If you're a teenage girl or happen to be surrounded by the so-called "millennials" you have probably heard of Lucky Blue Smith, the 17-year-old boy made famous through social media, named Model of the Year at the Elle Style Awards 2016.
Smith has smoothly built a big profile in the fashion industry in a period of just one year - he's currently dominating the menswear shows, from Tom Ford to Versace; and fronting campaigns, from H&M to Calvin Klein. His signature bleach blonde hair has also helped him get over two million followers on Instagram – with teenagers hunting him down during fashion week to get a glimpse of his locks.
"My bleach hair has been great, but I'm going back to my natural hair colour after few things that are in the work… and I can't say yet."
The 6ft 3 model, was born in Utah, raised a Mormon and was signed by Next Models agency at the age of just 12, but it wasn't until last year that he raised to fame. He tells The Independent the secret to build such a big profile on social media relies on "being yourself and not trying to be something you aren’t". "I'm not always focusing too hard on it [social media] you want to have some fun with it as well," he says.
Fashion boss at Instagram, Eva Chen, agrees with Smith. "I think the number one thing about Instagram is that people think there’s some sort of secret or magic to it and all of it is about being authentic and being yourself and respond to your followers,” she tells The Independent.
“Finding the things that are your signature moves sort of speak. So for me is that I change my bags every day, I change my shoes every day, I usually take a taxi in New York City every day, I eat an apple… For me, that became a signature thing because I started posting that over and over again.
“I think being consistent is very important. I think following other people is key. Sometimes I see fashion accounts that follow no one else and I just think that’s kind of sad and mean.”
While overseeing the fashion accounts she praises the biggest personalities, designers and brands.
“PatMcGrath is brilliant at it, Kim Kardashian is brilliant as well.
“There are a lot of obvious ones that are big on Instagram, including Burberry, Mulberry and Erdem… A lot of the younger designers are using Instagram as a way of having a voice directly with their followers.
“Mansur Gavriel does a beautiful job, if you look at their feed is not always products, it’s also about beautiful flowers and beautiful kind of things that will make you stop for a second a think.
“Obviously, Olivier and Riccardo from Balmain and Givenchy are doing a brilliant job - their Instagram accounts are brilliant because they make you feel like you’re with them wherever they are. Same like with Marc Jacobs.
“The best accounts are the ones you feel like you're on an adventure with someone.”
