Coming off her brilliant start in world fashion for Prada last season, Pulse star on the rise, Shantae Leslie, took to the runway for the Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022 show on Monday. Dior was launched by couturier, Christian Dior back in 1947 and has maintained its grandeur and elegance.
Leslie, returned to Paris right after the Christmas holiday to prepare for the couture, the highly exclusive fashion collections where only a select set of girls walk for France’s top flight designers. It is no surprise for Shantae to be picked to walk the couture for one of the world’s biggest and best design labels, Dior. The new Pulse star was named among the world’s best newcomers in international fashion when she made her historic début for the Prada Spring 2022 collections in Milan last September.
Fast forward to January 2022, Leslie is slated to walk for several other high fashion houses during Couture week. She is also holding cover options for two huge publications in the industry. “Shantae has a refreshingly confident approach to her work,” says Pulse’s Managing director, Fashion and Lifestyle, Romae Gordon. “She has all the right attributes to be a huge talent in the business, her strong yet soft features, great body, movement and her great attitude is the right combination for success.”
For her outing at the Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022 Show, Leslie was dressed in a sharply cut grey coat with neatly braided cornrows for her crown. The Pulse and CMS TV show winner showed a commanding presence against the larger than life walls of art that formed the framework for the collection’s set and décor. Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chuiri sent a wealth of sharply designed, but minimalist haute couture looks of delicate and crisp dresses and suits in a soft palate of beiges, whites and of course fashion’s staple shade, black down the runway.
The world stood up and took notice of the lean and lanky Leslie from her days in the Caribbean Model Search TV series with all the globe’s best agencies clamoring to represent the then sixteen year old. After the dust had settled, Shantae was signed to IMG by Pulse. She garnered even more attention with her Prada exclusive. It ought to have been a double, runway – campaign combination when Shantae was booked for the Prada campaign. However, due to covid and travel restrictions she could not fly to the US immediately after returning from Europe back in October.
The young Clarendonian is keen to make big strides and work hard until she gets to the top of the fashion business. “I want to be a star and I’m going to work hard to succeed,” says Shantae when we caught up with her backstage in preparations to step onto the runway at Dior in Paris.
Read Something Extra about Shante's Dior Haute Couture Show on the Gleaner Website.
