Ruben Pol, 19, Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands

Few debuts in recent memory have been as notable as Pol’s, who was discovered on Instagram before opening and closing the Dior Homme show last summer as a worldwide exclusive. “I hadn’t even walked a show before so I didn’t know what it was like. I was really, really, really nervous but I really didn’t know what to expect,” he recalls. “When I entered the catwalk, I was like, ‘Holy shit,’ because I didn’t know how many people would be there and how many cameras. Afterwards I started realizing how big a deal it was when, my next season, everybody recognized me like, ‘Oh you did Dior, oh you did Dior.’” This year, he walked for Dior again, as well as Fendi, Gucci, Burberry, Dries Van Noten, Ferragamo, and Craig Green. Now modeling full time, Pol plays the guitar whenever he has the chance and says he plans to eventually return to school to study industrial design, but he is happy taking advantage of his chance to travel and learn as much as he can about the industry. “I think it’s a great opportunity for everything,” he says. “You travel, you meet a lot of people, you develop yourself, and you see a lot of places and a lot of different kinds of work.”

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