those who are chosen to strut the hallowed catwalks are mostly cut from the same modelling cloth, there is one modelling agency in Milan that is looking to turn the preconceived notions of the fashion world on its head.
L’Imperfetta modelling agency was launched in 2020 by Carlotta Giancane, who has over 140 models on her books that defy typical beauty standards.
Imperfetta, which means imperfect in Italian, has models of all sizes and ages, spanning the gender spectrum, some with disabilities or medical conditions like alopecia or vitiligo, visible scarring or who have lost limbs.
While some of the models are based internationally, Giancane wanted to focus on making an impact in Italy in particular.
Her work has seen her place models in campaigns both in online and television campaigns. Meanwhile, two of her models have landed high fashion jobs, walking for designer Marco Rambaldi in Milan Fashion Week.
Now, Giancane has launched a campaign on Instagram to highlight the beauty of ordinary women and their imperfections to show a beauty beyond the catwalk.
Claudia La Rosa poses during a photo shoot for L’Imperfetta in Rome. Claudia has Nevus of Ota, which causes hyperpigmentation around the eye. She has been signed by L’Imperfetta, a model agency that represents ‘extraordinarily imperfect’ women and men of all sizes, heights, ages, genders, backgrounds, and disabilities, people who are difficult to classify into the industry’s pre-established standards of beauty. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The agency, founded by Carlotta Giancane in 2020, has over 140 models that don’t adhere to typical beauty standards so rigidly enforced in the modelling world. Just a selection of her models pose for their headshot here (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Desiree D’Angelo sits during a pause of the photo shoot. Desiree has had alopecia since she was 10, and was viciously bullied at school as a teenager. When taking dance lessons age 15, it was Desiree’s teacher who encouraged her to accept her condition and not to hide it. She is now a successful performer. ‘I like my body,’ she explains. ‘I like my peculiarity, in the end, I have accepted it, I felt beautiful for the first time.’ (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Sonia Sparta, 28, has a rare skin disorder called hyperpigmentation, which produces dark spots on her face and body. Originally from Sicily, Sonia explains she regularly heard strangers discuss her appearance. In one shocking incident, she heard parents tell their children that Sonia was from the circus. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The modelling agency is open to people across the spectrum of gender, and celebrates the uniqueness and imperfections of ordinary people. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Lucia Della Ratta, a university student in Rome, has albinism. It’s something she previously went to effort to hide from others, dying her hair darker colours and slathering herself with fake tan to counter her paler skin tone. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Lucia, here posing in her underwear, is now more comfortable with her natural appearance, with lockdown allowing her to embrace her natural hair colour and paler skin (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Sonia previously tried to conceal her condition, but now has no concerns or shame around her hyperpigmentation (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
High fashion models are typically between 5 ft 9 and 6ft tall, and slender – the British Association of Model Agents point to those models being between a size 6 to size 8. However, L’Imperfetta embraces people of all body shapes and sizes. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Sonia now believes in her beauty and makes no attempts to cover her hyperpigmentation. ‘I changed things so that my weakness, or how I perceived a weakness, became my source of strength – my distinctiveness,’she explains. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
L’Imperfetta is the first agency of its kind in Italy, and boast clients from all walks of life. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
While models at L’Imperfetta have landed campaigns online and on television, they’ve also started to break through into the world of high fashion, with some models going on to walk Milan Fashion Week.(Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Lucia has now substantially more confidence in her natural beauty. It’s something she found emotional while shooting for the project. ‘[During lockdown] I felt beautiful for the first time,’ she says. ‘I felt it was my essence, as though it is me, as I really am.’ (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Carlotta Giancane founded the modelling agency in October 2020. She hopes L’Imperfetta will be able to continue disrupting the fashion industry in Italy, with its unapologetic celebration of everyday beauty. ‘I feel like a revolutionary because I realise that around me all this did not exist before L’Imperfetta,’ she says. (Picture: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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